Red Wings Forced To Make Emergency Move Amidst Patrick Kane's Injury

The Detroit Red Wings have been 11-4-1 since they hired Head Coach Todd McLellan.

Yet, amidst all their wins they have just suffered a major loss, as the Red Wings' Patrick Kane was placed on injured reserve retroactive to January 21st.

Kane is currently day-to-day for the Wings, and as a result they've had to make a major move, as they've signed AHL veteran Dominik Shine.

Until his call-up, Shine was playing on an AHL contract and has played nine seasons for the Grand Rapid Griffins.

The veteran was released from his AHL deal and signed a two-year $775K deal with the Red Wings.

Detroit will benefit from Shine's presence as he's been a force on the ice for the Griffins, scoring 32 points (11 G, 21 A) in 40 games in the AHL this season.

He's more than earned his new, league minimum deal in the NHL.

Kane's struggled this season, and this latest injury will have a major setback on his production in Detroit.

This season he's only scored 30 points (11 G, 19 A) in 42 games, and he's been out of the lineup for a while.

Kane only has a year left on his deal, and has a cap hit of $4 million with the Red Wings.

Since the Red Wings will be without his services for some time, could this mean they let him walk at the end of the season and test free agency?

He's only seen limited success with the team and scored 47 points (20 G, 27 A) in 51 games last season.

The team hasn't been able to find themselves in playoff contention as they had hoped with "Showtime" in the lineup.

Now, with Dominik Shine, they can find production at a discount and could make room for younger players to be promoted.

It's difficult to see how Kane's time could end in Detroit, but if they fail to make the playoffs it's hard to see him re-signing for another year.