"I don't know if it's a setback, he just isn't ready," Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. "He's coming back, it's a day-to-day thing and he's not ready right now. We'll see if he's ready for tomorrow."
The Wings play Sunday in New York against the Rangers.
While some might assume the Wings are holding Green out because of a possible trade by Monday's 3 p.m. deadline, Blashill said after Thursday's game against Buffalo that wasn't the case.
"If he's healthy to play, he'll play," Blashill said. "I think you can talk to (general manager) Ken (Holland), but there's risk in playing, risk in not playing in terms of trade-ability. You can follow that up with Ken. But there might be teams that want to see him too. So there's risk both ways. Again, that's not really my area, that's Ken's area. But there's certainly teams that want to see people play, then they want to see him play."
Green did practice with the team Friday.
HOWARD AND COREAU: Blashill said he has not yet made a decision on which goaltender will start Sunday in New York but did not rule out playing Jimmy Howard in back-to-back games.
"I'm thinking about tonight," Blashill said. "We need a win tonight, we're trying to track this team down that's in front of us so we need a win tonight. I'll make my decision for tomorrow after the game and see how it goes. But certainly, anything's on the table right now. We're a spot where we need wins and we need them right now and we can't plan for the future, we got to plan for right now so I'm just worried about tonight."
Jared Coreau has never played against the Carolina Hurricanes but has played against the Rangers once at Joe Louis Arena.
In that game, Henrik Lundqvist made 21 saves in a 1-0 overtime win while Coreau had 18 saves.
Coreau's last NHL game was last March 8 at Boston, a 6-1 loss.
HURRICANES WITHOUT STAAL: Carolina center Jordan Staal will miss his second straight game because his wife was having a baby.
"He's a great player, there's no question about it," Blashill said. "I'm sure that they've got other guys that'll come in and work. They played well last night, I know it seems weird when you see that score. That just shows how much Pittsburgh's rolling and when Pittsburgh scores, they can put them up for sure. I watched, it was 2-1, Carolina had a shift, they must have had three shift changes in it, next thing you know, Pitt comes down and scores and all of a sudden it's 3-1. They got a really good team with the guys they have. Certainly Staal is, I think, one of the best two-way players in the league so it's a big loss if he's not playing."
According to the Hurricanes' website, Lucas Hallmark will center Jeff Skinner and Phillip Di Giuseppe while winger Josh Jooris sits.
Scott Darling will be in goal as Cam Ward played Friday night against Pittsburgh.
HOCKEY IS FOR EVERYONE: The Wings celebrate Hockey is for Everyone month with their celebration tonight, welcoming Affirmations, an LGBTQ organization; Michigan Warriors Hockey Program, a military organization; the Michigan Sled Dogs and Grand Rapids Senior Sled Wings; Clark Park Coalition Hockey; Special Olympics Michigan Poly Hockey; and the Michigan Senior Women's Hockey League.
"I think it's a great initiative," Blashill said. "I think the everyone is the key to that. There's lots of different groups of people that love hockey. I think all should be welcome to enjoy their passion for this great game and the game that's certainly treated me great. When I grew up, it was probably seen as just a game for boys. Now it's a game for boys and girls and those with disabilities, just across the board. I think that's an awesome thing."
For Blashill, it affects him personally because his daughter, Josie, plays hockey.
"I know from my own perspective from my daughter, I think it's great," Blashill said. "It's another team sport that she can play and I think it's great that she has that opportunity and we're lucky here in Detroit, she can play with girls, which is important to her. She doesn't want to play with boys so I think it's great that she has that opportunity."
The Wings will use sticks with pride tape during warm-ups and those will be auctioned off at DetroitRedWings.com/auction with the proceeds benefiting You Can Play.
