DeKeyser Suffers Lower-Body Injury Against Stars, is Day-to-Day

Oh, danny boy.

Tuesday night against the Stars, defenceman Danny DeKeyser left the game in the third period with a lower-body injury and did not return. Thursday morning it was reported that he is labelled as day-to-day and might be in doubt to play Thursday against the Arizona Coyotes.

As reported by Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press, there are multiple options if DeKeyser has to sit out against the Coyotes.

With Kronwall’s groin possibly up to the task of playing again, it might be a simple switch for Blashill and will pair him with Trevor Daley. But if Kronwall isn’t ready yet and feels that Friday against the Vegas Golden Knights is a better game to make his season debut, then there is always Luke Witkowski.

Blashill has the option to move Witkowski back to the blueline and have David Booth lace up for his second game of the season on the fourth line centered by Luke Glendening and Riley Sheahan playing the opposite wing. Presumably, Witkowski will slot in the third pairing next to Nick Jensen. Then Ouellet move up to either being paired with Daley or Green. The other pair would have Jonathan Ericsson playing the left-side.

What Thursday’s blueline could look like:

Kronwall – Daley

Ericsson – Green

Ouellet – Jensen

OR

Ouellet/Ericsson – Daley

Ouellet/Ericsson – Green

Witkowski – Jensen

With three games in the books of the 2017-18 season, Dekeyser has not looked the greatest. Both eyes and the stat sheet say so. Just look at this With or Without You chart by Micah Blake McCurdy:

So far this season, every player that DeKeyser has played at least three minutes with except Abdelkader, Sheahan and Glendening – has performed better without DeKeyser on the ice.

Small sample size be damned – are the Red Wings a better team without Danny DeKeyser already this season? We might find out Thursday night against the Arizona Coyotes.