Red Wings lose DeKeyser to leg injury

By Helene St. James/Detroit Free PressThe Detroit Red Wings will be without Danny DeKeyser pending results of tests on a lower left leg injury,DeKeyser joins a number of players who have been hurt over the past three weeks. The Wings took Thursday off, a chance for players to get a little breather before hosting the Maple Leafs Friday and playing at Toronto Saturday as exhibition season closes. The Wings open the regular season October 9.The Wings announced the injury to DeKeyser Thursday evening, revealing he was hurt during the third period of the 7-2 victory at Pittsburgh. DeKeyser is a top-four defenseman, slated to play opposite newcomer Mike Green. Green missed a few games because of a tender groin. General manager Ken Holland told the Free Press that defenseman Kyle Quincey is questionable for the weekend because of a lower-body injury. Forward Teemu Pulkkinen is doubtful because of an upper-body injury dating to last week.The Wings generally fly out and home day-off exhibition games, but Wednesday’s group had to overnight in Pittsburgh to help out a fellow Mike Ilitch-owned team. After dropping the Wings off Wednesday afternoon in Pittsburgh, Red Bird III flew to Texas to pick up the Detroit Tigers and ferry them to Chicago, for their season-closing series against the White Sox. From there, Red Bird III flew back to Detroit, a fresh crew took over, went to Pittsburgh, and had the Wings back in Detroit mid-morning Thursday.The Wings already are without Pavel Datsyuk who won’t be back before November at the earliest. Darren Helm was injured the first day of camp, suffering a concussion and separated shoulder, and has yet to start skating.Meanwhile the Blackhawks announced their schedule for home-game giveaways on Thursday and there was a surprising gift on the docket.The Hawks will hold a Patrick Kane bobblehead night on Jan. 24 when they host the Blues with the first 10,000 fans getting a free bobblehead.The announcement of the giveaway comes while Kane is still under investigation for an alleged sexual assault that happened at his home in western New York in August.While Kane has not been charged, he remains under investigation but has practiced with the team and has played in some of the Hawks’ exhibition games.