LAS VEGAS Former Edmonton Oilers forward Sam Gagner made his way to Detroit to practise Wednesday after sorting out some visa issues, and was on a line with Val Filppula and Tyler Bertuzzi.

Hell play against Minnesota on Thursday at Little Caesars, and on their power play, which has 28 goals in 64 games.

We dont have any right-shot guys, Luke Glendenings our only right-shot forward and hes not a natural power play guy, said Wings coach Jeff Blashill.

Gagner has three kids under four, including a five-month-old daughter Cali, so this move is hardly ideal, but he and his wife Rachel, a physician, flew to Detroit to be with him.

The first-ever player to wear No. 89 for the Red Wings, Gagner still has game as a role player, but hes played in Arizona, Philadelphia, Columbus, Vancouver, Edmonton and now Detroit, with some stops in the AHL the last half-dozen years. Eventually, all the moving may get old with his family situation.

A veteran pro scout watching him with the Oilers a few weeks back said: He can still contribute in a lot of ways and if he wants to keep playing for the league minimum next year, for sure, he would be a good pick-up.

Gagner has made over $33 million in salary, but playing for $750,000 might not be what he wants, unless its back with the Oilers as a bubble guy.

Oilers general manager Ken Holland thinks Gagner has all the hockey acumen and work ethic to get into team management when hes finished playing, such as Kris Draper or Shawn Horcoff in Detroit.

Oh yeah, Sams a smart guy, said Holland. It was a very tough day for me (trading him). He said hed never played a playoff game for the Edmonton Oilers and really wanted that. But I also told him when he doesnt want to play anymore to give me a call and see what he wants to do after hockey. Biggest thing with those jobs is all the travel and being away from your family and youre doing it for a lot different salary.

BENNING A HEALTHY SCRATCH

The old right-shot, left-shot defence pairing theory for coaches has Matt Benning forced into a cheerleading role while rookie William Lagesson plays with veteran righty Mike Green, who was playing his 880th NHL game Wednesday against the Golden Knights.

Lagesson may be returning to the farm in Bakersfield, Calif., when Oscar Klefbom comes back next week from his minor shoulder clean-up, but Benning might still be the No. 7 defenceman with Caleb Jones moving back from the second pairing to play with Green.

The old: You want a left shot with a right shot playing together? coach Tippett was asked.

Thats right, left-right.

Confusing as that is to say and write.

Even though Lagessons a rookie, you dont think Benning could move over? he was asked.

No, I would rather have the left-right guys together, said Tippett. I dont know why it is, but you find very few right-shot defencemen who can go and play the other side.

He knows Lagesson is still learning the ropes, in just his seventh NHL game Wednesday, but he shoots left, so

When Klefbom returns, hell go back with Adam Larsson in the top two pairings. Tippett has liked Jones play with Larsson a lot, but hell undoubtedly slide back, which leaves Benning the odd-man out. Where Kris Russell plays when he gets over his concussion issues is anybodys guess. Hes missed 13 games.

Benning, one of only two Oilers with a plus rating (plus-9, compared to Kailer Yamamotos plus-14), had played 13 straight games after returning from a second blow to the head that had him out from Dec. 4 to Jan. 29. He only played 9:23 against Los Angeles on Sunday with Lagesson. In his 13 consecutive games, hes gone from that low number to 17:38 against San Jose. His truncated season started with 23 games in a row, then he was hit with back-to-back concussions. His contract is up July 1 and hes a restricted free-agent.

IN THE LOOP

Before the Golden Knights traded for goalie Robin Lehner as a big security blanket for Marc-Andre Fleury if anything happened to Fleury we didnt think we were strong enough to win playoff games, said GM Kelly McCrimmon they gave Fleury a heads-up.

They didnt want him seeing the transaction on TSN.

They were just explaining why, and what it was going to be like, Fleury said. I thought it was very nice of them to take the time to talk to me about it before I found out on TV or something.

He knows theyre in a win-now mode.

I get where the team is at, theyve invested so much into doing well, said Fleury, who had Malcolm Subban as his backup for two and a half years.

This n that: Tippett said they brought Markus Granlund back from Bakersfield rather than Tyler Benson, with Yamamotos sprained ankle, because he can also play centre and Sam (Gagner) was the one guy who could jump in there but now hes gone. Defenceman Nick Holden, who lives in St. Albert, just got a two-year extension for $1.7 million a season with the Golden Knights. Hes in their second pairing Golden Knights forward Nick Cousins also had visa problems after his trade from Montreal, but theyre cleared up and he played a bottom six-role against the Oilers Lehner was third in Vezina voting last year while playing for the Islanders, one spot ahead of Fleury. Hes a sheer rental.

E-mail: jmatheson@postmedia.com

On Twitter: @NHLbyMatty

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Traded Edmonton Oilers forward Sam Gagner moves into more important role with Red Wings - National Post