After a crowded morning skate ended Tuesday at Little Caesars Arena, Detroit Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde and Oskar Sundqvist chatted for a few minutes.
Sundqvist is among mending Wings who are projected to be activated over the coming days or weeks. Sundqvist could play as soon as Thursday, when the Wings host the New York Rangers. Forward Tyler Bertuzzi (upper body, Oct. 15) and defenseman Jake Walman (shoulder, offseason) are projected to return during the Wings’ trip to California next week.
More:Detroit Red Wings reveal a new identity, responding from bad loss with 3-game win streak
“Sundqvist would be in the day-to-day,” Lalonde said. “Bert, were hoping to see the West Coast trip, so 7-10 days range. Put Walman in that same 7-10.”
Filip Zadina, hit in the leg by a puck Nov. 5, is out 6-to-8 weeks.
“Not positive, but a little more optimistic than we originally thought,” Lalonde said.
Zadina was not part of morning skate, but Sundqvist, Walman, Bertuzzi and Robby Fabbri (knee surgery in March) and Mark Pysyk (Achilles surgery in July) all took spins on the ice. Fabbri and Pysyk are not expected back before January. Jakub Vrana is in the players assistance program with an indefinite return.
More:Detroit Red Wings mailbag: Why pending FAs Dylan Larkin, Tyler Bertuzzi remain unsigned
The Wings have relied on minor-league call-ups Matt Luff and Austin Czarnik to fill the holes, choosing two forwards with NHL experience to ameliorate the absences of so many key players. Sundqvist, who last played Oct. 25, wasn’t originally projected to miss almost two weeks. That’s why Lalonde and general manager Steve Yzerman (who ultimately makes those decisions) didn’t call up, for example, a skilled prospect like Jonatan Berggren.
“Short-term call-up, some experience there, some guys we trust,” Lalonde said. “Berggren, if he sees time, it would be more of a bigger window of time. Let him keep developing down there, if we need a player for a two-week span or three-week span, where we could develop him on the fly a little bit — but right now, those two have been excellent, Luff and Czarnik. They understand our system. Safe, very little risk in their game.”
Sundqvist missed all of camp and exhibition season with a different injury. This latest one stemmed from what Sundqvist termed, “an unfortunate hit. Stuff like that happens. I’m happy to be back now and get this thing over with. Just an unfortunate hit. I didn’t think it was anything serious at first, but we did a closer look and it was worse than we expected. Just needed some time off to let it heal.”
Sundqvist was part of the “Sky line” with Michael Rasmussen and Elmer Söderblom, a net-front presence on power plays and a big part of the penalty kill. But the Wings haven’t just missed him in games, they’ve missed him all around.
“Sunny is a personality,” Lalonde said. “He’s big in the room. He’s a phenomenal human being to be around.
“We walked through our EPL recap on the weekend. That’s the in-depth conversation we had on the ice there. I’m a Man City guy, and that was pre-budget where they are sitting at now. He despises Man City, so that’s usually how the conversation starts. He claimed a match fix on the weekend, when they got the penalty kick in the 95th minute there.”
Asked what English Premier League team Sundqvist does like, Lalonde laughed. “I think Sunny is more of ‘pick on whatever team someone else likes’ (guy).”
Contact Helene St. James at hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames. Read more on the Detroit Red Wings and sign up for our Red Wings newsletter. Her latest book, “On the Clock: Behind the Scenes with the Detroit Red Wings at the NHL Draft,” is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Triumph Books. Personalized copies available via her e-mail.