Detroit Red Wings Notes: Brian Rafalski Out, Kyle Quincey In

Update (1:55 PM): In his post on the Rafalski/Quincey situation, Ansar Khan includes an update on Niklas Kronwall.

Apparently, he is hoping to play Sunday against the Stars. Khan provides no evidence for whether that’s realistic or not.

Also, it does not appear that Dominik Hasek (hip flexor) is near returning, as Mike Babcock professed not to know his status. - Matt

Ryan Foherty reports that Brian Rafalski (groin) will sit out tomorrow night’s game against Columbus. Evidently, he suffered the injury during the Nashville game Tuesday night.

The team has called up Kyle Quincey from the AHL to fill in during Rafalski’s absence. I don’t understand why Quincey was chosen instead of Jonathan Ericsson, who has over twice the points of Quincey and is +4.

Quincey is -5 and, by all accounts, has not been the same player since being demoted to Grand Rapids after playing with the Wings in the playoffs.

Ericsson, I’m told, has had a solid year amidst the Griffins' troubles this season. Perhaps that’s the reason the Wings opted for Quincey: The Griffins cannot afford to lose Ericsson and Quincey could use the confidence boost.

It doesn’t appear to be a waiver issue, as Ericsson has "waiver-free" status according to Red Wings Central.

In any case,  Rafalski is a big loss, even though he’s only day-to-day. The last player the Wings needed to lose was one of their better skaters as they head into a contest with a young Columbus team that’s fighting for a playoff spot.

It will, however, be interesting to see Derek Meech take on a larger role, if only for one game. My confidence in No. 14 is growing.

I apologize for the lack of posting this week. It’s been a bit busy at my end, but hopefully things will quiet down after this week.

By the way, I met Darren McCarty Tuesday night in Holland.  I’ll be at his home debut tomorrow night, as well.