In Red Wings Land

Notebook: Detroit tinkering with power play units; Leddy clears protocol – RedWings.Com

Detroit’s recent struggles on the man advantage have prompted coach Jeff Blashill to tinker with the club’s power-play strategy. At the BELFOR Training Center on Monday, Joe Veleno was given an extended look as part of the power-play units.

“We still have to make a decision on it, but I wanted to see him [Veleno] in practice,” Blashill said. “We’ll see if that is how it works out in a game or not. Joe is a guy, who ultimately, we would like to see get opportunities on the power play to see if he can be a good power-play player at the NHL level.”

Nick Leddy also cleared protocol and the Wings put Witkowski, Renouf, Barber and Fulcher on the Taxi Squad for tomorrow.

Around the League

NHL Power Rankings: Panthers claw way to top spot; Oilers continue to slide – CBS

The Red Wings dropped their first two games out of the break, including an important matchup with the Bruins, and their playoff chances look pretty bleak at this point. Still, the fact that Detroit was even in the picture on New Year’s Day is a testament to what Steve Yzerman is doing.

Down six spots to number 27.