The Detroit Red Wings will place forward Stephen Weiss on injured reserve to open a roster spot for forward Johan Franzen, who will return to play Sunday, the Red Wings said Friday.

Franzen, who has been out since Oct. 17 because of a groin injury, will be in the lineup against the Buffalo Sabres.

"We anticipate Mule (Franzen) playing on Sunday," Holland said, according to MLive.com. "And if Mule is ready to go on Sunday, whenever we need a roster spot, Weiss will go on IR because he's not eligible to play right now."

Weiss injured his groin Wednesday while on a conditioning stint with the Grand Rapids Griffins of the American Hockey League. He has played one NHL game this season, with zero shots on goal in 8:03 of ice time Oct. 18 against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Holland said Weiss will not travel with the Red Wings on their three-game road trip, which starts Sunday in Buffalo. Instead, he'll be visiting doctors to find the cause of his latest groin issues. Weiss played 26 games last season due to persistent groin injuries that led to sports hernia surgery in December 2013 and another procedure in April.

"We're going to try to get him healthy and we'll start the process all over again," Holland said. "He's going to go see three to four people. We're going to work on it. We need time to elapse. We need to see over the next three to four days does he get better or get worse or stay the same. We don't think it's anything more than some type of groin pull but we need to see how he feels on Tuesday and Wednesday."

Holland said he wasn't sure if Weiss' latest injury is related to his problems from last season or is something new.

"Who knows on groins?" Holland said. "I've seen three-day groin injuries and I've seen month groin injuries. That's why you need time to elapse and see how he feels."