The $4.9 Million narrative continues for the Detroit Red Wings.
Center Stephen Weiss, who has played in only one NHL game this season, was sent down to the Grand Rapids Griffins for a conditioning stint. Weiss is not injured, rather, he has been beat out by the upstart young players on the team in the persons of Luke Glendening, Andrej Nestrasil, and Joakim Andersson.
From what I gather, perception within #RedWings is Stephen Weiss hasn’t shown enough practice battle-level to earn spot in regular rotation.
— Helene St. James (@HeleneStJames) October 28, 2014
It is another addition to the lengthy list of disappointments in a Red Wing uniform for the 31-year old Toronto native who finds himself in a constant battle just to crack the lineup. After such an injury plagued season last year with him playing only 26 games, Weiss is finding himself on the outside looking in again in 2014-15.
The idea presumably is for Weiss to play in real-time game situations in the AHL rather than being a constant healthy scratch in the NHL, where practice situations can only do so much.
Stephen Weiss is either not in game shape or his endurance is not there yet and getting conditioning in GR will help.
— Octopus Thrower (@OctopusThrower_) October 28, 2014
He does not seem to be up to game speed and it showed in the preseason as he still seems to be recovering from sports hernia surgery carried out in December of last season. From the instinctive reaction, this move just lengthens the loathing for Weiss among Hockeytown’s faithful. However, with getting Weiss some games he’ll be on the ice rather than stunting his recovery being off of it. According to GM Ken Holland, the Red Wings have a correlated plan for Weiss.
Plan is for Stephen Weiss to play 2 conditioning stint games with Grand Rapids, then get into #RedWings lineup during upcoming road games.
— Helene St. James (@HeleneStJames) October 28, 2014
It’s obvious the situation is going to be a gradual process with this as the first step in getting Weiss in the lineup regularly. His opportunity will come with this conditioning getting him ready for the weekend, but after Grand Rapids, it will be up to Weiss on whether he will be able to keep his spot. Getting back to form would just deepen the Red Wings scoring that has had its struggles early on, posting just 2.25 goals a game. He was signed for the big bucks to help the Wings in this situation, and it would be the most opportune time for Weiss to get it right.
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