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Darren Helm out minimum of six weeks with shoulder injury

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Getty Images

Injury Day in the NHL was capped with some frustrating news for the Detroit Red Wings.

Forward Darren Helm will miss a minimum of six weeks with a shoulder dislocation, the team announced on Wednesday. It won’t require surgery.

Helm took a hit from Nikita Nesterov in the third period, which knocked him out of the Wings’ loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday night. (Apologies if the Darren Helm injury wasn’t paramount on your mind after Steven Stamkos went out in the first period and is now expected to miss weeks with a knee injury.)

He had seven points in 17 games, playing a third-line center role. He saw the majority of his time this season with Gustav Nyquist on his wing.

From Dana Wakiji of DetroitRedWings.com:

“Helmer’s a real effective player for us, brings energy, wins puck battles, gives you tons of speed,” [coach Jeff] Blashill said. “So he’s a big piece of our team for sure. But this is the NHL, you’ve got to find ways with other guys to go in and win. Personally, I just feel real bad for Darren Helm. He’s had a tough go over the last number of years. He’s got to keep his head up and keep plugging and just try to get himself mentally in a spot where he can be ready when he comes back. That’s my biggest thing, I would say, just that you hate to see it happen to a guy again so it’s unfortunate.”

Helene St. James said she expects Helm will be placed on long-term injured reserve to free up cap space to call up a player for Friday night’s game and then activate Thomas Vanek from the IR on Sunday.

Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.

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