The Red Wings are expected to recall forward Zach Aston-Reese from AHL Grand Rapids ahead of Saturday’s matinee game against the Panthers. Per Sean Shapiro of EP Rinkside, Aston-Reese departed midway through Grand Rapids’ morning skate today and is returning to Detroit to join the team.
An illness making its way through the Detroit room kept forwards Austin Czarnik and Patrick Kane out of last night’s game against the Hurricanes. It didn’t end well for Detroit, who was forced to dress 11 forwards and seven defensemen in their absence and lost 4-0 to Carolina, dropping their playoff chances to 15.6%, per MoneyPuck.
Recalling Aston-Reese allows the Wings to return to a typical 12-6 alignment against Florida tomorrow as they enter must-win territory for every game down the stretch. They’re two points back of the Capitals for the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference but have one less game remaining.
Aston-Reese, 29, has only logged one NHL game this season, playing 6:21 against the Stars in a loss on Dec. 11 while recording two hits. Once a highly regarded shutdown fourth-liner with the Penguins, ZAR is on his third team since Pittsburgh traded him to the Ducks at the 2022 trade deadline as part of the package for top-six scoring winger Rickard Rakell.
He’s had to settle for attending training camp on PTOs in two straight seasons. Last year’s with Toronto was successful, parlaying it into a one-year deal that saw him score 10 goals in 77 games, but a drop-off in his possession impacts and decreased usage (his 10:56 ATOI was a career low) lowered his value when he reached free agency again last summer. The Hurricanes decided to give him a chance on a tryout but ended up cutting him loose. He then signed a one-year, two-way deal ($775K/$300K/$350K) with the Wings just before the campaign began and promptly cleared waivers.
In his first extended AHL action since the 2017-18 season, Aston-Reese has been decent in a middle-six checking role, posting 13 goals and 28 points in 56 games. However, it hasn’t been enough for Detroit to give him an extended look back in the majors, especially as they’ve remained relatively healthy up front this season.
Aston-Reese has been recalled three times this season, all lasting less than a week. This is his first summons to the NHL roster since being assigned to Grand Rapids on Jan. 7.
Won’t help..Wings will miss out on the playoffs again this year
Probably right about the playoffs. Time to concentrate on the issues remaining.
Aston-Reese might be a decent prospect. At least he has 28 points and is actually a PLUS 3 in plus/minus.
Have a look at our existing roster’s popular “scorers”. Several are MINUS 10 or worse. Begs the question of where are they defensively when GA are in our net. Was the scoring opponent “their guy”? Most well positioned teams don’t have their top scorers with big MINUS numbers. That’s how they win games.
We still have a lot of work to do, maybe some trades too. Let Steve do his job, quite sure he sees this too.
Aston-Reese is not a prospect, just FYI. He’s 29 years old and has been in and out of the NHL for a decade. Played a handful of games for the Penguins over a few yrs. 213 games, to be exact. Plus a few in Toronto, Anaheim and now Detroit.
He’s similar to Austin Czarnik, just organizational depth, to use a baseball analogy a “4-AAAA” type of guys that will lead young teams in the minors while handling their 4th line assignments in emergency call up & injury situations
There is a role for guys like Aston-Reese…but he’s not a player you look at when imagining future Rosters n lineups.
Oh, and the current flu going around isn’t anything other than just that, temporary sluggishness. Comes to all teams eventually and then moves on. Plus minus is the mental game, they are all in good enough shape to play the full 200 feet, some just slack off on the D zone 60 feet.
It’s starting to look like Yzerman hired the wrong head coach to lead the team.