The Detroit Red Wings are thankfully going to be getting back Lucas Raymond in their lineup. After the recent medical update on Michael Rasmussen, they may be in the market for some offense, and getting Raymond back is an added boost.
But in correspondence with Raymond’s activation came news that the Detroit Red Wings placed defenseman Jordan Oesterle on the Injured Reserve (IR). It avoided the need for a demotion to Grand Rapids and helped the roster crunch, but certainly is a hit to the team’s defensive core.
Even though the Red Wings may not be relying on Oesterle a ton, he eats up some of those third-pairing minutes when Robert Hagg and Gustav Lindstrom are not in the lineup. All three of those names continue to be players who could be replaced.
Adding a depth defender is certainly up for discussion, as the Red Wings have emerged as cautious buyers. OT Co-Expert Bob Heyrman recently detailed three defenders that the Red Wings could be looking at, all of them being depth additions who could be acquired on a budget.
Detroit Red Wings move Jordan Oesterle to IR, which could trigger a trade.
While Steve Yzerman is certainly not panicking in his office, it might be time to make a few calls and see what it might cost to add a depth defenseman. While there’s plenty of reason to be happy with what the Red Wings have done to this point, there’s also reason to believe a playoff berth is truly achievable.
Getting another defenseman in, like Nick Jensen or Luke Schenn, could greatly help relieve some pressure on the back end and add in another experienced defender. While some might suggest that it is time to call up Simon Edvinsson… patience is a virtue.
The Red Wings are going to be battling and fighting through some tough games down the stretch, with every point being important for the playoff race. There’s no point to bring Edvinsson up and put a ton of pressure on him right away.
Flipping a late-round draft pick to add someone to help the defense core seems like the smart move. With Oesterle to the IR, it means that it’s going to be more of Hagg and Lindstrom, and frankly, that could very well be enough to drive Yzerman to make a move to try and build out that defense core a bit more.
The Red Wings have some decisions to make as this week goes on, and it will be interesting to see how some of these injuries affect the Red Wings’ plans.