TAMPA, Fla. — Mike Green stayed on the ice a good 20 minutes after his teammates had gone off, eager to see how long he can stake.
This is his first trip of the season with the Detroit Red Wings, the first time he’s felt well enough to go on the road after being diagnosed with a viral infection that was attacking his liver. For a while, all he could do was stay home and rest. That seems at last to be changing.
“We’ve been doing tests every week,” Green said Thursday. “I think I’m at the tail end of it. I’m feeling a lot better every time I skate, but because I haven’t skated all that much the last while, now it’s about getting back in shape and playing form.”
Green isn’t expected back before November at the earliest. His recovery is still day-to-day. He’s skated on his own here and there, but has yet to join in full practices. Thursday, he took part in an optional morning skate at Amalie Arena.
“It’s just one of those things that takes time and you have to make sure you’re resting and taking care of yourself,” Green said. “The better you do that, the quicker you will be back.”
Green is the Wings’ best offensive defenseman – he led the Wings’ back end last season with 33 points in 66 games, including 13 points on the power play. His absence has stood all the more as four other veteran defenseman have missed time this season.
“He’s an upper-tier NHL defenseman in my opinion,” coach Jeff Blashill said. “He moves the puck out of the zone really well. You don’t spend as much time playing defense and he puts the other team on their heels a little bit with his attack mentality, and so we haven’t had that. When he comes back, it will be good news, whenever that happens.
“It’s good to see him, good to have him around. He’s a guy lots of guys care about and a real good leader.”
Injuries on the back end have forced as many as four rookie defensemen into the lineup, which has meant pairing two inexperienced guys.
“The one thing that our young D have had to do is survive on their own a little bit,” coach Jeff Blashill said. “You’d love to be able to get them in, see them paired with a guy like Mike Green and see his approach and the impact he has. When those guys have a veteran around them, it helps them, so the more veterans around, it will help them excel.”
One rookie defenseman in particular will benefit when he can see Green in action: Dennis Cholowski, who is in the same mold as Green – smooth and poised.
“He’s one of the best skaters I’ve ever seen,” Cholowski said. “And just his calmness, his ability to break the puck out as calmly as possible and join the rush and be able to create offense – he just looks so smooth and calm out there and I just try to emulate that any way I can.”
Green, 33, said the virus is “a common one,” and that he doesn’t know how he contracted it. It was after a scrimmage in Traverse City last month that he alerted team medical personnel.
“Camp really sort of pushed me to the limits and that’s when we knew something was wrong,” Green said. “It hit me hard and unfortunately I had to take some time to rest and recover.”
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Contact Helene St. James: hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames.
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