The Red Wings announced that forward Zach Aston-Reese has been recalled from AHL Grand Rapids on an emergency loan. He could replace Andrew Copp, who left yesterday’s loss to the Capitals with a suspected broken cheekbone, in the lineup tomorrow in a must-win game against the Penguins.
Copp sustained the injury on a high-sticking infraction from Capitals winger Nicolas Aubé-Kubel that referees missed with less than six minutes remaining in the contest. He didn’t return to the game and could be out for Detroit’s four remaining regular season games if imaging confirms the break. The Red Wings are also without winger Michael Rasmussen (upper body, day-to-day), which would leave them with only 11 healthy forwards against Pittsburgh if neither he nor Copp can play, necessitating a forward recall from Grand Rapids today.
The Wings signed Copp to a five-year, $28.1MM deal in 2022, expecting him to slot in as their second-line center behind Dylan Larkin. He was coming off a career year and an electric finish, recording 18 points in 16 games with the Rangers after they picked him up from the Jets at the 2022 trade deadline. He’s been underwhelming offensively, though, scoring only nine goals in 82 games last season after four straight seasons of double-digit totals. While he’s put the puck in the net more this season with 13 markers, his overall production is down, limited to 33 points in 77 games. His 0.43 points per game are his lowest in five years, and he’s been a negative relative possession player in both of his campaigns in Detroit.
Aston-Reese will now play spot duty as the Red Wings fight to make the playoffs for the first time in eight years. Their chances of doing so tumbled nearly 25% after yesterday’s loss and now sit at 27.9%, per MoneyPuck. Detroit signed Aston-Reese for experienced organizational depth in early October after he was released from a PTO with the Hurricanes, but the 29-year-old has only played one NHL game this season. He’s spent most of the season in the minors for the first time since 2017-18, his first professional season. In 59 games with Grand Rapids, the versatile checking forward has 14 goals, 15 assists, 29 points, a +4 rating, and 51 PIMs.
Reality may be raising its head here. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to see the Wings get into a playoff spot, they have worked hard at it including the coaches and GM. However, the rebuild may not be “over the hump” quite yet. Still not quite enough consistently solid two way players to grind it out against teams that do. Pretty sure Yzerman and staff see this and have some potential moves in mind.
Starting to run out of runway on this take off. Better recheck the plane’s parts before trying another take off next season.
Totally agree. Look at the roster and it’s clear this isn’t a finely-crafted assemblage of premier talent: Andrew Copp, David Perron, Robby Fabbri, Ben Chiarot, Olli Maatta, Jeff Petry, JT Compher. As of now it’s a collection of other teams’ castoffs surrounding a promising young core, but it ain’t time to lift the Cup yet, that’s for sure.
I tend to look at plus minus stats, maybe too much, but it is telling.
With 3 youngish “star” forwards presently with two of them at minus 17 and the third at minus 12, it sort of blunts their points contributions. Perhaps more importantly, it says something about their 200 foot game. Line mates are a bit hindered from performance as I am pretty sure the perhaps unconscious sense is that they have to “cover” for the weaker defensive game of their mates and the whole line suffers as a result. At least that is what I’ve noted on lower level league play.
I probably make too much out of this but the bottom line is that further adjustments are needed in the roster. It is a rebuild and the test results are improved but further tuning is surely needed.
Hopefully the wheels in the office are working on a plan or two.