Red Wings center Jacob de la Rose was removed from Tuesday’s game against the Rangers due to a cardiac episode. Today, head coach Jeff Blashill told reporters, including Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press, that while the youngster is doing okay now, he’s not expected to accompany the team as their road trip works its way out West. This is the second time this season that de la Rose has had this issue as it crept up at the end of training camp when he was still with Montreal which resulted in him opening up the year on injured reserve. Since joining the team via waivers, the 23-year-old has nine points in 60 games while winning just over 42% of his faceoffs.
Other injury notes around the league:
- The Coyotes could be getting a key piece of their lineup back very soon. Head coach Rick Tocchet told Craig Morgan of The Athletic (Twitter link) that center Derek Stepan is “very very close” to returning and could play as soon as this weekend. The veteran was pegged to miss four-to-six weeks with a lower-body injury but he appears to be slightly ahead of schedule. Arizona has a narrow lead on the second and final Wild Card spot in the West and they would certainly benefit from getting their forward ice time leader back in their lineup.
- The Senators could soon have their top defenseman back. Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reports that Thomas Chabot could return to the lineup on Saturday in Edmonton despite being listed as out week-to-week last Monday. The sophomore has been one of the few bright spots in Ottawa this season and is the highest-scoring player on their roster with 49 points in 62 games. He’s likely to receive an invite to participate at the upcoming World Championships assuming his broken toe doesn’t present any additional issues upon his return.