Red Wings Rumblings
The Red Wings are on a three-game losing streak after last night’s 2-1 loss against Carolina, and now Detroit finds itself on the outside of the playoff bubble, but still not out of the race. The Ranger are holding the second wild card spot in the East with 66 points (the same as Detroit) in 61 games (also the same as Detroit).
Can’t say I really liked anything about Detroit’s game last night, but it was winnable. Alex Lyon was certainly not the problem, but one bad decision from him to play the puck resulted in a goal that, if avoided, would have given Detroit more of a chance throughout the game. I thought Marco Kasper looked good — as always, he skates hard and is aggressive on the puck. The same can be said for Elmer Soderblom, who picked up Detroit’s lone goal on a beauty of a play. Still, even against a tough team like Carolina, this loss stings.
Some potentially good news, though — The Wings assigned Sheldon Dries to Grand Rapids last night, suggesting that someone will be healthy enough to return to the lineup. I am guessing we may see Michael Rasmussen sooner rather than later, but don’t forget about Jeff Petry. We haven’t heard much of Petry’s progress since he was injured some time ago, but Ken Kal noted on Twitter that Petry has been skating.
So we’ve got one game left until the NHL Trade Deadline on Friday. I would imagine that Steve Yzerman has made up his mind on how he wants to approach the deadline, but we won’t really know what that is until the hammer meets the nail. At this point, and all things considered, I am not anticipating a big splash. This might be one of those cliche “our deadline acquisitions will be the guys getting healthy,” but even that won’t solve the team’s problems at center, or even on defense. Khan at MLive threw out some names that could be on the radar, but it’s all speculation at this point. Elliotte Friedman spoke about what Detroit might do earlier this week, and there wasn’t much there. Friedman believes the Wings are going to be in the market for a defenseman.
Speaking of trades, the Edmonton Oilers acquired center Trent Frederic and forward Max Jones from the Boston Bruins yesterday. It was a three-team trade involving the New Jersey Devils, who picked up a prospect in exchange for brokering the deal and soaking up some of Frederic’s cap hit. The Bruins received two picks (2024 2nd round pick, 2026 4th round pick) and defenseman Max Wanner. Frederic is still recovering from an injury, but should return in time for postseason. I like the trade for Edmonton — I wouldn’t have minded Frederic for the Wings.
Whatever. Detroit can still make the playoffs, but it’s clear that there is more work to be done with this roster, despite the injuries. Utah is up next on the schedule.
