NHL roundup: Red Wings' Helm, Predators' Yip sidelined
Injuries have hit two Central Division rivals with less than three weeks left in the season.
The Red Wings don't expect center Darren Helm to return this season, according to the Detroit Free Press on Tuesday.
Helm has appeared in just one game this season because of back problems.
"He's not going to play hockey ... this year, I don't think," Red Wings coach Mike Babcock told the paper. "So we've got to get ourselves into the playoffs and be ready to go without him."
Helms, 26, has32 goals and 83 points in 249 career regular-season games. He played on the 2008 Detroit team that won the Stanley Cup.
Meanwhile, the Nashville Predators recalled forward Daniel Bang from Milwaukee of the American Hockey League under emergency conditions, and the 25-year-oeld Sweden native was expected to make his NHL debut Tuesday against the St. Louis Blues.
He takes the place of Brandon Yip, who will miss at least one game with a lower-body injury.
Bang has 20 points in 50 games for the Admirals. He played the past six seasons with AIK's senior team and signed with the Predators as an undrafted free agent last summer.
Nashville now has five players on its roster that began this season with Milwaukee.
--The Chicago Blackhawks announced they have agreed to terms with forward Garret Ross, their fifth-round pick (139th overall) in the 2012 Entry Draft, on a three-year contract. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Ross, 20, scored a career-high 90 points and registered a plus-31 rating in 61 regular-season games with the Saginaw Spirit of the Ontario Hockey League this season. He also led the team with 114 penalty minutes.
A native of Dearborn Heights, Mich., Ross had 28 multi-point games this season. He has 170 points and a plus-37 rating to go with 421 penalty minutes in 217 regular-season games with Saginaw over the past four seasons.
