Chelios Out 3-4 Weeks with Sprained Knee

Detroit Red Wings defenseman Chris Chelios has been placed on injured reserve with a sprained right knee. He is expected to miss three to four weeks.

Chelios injured the knee when he was checked by Los Angeles King Mike Cammalleri during the first period of the Wings’ 3-2 overtime win over the Kings on Monday. He returned for one shift in the early second period but left the ice early and headed straight to the locker room.

Detroit forward Ray Whitney is also injured again. He played on Monday for the first time after missing ten games with a sore groin. Whitney aggrevated the injury in the second period and left the game.

In addition to Chelios and Whitney, forward Steve Thomas will be unavailable to the Wings. Thomas is scheduled to undergo arthroscopic knee surgery on Wednesday and will miss five to six weeks.

Goaltender Manny Legace suffered a sprained knee during warmups before Monday’s game but may not miss any playing time.

Chelios, Whitney and Thomas join a long list of Red Wings nursing injuries. Defenseman Derian Hatcher has missed all but the first three games of the season with a torn ACL and isn’t scheduled to return until April. Forward Henrik Zetterberg has begun skating after missing a month with a broken leg and is expected to return next week. Forwards Darren McCarty and Tomas Holmstrom have been out with back spasms and a separated right shoulder, respectively, with no return date set for either.

Captain Steve Yzerman has also been out, missing Monday’s game with a groin injury. Yzerman could return Wednesday when the Red Wings visit the Buffalo Sabres.

To help cover for the injured players, Detroit called up forwards Kevin Miller and Jiri Hudler and defenseman Niklas Kronwall from the Grand Rapids Griffins. Forward Nathan Robinson was returned to Grand Rapids while the Griffins signed forward Jeff Nelson from the United Hockey League’s Muskegon Fury and demoted goaltender Joey MacDonald to the Toledo Storm of the ECHL.

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The seven transactions involving Grand Rapids is the busiest single day of player movement in the franchise’s eight-year history… Red Wings goalie Dominik Hasek is also rumored to have reinjured his groin, which caused him to miss most of the month of November.