Nicklas Lidstrom (ankle) is expected to be a game-time call on Saturday. Lidstrom was on the ice Saturday for the sixth consecutive day. "It's slowly been getting better," Lidstrom said. "I think today was better than yesterday. So that's a good sign it's going in the right direction. They want to make sure I have no soreness going on the ice twice in one day. That's why they want me to take warm-ups and go from there." He hasn't played in nearly a month and the Red Wings have struggled without him.

Red Wings coach Mike Babcock thinks that Nicklas Lidstrom (ankle) is ready to return based on Friday's practice. That's great news, but Lidstrom isn't ready to commit to anything yet. "Still day-to-day," Lidstrom said. "We have to wait and see how it feels after having a good practice today. We don't want it to get any worse. I'm going to skate tomorrow morning." Detroit's next game is on Saturday.

Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said Nicklas Lidstrom could be ready to play Saturday against the Hurricanes. The future hall-of-famer reported that his ankle has been feeling much better after skating Monday. Lidstrom has missed 11 games during which the Red Wings are 3-6-2.

Superstar defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom (deep ankle bruise) was back on the ice skating in practice. "It felt better," said Lidstrom, who added that the swelling subsided. Lidstrom was sent home late last week and didn't skate the entire weekend. "The big test is when you put your skate on and you're skating," he said. "That's when the most pressure is on it. I was able to pivot and do some turns. "The most pain is from tying the skate, putting the pressure on where it's hurting, trying to skate and push off your toes. That's what's been bothering." Lidstrom has missed the last 10 games and won't return until late this week or early next week.

Nicklas Lidstrom (ankle) is at least one week away from returning to the Detroit lineup. Lidstrom has missed the last eight games with the ankle injury and has now been ordered by the Red Wings back to Detroit and to stay off skates for the next three-four days. Assuming that he is able to practice and play shortly thereafter, it will still be a week before he is able to return. "I think we're all a little discouraged," GM Ken Holland said. "Nick had the injury (Feb. 25) and the doctors felt it would be about two weeks. But it's not healing as quickly as we felt or hoped."

Nicklas Lidstrom (ankle) has now missed a career-high eight consecutive contests. To make matters worse, Lidstrom only skated for a matter of minutes on Wednesday before getting off the ice. "I was more sore -- that's why I was out there for just a few minutes," Lidstrom said. "I don't think it's good when you're more sore. So they want me to be more cautious about it." Lidstrom doesn't plan to skate on Thursday and it might be days before he is back on the ice. The area is swollen, but the silver lining that X-rays on Lidstrom's ankle haven't revealed a fracture.

Nicklas Lidstrom (ankle) will not return on Tuesday or Wednesday. Lidstrom was able to skate briefly on Monday, but it's still difficult to do so. He might be available on Saturday, but he's far from a safe bet.

Nicklas Lidstrom took to the ice on his own for the first time on Thursday since heading to the sidelines with deep ankle bone bruise. "I tried to skate today but I can still feel the pain," he said. "It's still day by day, and hopefully it'll get better. Probably on that West Coast trip (he expects to play), if it feels better, if there's no pain when I can put the skate on." Lidstrom has sat out the last four games with the ailment and he has already been ruled out for Friday's home contest versus Los Angeles.

Nicklas Lidstrom (ankle) isn't expected to play on Tuesday. It will be the fourth consecutive game he's missed. He has 10 goals and 31 points in 62 games this season. He's currently considered day-to-day, but this might be something more than a short-term problem.

Nicklas Lidstrom admitted that he's a little concerned that his ankle injury might be something more than a short-term issue. Lidstrom hasn't played since Feb. 25 and he will miss Friday and Saturday's contests due to a deep bone bruise. However, the bigger problem is that Lidstrom hasn't noticed much improvement lately. He will be re-evaluated on Monday.