Detroit Red Wings' injury status

The injury bug has been a real pest to the Detroit Red Wings this season.

Darren Helm, Henrik Zetterberg, Johan Franzen, Stephen Weiss, Danny DeKeyser and Jimmy Howard are all on the Injured Reserved List, while Justin Abdelkader and Gustav Nyland were listed as questionable and did not play on Thursday night.

It took overtime, but the remaining healthy 'Wings were able to stop a six-game slide with a 3-2 win over the Calgary Flames on Thursday night - the two points a kings' ransom when considering Detroit has earned just six points total in the month of December.

According to the Detroit Free Press, Helm is the closest to returning - perhaps this weekend - and Abdelkader is targeting a Monday return, barring a setback.  And the Red Wings can use all the warm bodies they can get at this point, as they embark on a stretch in which they play eight of ten on the road, including a brutal west coast swing after the New Year.

The list of injured include four of the teams' top eight scorers, and it has made a difference on the scoreboard - the Red Wings finding twine no more than twice in any game during the losing skid, scoring just one goal three times and shutout by the Tampa Bay Lightning last Sunday.

http://www.sportsinjuryalert.com/2013/12/detroit-red-wings-injury-status.html