Goddammit. I was afraid of that. Just when we can't afford to lose a key player to injury...

via Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press,

The injury interrupted what had been a stellar season for Rasmussen. Now in his fourth year with the Wings, he already earned a career high with 29 points, and, with 10 goals in 56 games, was on pace to match the career-best 15 he recorded last season.

Rasmussen, 23, thrived being moved from playing center on the third line to playing wing on the second, developing chemistry with middle-man Andrew Copp. Rasmussen also made himself valuable on the penalty kill, and has performed well in all facets of the game.

"What he's brought to our team, not just on the score sheet but physicality, penalty kill, doing all the little things it takes to win. It hurts. I feel for him, we all do," Dylan Larkin said. "Just his commitment to the team, his leadership, he's really found a great role and he's expanded his game in that role. It just sucks for him right now."

from Ansar Khan of Mlive,

“No time frame, but probably looks like a significant time frame for his return,” Lalonde said. “We’ll know more probably in the next couple of days.”

Rasmussen, 23, was having his best season.

“Huge (loss), obviously, the way he was playing,” Lalonde said.

In addition to his offense (10 goals, 29 points in 56 games), Rasmussen provides physicality, forechecking and a net presence with his 6-6 frame and is the team’s leading shot-blocker among forwards.

Lalonde said his absence is a blow to the penalty kill. Rasmussen, Andrew Copp, Dylan Larkin and Pius Suter are their leading penalty killers among forwards.

“The pride and the approach him and Copp have on the penalty kill,” Lalonde said. “We were in a situation where we were only using four killers (at forward). They were killing almost two-thirds of every kill.

“With that said, our forward depth has been tested all year long and it has passed. This will be one more situation.”

On the bright side, Lucas Raymond could return as soon as Monday in Ottawa (7 p.m., Bally Sports Detroit) after missing eight games with a lower-body injury.

“He had a really good skate today,” Lalonde said. “We’ll talk to our medical staff to see how he responds from it. But I’d be surprised if he’s not available for tomorrow.”

more

from Ted Kulfan of the Detroit News,

Teammates were disappointed for Rasmussen, who has taken major strides in recent months.

"Just what he's brought to our team, not just on the score sheet but physicality, penalty kill, doing all the little things it takes to win, it just hurts," captain Dylan Larkin said. "I feel for him, we all do. Just his commitment to our team, the leadership he brings. He's really found a great role and he's expanded his game in that role.

"It just sucks for him right now."

more on the Wings...

Well that’s disappointing for him.  I’ve remarked for a couple of seasons how he’s re-made himself, transitioning from a big power forward in the W who relied on his overwhelming size advantage to be a big goal scorer into an all around valuable player in the NHL.

I wonder if Yzerman will try to find a trade for a similar Rasmussen kind of player.

Although we may get Raymond back and may want to give what was a surplus of forwards a chance to grab their piece of cheese, this close to a serious playoff run for six weeks it would hurt their chances without Ras.  I don’t think Zadina, Berggren, Raymond, Fabbri, Veleno or Vrana can do what Rasmussen does.

We’ll see.  Maybe SY will wait a couple of days to see what the prognosis for Ras to return is, or maybe he will decide to go with who is on hand.

I don’t remember how many draft picks the Wings have again but it’s a pretty healthy number he has to play with.

Welllll, that sucks balls.

It's probably structural damage to the knee and they are consulting on surgery.

Could be 3 months (if it is arthroscopic knee surgery) until skating or it could be as long as 12 months depending on what happened. But certainly not where you want to take a shot and he's doubtful for the playoffs.