The Red Wings announced Thursday that they’ve reassigned center Sheldon Dries to AHL Grand Rapids. He was the odd man out when captain Dylan Larkin made his return to the lineup against the Senators on Tuesday, ending the emergency conditions he was summoned under earlier this month.
Dries’ demotion won’t be the only roster move coming from the Wings in the next several hours. Head coach Todd McLellan told reporters earlier today that goaltender Cam Talbot will be unavailable to back up John Gibson on Friday against the Sabres after tweaking something, so they’ll need to recall a goalie from Grand Rapids before tomorrow evening (via Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press).
Dries, 31, had been filling in as the Wings’ fourth-line center for the last five games due to the domino effect caused by injuries to Larkin, Andrew Copp, and Michael Rasmussen, among others. While he’d been recalled several times earlier in the year, none of those resulted in playing time.
As such, his time in the lineup this month marked his first NHL appearances since April 2023 with the Canucks. The Michigan native did not record a point but at least managed to not be on the ice for a goal against at 5-on-5, averaging just 6:58 of ice time per game while winning 42.9% of his faceoffs.
While Rasmussen and Emmitt Finnie remain out of the picture for Detroit’s forward group at present, that’s still the healthiest they’ve been in a while. That’s good news for their playoff push, especially seeing as their regulation loss to Ottawa on Tuesday has dropped their postseason odds to 42.4% entering play tonight, per MoneyPuck.
Grand Rapids will gladly take Dries back. The 5’10” pivot has never been more than a depth scoring touch in his NHL minutes but has been a major impact piece in a leadership role for the Griffins since signing a two-way deal with the Wings in 2024, racking up a 20-17–37 scoring line with a +22 rating in 48 AHL outings this season.