REPORT: Frans Nielsen To Return To Red Wings Lineup Against Kings

After the Red Wings practice in Los Angeles last night, Jeff Blashill confirmed that Frans Nielsen was cleared to play tonight against the Kings.

Nielsen has been out of the lineup since March 6th, when he was hit in the head by the Boston Bruins’ David Backes late in the first period. Nielsen did not return to the game and missed the three ensuing games. Backes was suspended for three games.

“You never know how bad it is. I guess it can be small symptoms that can turn into something way worse. But I was lucky that it wasn’t that bad,” Nielsen told Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press when asked if it was a scary injury. “You just want to come back now and keep it simple and work your way back into it.”

Nielsen is going to slide back into the third line with Andreas Athanasiou and Justin Abdelkader on his wings. He’ll also be getting time on the penalty kill and the first powerplay unit. “He’s a real good two-way player who is a big part of our penalty kill and was starting to go on the powerplay when he got hurt. Hopefully he can help both of those units,” said Blashill when asked how he’ll be using Nielsen going forward. “He brings poise under pressure. He doesn’t commit any unforced errors. That’s the biggest thing.”

After losing Tomas Tatar at the trade deadline, the Frans Nielsen injury hurt the Wings pretty bad. They still haven’t won a game since the trade deadline. Nielsen is a source of calm on the ice and, hopefully with his expertise and experience, the Wings can squeeze a win out of one of these west coast teams.

With Nielsen making his return, both David Booth and Luke Witkowski will be healthy scratches. Evgeny Svechnikov will remain in the lineup and play on the fourth line with Luke Glendening and Martin Frk.

For Nielsen’s full interview with HSJ, which includes his thoughts on playing with Athanasiou, you can watch the Twitter video below:

Blashill’s full interview with HSJ is here:

Puck drop is 10:00 P.M. ET in L.A. tonight and the game will be on Fox Sports Detroit.