In Red Wings Land

Vladislav Namestnikov’s offense catching up to defense for Red Wings
“There’s different ways to contribute,” Namestnikov said. “Obviously if it’s not going in for you (offensively), there’s other ways (to help). Defense is a very important part of the game, and if it’s (the puck) not going in, you can focus more on the defensive side.”

Namestnikov has been pretty consistent for Detroit this season. It was great to see Mantha get him the goal the other night.

Around the NHL

Karlsson wants Sharks to avoid rebuild, ‘did not sign here’ for that
“Obviously, I did not sign here to go through a rebuild or go through what I did for 10 years in Ottawa,” the 30-year-old defenseman said. “But it is what it is. I think that we need to find a way to build with a core group that we have here and figure out a way how to be competitive here in the upcoming years.”

Unless something changes, Karlsson is going to go down as one of the best players on the worst teams for nearly his whole career. He dragged Ottawa to Game Seven on the Eastern Conference Finals on one leg in 2016-17, but it looks like he’s stuck on a bad San Jose team for the foreseeable future.