Rasmussen out this afternoon with a lower-body injury

The towering rookie forward for the Red Wings appears to be dealing with a lower-body injury, so he will be sitting out against the Washington Capitals this afternoon.

The nineteen-year-old has been a constant threat in the Wings’ bottom-six this season, using his big frame to keep up some possession in the offensive zone.

Notching six goals and seven assists in 41 games this year, is about where his point total was expected to be at the start of the season. He was never going to get the amount of ice-time needed to put up those raw numbers.

Averaging just over twelve minutes a game, Rasmussen will surely look for that number to increase either after the trade deadline or the beginning of next season.

The past two games against the Predators and Flames saw Rasmussen have the least amount of ice-time he has seen in his rookie year. Either he was trying to play through an injury and Blashill knew that – limiting his ice – or some other unknown reason.

The Red Wings are facing the Washington Capitals right now (5:00 p.m. ET) on Fox Sports-Detroit.