Red Wings: Reports on Darren Helm are good

DETROIT - Red Wings general manager Ken Holland said he spoke with forward Darren Helm last week in British Columbia, and the progress report he got back was good.

Helm played in one regular-season game last season and missed all of the playoffs with a back injury. He skated at the Red Wings' development camp in Traverse City last month.

"Everything's good," Holland said. "He feels good. He's training. I know he trained very hard last week. He's in Detroit. He's very happy where he's at. He has no issues. Obviously, the challenge is physical play. I'm cautiously optimistic."

Holland is hoping Helm will be able to come to training camp next month without any issues.

"Getting banged around, that's part of his game," Holland said. "That's part of what makes him special. He's physical. He's on the puck. He finishes body checks. He goes to hard areas.

"I'm sure early on we'll probably go light with him in preseason games. But in order to be able to play the first game of the year against Buffalo on Oct. 2, he's going to have to play three or four preseason games. My feeling is if he's in the lineup against Buffalo we're feeling pretty good about things."

Helm would be a huge boost to the team's depth as their third-line center. The Wings were essentially without an entire third line last season with Helm, Todd Bertuzzi (back) and Mikael Samuelsson (multiple injuries) limited to a combined 12 games.

George Sipple writes for the Detroit Free Press, a Gannett property