The Detroit Red Wings have placed defenseman Alexey Marchenko on injured reserve with a nagging shoulder injury, one that caused him to miss eight games before returning for three contests a week ago.
#RedWings call up Nick Jensen, place Alexey Marchenko on IR. … Mike Green out tonight at Hurricanes.
— Helene St. James (@HeleneStJames) December 19, 2016
He re-aggravated the setback in last week’s embarrassing 4-1 loss to the Arizona Coyotes playing 11:04 before heading to the room. This season, Marchenko has bounced from the top pairing with Danny Dekeyser at the beginning of the season to playing most of the campaign with Jonathan Ericsson before drawing back into the lineup with injury replacement Brian Lashoff. He’s averaged 17:38 TOI this season logging the 3rd-most defensive minutes on Detroit’s 12th-ranked penalty kill that was fifth just last week, notching five assists and a 46.2% Corsi-for percentage in 22 games.
The corresponding move to Marchenko’s injury saw 2009 fifth round pick Nick Jensen get called up to Detroit. Though he’s been called up before, Jensen has never suited up in the Winged Wheel for a regular season game. Tonight, he’ll be able to to just that at the expense of Brian Lashoff unfortunately getting struck in the face with a puck at the morning skate this morning:
#RedWings Lashoff hurt during morning skate. pic.twitter.com/cQT1jB9Wox
— Dana Wakiji (@Dwakiji) December 19, 2016
Now 26, Jensen has logged 340 combined collegiate and AHL games for St. Cloud State and Grand Rapids scoring 25 goals and 147 points in that span. Touted as a right-handed blue liner with some offensive upside, he has enjoyed two notable campaigns at the NCAA level scoring 32 points in 39 games in 2011-12 and 31 points in 41 games the next season. However, he has not been able to break the 30-point plateau with the Griffins just yet, topping out at 27 in 2014-15 tying his career high for goals at any level USHL and up with six. It is unclear where he will suit up tonight, but look for him to get some power play opportunities as the Wings try to maneuver around Green’s victimization Saturday night on a late hit.
Green was the victim of a late hit from a player who’s been known to play with an edge for a full 60 minutes in Ryan Kesler in Saturday’s 6-4 win against the Ducks. He is doubtful for the rest of the road trip that will see Detroit play tonight in Carolina, tomorrow in Tampa Bay, and Friday in Florida. To say the blue liner has been an important piece in helping Detroit stay afloat in the Atlantic Division chase is an understatement, as he’s provided Detroit’s one source of firepower from the back end scoring seven goals and 18 points to place second in scoring on the fifth-worst offensive team in the League. Without a true number one blue liner, he’s been the closest thing, logging 24:25 TOI, firing 59 shots on net, and netting four power play points to also lead Detroit’s blueline brigade.
Of Detroit’s top six defensemen at the beginning of the season, Dekeyser and Xavier Ouellet have been the only ones to evade injury. Green, Brendan Smith, Marchenko, Ericsson, in addition to Niklas Kronwall, have all been shelved at some point this year.
Main Photo:
