The Detroit Red Wings have been without their captain, Dylan Larkin, for just over two weeks due to a leg injury suffered on March 6th. Fortunately for the Red Wings, Ansar Khan of MLive reported that Larkin is nearing a day-to-day status, meaning he should return relatively soon.
Larkin has missed Detroit’s last six games due to his leg injury. Although the team has gone 3-2-1 in that stretch, they’re entering crunch time for their postseason lives. Their upcoming schedule won’t give them any favors, with consecutive games against the Boston Bruins, Ottawa Senators, Buffalo Sabres, Philadelphia Flyers, and Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Red Wings would welcome a return at any time. Not only is Larkin the team’s top center by a significant margin, but he is the heart and soul of the team. Simply put, Detroit typically looks like a completely different team without Larkin. If he returns by the end of next week, the Red Wings will get a major boost as they look to string some wins together to close out the regular season.
Additional notes from the Atlantic Division:
- Another Atlantic Division team in the playoff hunt is the Ottawa Senators, who are also dealing with a significant injury to an important player. Like Larkin, defenseman Jake Sanderson has missed the last few weeks with the Senators, this time due to an upper-body injury. Similar to Detroit, Ottawa has played fine without Sanderson, but he objectively gives them a better chance to win each night. According to Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Citizen, Sanderson is expected to return by the end of March or early April.
- Staying in Ontario, the Toronto Maple Leafs announced that defenseman Morgan Rielly would miss today’s game due to a lower-body injury. It is believed that Rielly did not suffer the injury due to any direct play in Toronto’s recent game against the Carolina Hurricanes, but rather re-aggravated an issue from earlier in the season. The 13-year veteran has scored nine goals and 33 points in 67 games for the Maple Leafs this season, averaging 21:15 of ice time.
While Larkin is a very positive factor on this roster, and sorely missed when absent, he by himself can’t overcome the Wing’s propensity for throwing away points after taking a hard fought for lead in games. Can’t quite put my finger on it, but its as if they all go stupid for a few minutes after they take a lead. After taking a 1-0 lead in the 2nd period vs Boston, gave it up around 1:32 later . Then losing it again 2:16 after retaking the lead in the 3rd. Pucks given away, backing off aggressive checking, (tapping the brakes??) chances taken in or close to the D zone. (Gibson wasn’t exactly blameless either). McClellan had mentioned this in the pre season under “game management”. Protecting a lead is definitely MIA for this group. From 3rd to 5th in one game. Help us please!
They lack overall talent to compete because SY refuses to sign free agents. Grand Rapids has no game changers down there for the future, just all depth pieces. Perennial 9th place in the East until SY fires the scouting dept and starts spending on talent.
Maybe its my poor or just selective memory, but Wings of past decades, winning seasons seemed to be able to mentally frustrate opponents by clamping down hard after taking a lead. Offense, if encountering strong defense, would intuitively regroup, playing a sort of positional “keep away” game to reset the offense instead of just dump ins and possession give ups. Who knows, maybe this roster just isn’t that skilled in patience and puck control of past rosters. Or there is the very real possibility that I view the “good old days” through rose colored glasses!! In any case “exasperation” seems to describe the watching experience of late. Hope they find a cure.
You’re not wrong. The teams of the 90s and 2000s had much more talent and were coached better. Ever since around the time Blashill took over the team just lost all of that ability. Also, you don’t lost generational talents like Lidstrom, Datsyuk and Zetterberg and play like the same team. There is not a single player on the ’25-’26 Red Wings roster who has the same level of talent as those guys. They are going to be a bubble playoff team until the roster gets a real overhaul and I don’t think Yzerman is the guy who wants to or will do it.