Is Kane Injury Worse Than Red Wings Are Revealing?

Getting any kind of accurate or detailed injury information out of the Detroit Red Wings, or any NHL team for that matter, is a lot like expecting to get honesty from a politician.

You’ll be waiting a long time on both counts.

The latest update on Red Wings right-winger Patrick Kane’s upper-body injury was still shrouded in mystery. But it certainly was cause for concern.

“Patrick won’t make this trip,” Red Wings coach Todd McLellan said.

Todd McLellan said Patrick Kane will not make this trip, but did skate today. Will be re-evaluated for Saturday. #LGRW

— Daniella Bruce (@daniellabruce_) October 21, 2025

That means the Wings are going to be without Kane for a minimum of three games. He already missed Sunday’s 4-2 home-ice win over the Edmonton Oilers. Now he’s definitely out for road games on Wednesday against the Buffalo Sabres and Thursday against the New York Islanders.

“He did skate today, which is a good sign,” McLellan said. “And we’ll evaluate him when we get back for the Saturday game (At home facing the St. Louis Blues).”

Red Wings Cannot Afford Long-Term Kane Absence

Kane was injured in Friday’s overtime win over the Tampa Bay Lightning. He lost an edge while trying to beat Lightning defenseman Ryan McDonagh wide as he was driving to the net. Kane crashed hard into the end boards on his left side. He struggled to get to the bench and didn’t return to the game.

His creativity with the puck and ability to finish make Kane among the most dangerous of the Red Wings. A long-term absence of his elite skill set would be devastating to Detroit’s potent power play.

Marco Kasper was filling Kane’s spot on the top power-play unit at practice on Tuesday.

“We don’t really know what we have or what it’ll look like,” McLellan said of the power play. “We needed some good practice time, which we had today.

“Kasp was there. He. He’s his own player. If we expect him to be Patrick Kane and do some of the things that Patrick does well, then we’ll probably be disappointed. But if we view Kasp, if it is him, for what Kasp is and the strengths he has, he can be just fine.

Then he’ll fill that hole, or whoever goes there will fill that hole. And we still expect high-end performance out of that special team.”