Red Wings’ Brendan Smith, Tyler Bertuzzi out one month
Detroit -- The Detroit Red Wings will be without defenseman Brendan Smith and forward Tyler Bertuzzi for approximately a month.
But they are getting back Tomas Jurco for Tuesday’s game against Dallas – Jurco’s first NHL action since April.
Smith (sprained knee) and Bertuzzi (high ankle sprain) both were injured in Saturday’s 2-1 overtime loss to Montreal.
“Both of them look like it’s going to be a few weeks, I’d say three to five weeks is what it looks like for both of them,” coach Jeff Blashill said. “You never know for sure about recovery, but neither of them are surgical things.
“It’s just how they recover. If it happens faster, it happens faster. If it’s slower, it happens slower.”
Bertuzzi and Smith join goaltender Jimmy Howard (groin), defenseman Alexey Marchenko (upper body) and forwards Darren Helm (dislocated shoulder) and Andreas Athanasiou (knee) in an expanding Red Wings injured list.
Smith was injured on a knee-on-knee collision with Phillip Danault. Smith’s right knee bent inward and he clutched his knee after falling to the ice.
Bertuzzi was hurt on a shoulder hit from Montreal defenseman Alexei Emelin. While crashing into the boards on the hit, Bertuzzi’s left knee and foot stretched awkwardly and smashed into the boards.
There was talk afterward of Emelin’s play being borderline dirty, but Bertuzzi absolved the rugged Montreal defenseman of any wrongdoing.
“We both tried to get body position and I was going in on a weird angle,” Bertuzzi said. “He hit me and I fell into the board weird. It’s just part of the game.”
Both Bertuzzi and Smith were placed on the seven-day injured list, which coincided with the return of Jurco from Grand Rapids.
Jurco joined the Griffins last week for a conditioning assignment – he had a goal and assist in two games – after missing the first two months of the season following back surgery.