Henrik Zetterberg talks to Herman Liv, the five-year-old son of former Red Wings prospect Stefan Liv, who died in a Russian plane crash last year. (Photo by Bill Roose/Detroit Red Wings)

Jonathan Ericsson is still hoping to return to the Red Wings’ lineup in time for the last four regular-season games.

But in the meantime, he’s getting a kick out of having houseguests, including the two young sons of his former Grand Rapids teammate, Stefan Liv, who died last September in the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl plane crash in Russia.

“Now we have some kids in the house it's hard to play around with those guys,” said Ericsson, who suffered a fractured left wrist last Saturday. “Carrying them around I usually have one in each arm. Now I can't really do much with either of them.”

Acting as a chaperone, Ericsson was in the Wings’ locker room Thursday introducing his teammates to five-year-old Herman Liv. His three-year-old brother Harry and their mom, Anna, did not attend Thursday’s practice.

“The kids are fine, they’re too young, I think, but for Anna her days are up and down, of course. So it’s nice for them to think of something else for once.”

Ericsson’s injury occurred as the Wings were killing off a Colorado power play at the start of the second period. Brad Stuart was attempting to clear the puck when Ericsson stepped into the path of the high-rising puck.

“It was kind of coming at my face and that's the reason I brought up my arm,” said Ericsson, who was hit on the outside of the left wrist. “I’m hoping 4-5 weeks, that's what they say. It could go faster it could go slower.”

The injury was unavoidable and had nothing to do with the length of his gloves, which clearly didn’t protect him Saturday night.

“When you put your hand like this,” Ericsson said, holding his hand up to cover his face, “it opens everything up.”

The fracture makes it difficult to grip a stick and the rotational movement of Ericsson’s forearm is adversely affected.

“They did another x-ray two days again,” he said. “There's a break just on the tip on the (out) side almost all the way out there. There were a few cracks too around (the wrist).”

Ericsson hopes to regain skating as soon as he can tie his own skates.

“I'll start skating pretty soon, maybe tomorrow. We'll see,” he said. “It's all to get my legs working because I can't do anything with the stick.”