Latest update on Elmer Soderblom isn't encouraging

Towering Detroit Red Wings rookie forward Elmer Soderblom burst onto the scene by making the team out of training camp and subsequently scoring not only his team's first goal of the year, but his very first National Hockey League goal in their season opener against the visiting Montreal Canadiens this past October.

However, he's been out of the lineup after suffering an injury while blocking a shot nearly three weeks ago against Montreal, their second visit to Detroit on the schedule. Go ahead and add Soderblom to the list of Detroit's walking wounded who sustained injuries while blocking shots, along with Tyler Bertuzzi and Filip Zadina; Bertuzzi missed a month with a broken hand, while Zadina was projected to miss 6-8 weeks.

And according to Detroit's head coach Derek Lalonde, it doesn't look like Soderblom will be ready to go in the near future. 

“I’m told maybe a week now,” Lalonde said. “It’s been a little frustrating for me not knowing. This was day to day and now we’re in the 2-3 weeks, it’s lower body, it’s just going to take some time. I would not expect him on this homestand.”

However, there was a silver lining in Lalonde's mind when it came to suffering injuries from blocking shots.

“That’s what winning looks like,” Lalonde said. “If we would have told our guys we’d be sitting where we are right now and the sacrifice would have been some injuries over blocked shots, every single player would have taken that, and that’s exactly where we’re at.”

The Red Wings are back in action tonight at Little Caesars Arena against their Original 6 rival Toronto Maple Leafs.