The Detroit Red Wings called up NHL veteran Zach Aston-Reese from Grand Rapids to replace Andrew Copp who suffered a broken cheekbone on a high stick Tuesday against the Washington Capitals.

Aston-Reese will be in the Detroit lineup Thursday against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Aston-Reese played parts of five seasons with the Pittsburgh Penguins from 2017-18 to 2021-22. Because this is an important game for the Red Wings in terms of playoff implications, they wanted a player whose skill set includes some of Copp’s abilities.

“Aston-Reese has over 300 NHL game,” Detroit coach Derek Lalonde said. “We were excited about some of his experience.”

Michael Rasmussen (upper body) will miss his fourth consecutive game, which means the Red Wings will be missing two critical penalty killers. Aston-Reese will kill some penalties.

“We think we can put an effective line together with Reese, (Austin) Czarnik and (Christian) Fischer,” Lalonde said.

Lalonde said Rasmussen is still day-to-day. “Still hopeful, but no update,” Lalonde said.

Veleno Will Get More Playing Time

Joe Veleno will receive more playing time centering a line with Robby Fabbri and Daniel Sprong. The Red Wings lose some size with Rasmussen and Copp out of the lineup..

X-Rays confirmed that Copp suffered the broken cheekbone. It occurred when Washington forward Nicolas Aube-Kubel accidentally caught Copp with a high stick. Referees missed it. No penalty was called. Copp isn’t going on the road trip, but Lalonde didn’t have any hard news about when he would play again.

“He’s going to have to go through, having that caved cheekbone, there’s a process to it,” Lalonde said. ” He’s got to go through some more protocol in the next 24 hours. This day and age, we’ll know more the next couple of days. But unavailable for Pittsburgh. I’d love to see him rolling out with his old Michigan college cage back on and give us some games down the stretch, but time will tell.”

Lalonde said he is comfortable with his lineup going into Pittsburgh. He is planning to mix up his top two lines with Alex DeBrincat moving on a line with Dylan Larkin and Lucas Raymond. J.T. Compher will now center Patrick Kane and David Perron.

“Last time we played them we had Kane and Cat together,” Lalonde said. “(The Penguins) did a really good job of checking them and freeing up Crosby and Malkin elsewhere. I think it adds a little bit different balance. Obviously, we’re losing two very important pieces to our forward group with some size.”

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State of emergency was trending on X on Friday and amazingly, it had nothing to do with the Detroit Red Wings. Losers of three in a row 60% of the way through a season-high five-game road swing, Detroit is also down two forwards.

Both Patrick Kane and Austin Czarnik are under the weather with illness and listing as doubtful for Saturday afternoon’s 12:30 p.m. start against the Florida Panthers. Their absences wound up forcing the Red Wings to go with 11 forwards and seven defensemen during Thursday’s 4-0 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes.

Evidently, Detroit coach Derek Lalonde wasn’t fond of how that set up was working out for his team. To that end, he’s summoning a veteran NHL presence to help out his club. Center Zach Aston-Reese, with 308 NHL games on his resume, is getting a recall from the AHL Grand Rapids Griffins.

UPDATE: The Detroit #RedWings today recalled forward Zach Aston-Reese from the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins under emergency conditions. pic.twitter.com/nSPoNZHHfV

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) March 29, 2024

Aston-Reese, 29, spent the majority of those NHL tilts with the Pittsburgh Penguins from 2017-22. He’s also played with the Anaheim Ducks and scored 10 goals last season in 77 games with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Aston-Reese suited up for one game with the Red Wings earlier this season.

In 56 games for the Griffins, Aston-Reese is showing 13-15-28 totals. He’s very blunt in self-assessing his abilities on the ice.

The @griffinshockey lineup tonight in Chicago will feature 11 forwards and 7 defensemen. Edvinsson, Czarnik and now Aston-Reese are with Detroit. Berggren, Mazur, Gettinger and Simek are out with injury. pic.twitter.com/xmSxuRRbga

— Bob Kaser (@bkaser1) March 29, 2024

“I think I’m a good two-way player,” Aston-Reese said earlier this season upon arriving in Grand Rapids. “Very smart defensively, sometimes a little too defensive. I think this is a great opportunity to work on the offensive side of my game.

“I can play physical. I know that part of my game could be more consistent as far as the physicality and finishing checks.”

Red Wings Need Help

Detroit’s road record of late is appaling. The Red Wings are 0-7-1 through their past eight games away from Little Caesars Arena.

They’ve scored 14 goals over that eight-game span, an average of 1.75 goals per game. Detroit has been shutout three times in the club’s last seven road games, including two of the past three outings.

The post Red Wings Adding Veteran NHLer appeared first on Detroit Hockey Now.

In 2022 first-round draft pick Marco Kasper, the Detroit Red Wings are of the belief that they are getting the full package in terms of his talents as a hockey player.

They see someone who will battle for every inch of ice between the boards. As well, in Kasper people in the Red Wings organization are witnessing someone who’s willing to go that extra mile beyond defensive responsibility to antagonize opposing players.

Think Ryan O’Reilly with a sprinkling of Brad Marchand.

The post Compete Level of Red Wings Prospect Kasper Impressing Griffins (+) appeared first on Detroit Hockey Now.

 Zach Aston-Reese cleared waivers Monday and the Detroit Red Wings sent him to the Grand Rapids Griffins. That means coach Derek Lalonde’s team will open the season Thursday in New Jersey with a 22-person roster.

To make room for Aston Reese in Grand Rapids, the Griffins sent Alexandre Doucet to the Toledo Walleye).

The Red Wings have three goalies, one extra defenseman, but no extra forwards. Lalonde said there is no contemplation of calling up an extra forward and he’s even considering going with 11 forwards and seven defensemen on Thursday.

“Don’t need (13th forward) right now,” Lalonde said. “Obviously, knowing that the 13th could be an easy call up anywhere. With the seven NHL-caliber D, if we get that odd morning sickness, afternoon thing, or something happens in warmups, we have no problem with 7-11.”

Lalonde announced that Ville Husso will be the starting goalie. But he said he’s not quite sure how he will utilize the three goalies or who the No. 2 goalie is.

“Not yet,” Lalonde said. “The first challenge is practice, which I don’t think is an issue. We had some experience with it last year, even our goaltending coach Alex Westlund’s had some experience with it. You see the position, before and after ice is so valuable in their development, so I don’t think reps and development is gonna be an issue for those guys. Ville will be in on Thursday. We still envision Ville as our No. 1 guy, getting the majority of the workload. But we had three and I think all three are very capable. It’s gonna be a day-by-day, game-by-game situation with the goalies.”

In Monday’s practice, Justin Holl, signed as a free agent, was the extra defenseman.

The lines at the Little Caesars Arena practice:

Alex DeBrincat-Dylan Larkin-David Perron.

Lucas Raymond-JT Compher-Robby Fabbri.

Daniel Sprong-Andrew Copp-Michael Rasmussen.

Klim Kostin-Joe Veleno-Christian Fischer.

But Lalonde said he’s still pondering the line combinations and this may not be his Thursday alignment.

“I just can’t wait for the first game to get the real feel,” Red Wings forward David Perron said. “To have wins, to have losses, to go through these moments where you know they’re important. We’ve had extremely good practices, good habits in camp but you can’t really get anything out of it much. You’re trying to, but it’s tough.”

The Red Wings have their home opener Saturday against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

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