Blackhawks’ Bickell and Stalberg could be targeted by Wings once free agency opens

DETROIT — With free agency a little over a month away, the Red Wings’ shopping list could include two players off the team that just ousted them from this year’s playoffs.

Chicago Blackhawks forwards Bryan Bickell and Viktor Stalberg could be tops on Detroit’s list once free agency opens up on July 5.

Both are unrestricted free agents and 27 years old.

Bickell’s stock has really rose in the playoffs. After a nine goal and 14 assist regular season, Bickell has five goals this postseason and one assist.

Bickell, who was also a plus-12 during the lockout-shortened regular season, is in the final year of a contract that pays him $541,667.

The 6-4, 233-pound forward also showed his physical side when he dealt a crushing blow behind the Wings’ goal on Niklas Kronwall, who later was learned to have injured himself on the play.

Bickell and Stalberg played on Chicago’s third line most of the season.

Stalberg could be headed out of town after reportedly getting into it with Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville about playing time, mainly on the power play, in their first-round series with the Minnesota Wild.

Stalberg was benched for the first two games of the Western Conference semifinal series with the Wings.

Quenneville denied reports.

“Viktor knows the reasons why,” Quenneville said. “It has nothing to do with anything about our conversation. It was strictly nothing to do with that. At all. That situation wasn’t even addressed.”

Stalberg got back in the lineup for Game 3 against the Wings and remained in it.

Stalberg made $875,000 this season.

The Wings currently will be close to $12 million under the salary cap.

Chicago has roughly $2 million in cap space.

Other possible players the Wings could target Mike Ribeiro, Pascal Dupuis, Patrik Elias, Jaromir Jagr, Michael Ryder, Jarome Iginla, Brenden Morrow, Nathan Horton, Mason Raymond, Ryane Clowe and David Clarkson.

Samuelsson may need surgery to repair injured pectoral muscle.

DETROIT — It looks like Mikael Samuelsson may need surgery to repair in injured pectoral muscle.

He suffered the injury on March 31 and missed the final 13 games of the regular season. Returning for Game 7 against Anaheim, he reinjured it again and didn’t play against Chicago.

“He just never healed, but he feels better every day,” Wings general manager Ken Holland said. “There’s a chance he may need surgery.”

Samuelsson also suffered a pulled groin and broken finger this season, which limited him to nine games, four in the regular season and five in the playoffs.

Wings want a healthy Helm by training camp

DETROIT — One player Detroit missed basically all season was Darren Helm.

“We’ve got to get him healthy for next season,” Wings general manager Ken Holland said. “It’s probably going to take half the year to get him up and running.”

Helm played just one game this season due to reoccurring back pain.

He however won’t need surgery.

“He’s been to about four doctors and they say there is no structural damage,” Holland said. “The plan is to let him heal and have him ready for training camp. We need him healthy in September.

“In order to get him playing, doctors asked him to push through it,” Holland continued. “He tried that, felt good and then experienced pain. There’s no use for him to push through it anymore.”

Helm, 26, has been on the wrong end of a rash of injuries of late.

He missed the Wings’ week-long training camp and the first three games of the season with a back injury, which was the first of his playing career.

He hit by a puck on Nov. 2 during an informal skate in Troy, breaking an orbital bone.

On March 17, he missed the final 10 regular-season games with a sprained MCL. Then, in his first game back, the playoff opener against Nashville, he had tendons in his forearm sliced by a skate.

Cleary, Kronwall and Howard all played hurt; DeKeyser could have returned next round

DETROIT – “Everybody is banged up this time of year.”

And that indeed was the case with a few of the Detroit Red Wings.

“All teams have banged up players this time of year,” Wings general manager Ken Holland said in a phone interview. “It’s a lot of hockey.”

The most significant injury of the bunch was Valtteri Filppula, who’ll be in a cast for 2-3 weeks and will need 6-8 weeks to heal, from a high-ankle sprain he suffered trying to get off the ice after his second shift of Game 7, Wednesday night in Chicago.

Filppula got tied up with the Blackhawks’ Andrew Shaw near the Wings’ bench and wound up on the ice and needed to be helped back to the dressing room.

He left the United Center with his left leg in an immobilizer.

Shaw first crosschecked Henrik Zetterberg and then Daniel Cleary tried to grab him while on the bench.

Shaw appeared to have slew-footed Filppula after a crosscheck to bring him to the ice awkwardly. The Blackhawks forward wasn’t penalized on the play.

Filppula can become an unrestricted free agent on July 5.

“We made him an offer in August and September,” Holland said. “I’m sure we’ll talk more.”

Here is the rest of the walking wounded that didn’t miss any of the Wings’ 14 games this postseason.

— Daniel Cleary: He suffered a second-degree separation of the left shoulder and a fractured left finger in Game 5 against Anaheim on hit by Daniel Winnik.

— Niklas Kronwall: He hurt his right hand against Anaheim and then suffered injured right shoulder on a hit by Chicago’s Bryan Bickell in Game 5.

— Jimmy Howard: He suffered a pulled hamstring in the Anaheim series.

Had the Wings advanced they probably would have gotten defenseman Danny DeKeyser back from a broken right thumb he suffered in Game 2 against Anaheim.

DeKeyser, who had surgery on May 7, was set to get cleared on Tuesday and could have returned as early as Game 3 in the series.