In Red Wings Land

Adversity brought Detroit Red Wings together. What that means for future | Freep

Before they broke for the summer last week, general manager Ken Holland addressed players, his message acknowledging that they’re not missing the playoffs for lack of effort. It resonated with Dylan Larkin, the team’s most important player.

“Kenny brought up only five games that we really didn’t have it and we didn’t play well,” Larkin said at last Monday’s locker cleanout. “Five games out of 82, it’s going to happen. We’ve had tough stretches but we’ve always come back and practiced hard and battled hard.

Effort is great and I’m very happy to see the team competing pretty much every night, but effort only goes so far. The Red Wings still have a ways to go in the overall talent department. It’ll be an interesting offseason.

Around the League

Suspension-worthy? Maple Leafs’ Kadri gets revenge on Bruins’ DeBrusk | Yahoo!

It was quite the night for Nazem Kadri.