Red Wings Recall Soderblom To Replace Injured Larkin

With Dylan Larkin ruled out for tonight’s game against the Minnesota Wild, the Detroit Red Wings recalled Elmer Soderblom from the Grand Rapids Griffins.He will join the team in St. Paul today.

Soderblom, 21, played two games with Grand Rapids without registering a point. He had two shots on goal in his last game against Hartford.

The Red Wings also placed defenseman Olli Maatta on the injured reserve, retroactive to Dec. 6. He has been battling a non-COVID illness.

UPDATE: The #RedWings today recalled left wing Elmer Soderblom from the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins and placed defenseman Olli Maatta on injured reserve retroactive to Dec. 6.

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— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) December 14, 2022

The 6-foot-8 Swedish left wing Soderblom was sent to the AHL recently after recovering from an injury sustained while blocking a shot. He hasn’t played with the Red Wings since he was injured on Nov. 8 against the Montreal Canadiens.

Another Shot-Blocking Injury

Larkin was also injured blocking a shot in Detroit’s 1-0 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes Tuesday at Little Caesars Arena. The Red Wings haven’t released any information about Larkin’s injury other than he won’t be playing tonight. After facing the Wild, they don’t play again until facing the Ottawa Senators at home Saturday (1 p.m.).

Losing Larkin for an extended period would be a major blow. The Red Wings have struggled much of the season creating 5-on-5 offense. When they have produced 5-on-5, Larkin has often been the catalyst. He leads Detroit scorers with 27 points.

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Soderblom has scored two goals in 13 games at the NHL level. But he didn’t register a point in his last eight games with Detroit. He was -4 in those games. Soderblom is -5 on the season.

When Soderblom debuted with the Griffins last weekend, he became the tallest player in their history. At 6-foot-8, Soderblom edged out former 6-foot-6 players in Jared Coreau, Francois Leroux, Brad Norton, Michael Rasmussen, Dan Turple, Sebastian Cossa and teammate Simon Edvinsson for the tallest player honors.