The Detroit Red Wings might start the season with only one veteran goaltender.
Chris Osgood, who was signed to compete with Manny Legace, could miss the exhibition season because of a groin injury.
“They tell me I’ll be out two to three weeks,” Osgood said Wednesday, two weeks before Detroit opens the season against the St. Louis Blues. “I’ve never hurt my groin before, so I really don’t know how long I’ll be out. An ultrasound showed that there was a small tear on my right side.
“The biggest thing is that I don’t hurt it worse, because there have been goalies that have missed the whole year with a groin injury.”
Osgood said he was injured last week during training camp. With Osgood out, the Red Wings are left with Legace and rookie Jimmy Howard.
Detroit signed Osgood to a $900,000, one-year contract last month. He played with the Red Wings from 1993-94 through 2000-01 and was the No. 1 goalie in 1998 when they won the Stanley Cup. He was a backup in their previous championship season.
Canucks: Winger Matt Cooke re-signed with Vancouver, agreeing to a three-year, $4.6 million contract.
Cooke played in only 53 games in 2003-04 because of injuries, scoring 11 goals with 12 assists. But he was promoted to the top line after Todd Bertuzzi was suspended for his March 8 attack on Colorado’s Steve Moore and led the Canucks in playoff scoring with three goals and an assist.
“Matt has developed into a solid two-way player with our hockey club and we look forward to his continued growth as a player for our club,” general manager Dave Nonis said.
Cooke, a 27-year-old restricted free agent whose qualifying offer was worth $627,000, didn’t take part in training camp during his nine-day holdout, instead skating with a junior hockey team in Canada.
The 144th pick in the 1997 draft, Cooke has 58 goals, 139 points and 426 penalty minutes in 379 games with the Canucks. He recorded a career-best 15 goals and 42 points in 2002-03 while evolving into one of the team’s top penalty killers.
Vancouver has 25 players under contract for just over $40 million, but at least three are expected to play with its American Hockey League affiliate in Manitoba, which should put the Canucks less than $500,000 under the NHL’s $39 million salary cap.
Thrashers: Center Patrik Stefan was injured with 7:44 left in Atlanta’s 5-4 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes after a hard open-ice collision with Erik Cole.
Stefan was carried off the ice on a stretcher after an eight- minute delay and taken to the hospital for a CT scan. No further information was available on his condition.
Avalanche: Forward Darby Hendrickson, who had one goal and three assists in 20 games with Colorado during the 2003-04 season, signed a two- year deal to play for Red Bulls Salzburg in the Austrian hockey league.
