Update (5:15 PM): Ansar Khan confirms that we can expect Mikael Samuelsson and Dominik Hasek back Friday night. - Matt
According to the AHL transaction wire, Matt Hussey and Jimmy Howard have been returned to Grand Rapids. So, it looks like Mikael Samuelsson will be ready for Friday, and Dominik Hasek will at least back up Chris Osgood.
To send down Hussey rather than Darryl Bootland, the team must have been really impressed with Darryl’s effort last night. Good to see that he’ll get another game in. Bootland, by the way, had 9:15 in ice time last night, which was almost three and a half minutes more than Matt Ellis, Josh Langfeld, and Matt Hussey had combined (2:32+2:08+1:09=5:49, via the NHL’s Official Super Stats).
Hussey was originally called up after Henrik Zetterberg went down with his back injury. If the Wings were sending down the player that was covering for Samuelsson, Josh Langfeld would be driving across the state on I-96 today. They can’t send Langfeld down, however, because he wasn’t on the Griffins’ clear day roster and cannot play for them again this season.
This is good for Howard, he needs playing time. He will get stagnant on the bench in Detroit.
Yeah, fortunately for Jimmy, Dom’s injury wasn’t all that serious.