The roster move we’ve all been waiting for is finally happening: Wade Megan is getting his chance in Detroit.

Joking aside, with the onslaught of injuries that Detroit has been hit with this week, it was only a mater of time before the roster moves were made to accommodate. Frans Nielsen and Andreas Athanasiou, both of who were playing regular minutes at center, left a hole down the middle. Michael Rasmussen was filling in for them, but with Thomas Vanek now out for 2-3 weeks, there is an additional gap in the top-12.

The decision to bring up Megan is an interesting one. In his eight games with the Grand Rapids Griffins so far, Megan has scored two goals and four points, 24 shots (2nd on the team), and a minus-3 rating. The stats are okay, but there are five players with more points ahead of him, including two centermen and Matt Puempel, who has 79 games of NHL experience and is leading the Griffins in scoring.

In addition to this, the Wings just sent down Christoffer Ehn, a depth centerman, who played in 9 NHL games this year and did pretty well for himself. Why not simply bring Ehn back up to fill the hole at center?

The only reason I can think of is if Athanasiou’s injury isn’t too serious and he’s expected back sooner than we think. The call-up could just be for a very short period of time and Jeff Blashill may not have any intention of playing Megan at all. He could be their “just-in-case” call-up, so it wouldn’t make sense to bring up a prospect who they actually want playing regular minutes.

Megan signed with Grand Rapids this Summer after a long AHL career. He was originally drafted in the fifth round by the Florida Panthers in 2009, but was traded to St. Louis where played in four NHL games.

With the veteran defensemen all returning from their various injuries, Joe Hicketts found himself to be the odd one out. It makes sense that the team is sending him back to Grand Rapids to get consistent playing time.

There is, however, still a question mark around the make-up of the regular D-corps. In a few days, Danny DeKeyser should be ready to play again, but with Dennis Cholowski’s season so far, they can’t in good nature sit him out. So who comes out in favour of DeKeyser? Logic dictates that it will be Nick Jensen.

Hicketts played in eight games this season and recorded zero points and a minus-6 rating. He’ll join the Griffins at home on November 2nd as they’re visited by the Iowa Wild.