Dylan Larkin, Andrew Copp Out At Least Two Weeks

In an ever-tightening battle for their first playoff berth in 10 years, the Red Wings will be without their top two centers for nearly half of their remaining schedule. Head coach Todd McLellan told reporters today, including Jonathan Mills of NHL.com, that Dylan Larkin and Andrew Copp will miss at least two more weeks with their respective injuries before being reassessed.

For Larkin, it’s a considerable downgrade in his status. He’s already missed two games with a non-contact leg injury that he sustained in an awkward fall/toe pick against the Panthers last Friday. He remained with Detroit on their road trip and was initially only designated day-to-day, but it appears additional evaluation or a lack of forward progress in his recovery has forced the Wings to extend his return timeline.

Things haven’t gone well for Detroit so far without their captain and first-line pivot. They shut out the Devils 3-0 in their first game without him, but then dropped a rematch with Florida 4-3 in regulation, surrendering a 3-2 lead they held with 90 seconds left. For a team with the sixth-most difficult remaining schedule in the league (per Tankathon), dropping games to teams out of the playoff race is far from ideal. The silver lining is that the three teams they’re in the chase with – the Blue Jackets, Bruins, and Penguins – are in for an even harder run.

Then Copp, who’s been spectacular this season as a stopgap second-line center between Alex DeBrincat and Patrick Kane, needed help getting off the ice in Tuesday’s loss to the Panthers. He got tangled up with Tomas Nosek in a faceoff midway through the second period, and the Florida center fell on his leg. McLellan has had to completely reshuffle his forward group as a result. DeBrincat and Kane’s unit will be designated as the top line for the time being, with J.T. Compher moving up to center them, while youngsters Emmitt Finnie and Marco Kasper will round out a second line with Larkin running mate and the team’s leading scorer, Lucas Raymond.

Detroit doesn’t have excess scoring depth. The top-six replacements, Compher, Finnie, and Kasper, have combined for 63 points on the year. Copp and Larkin have 90 on their own. The former has only eight goals in 65 games this year but has been especially valuable in turning his unit, which is usually defensively suspect with Kane, into a legitimate driver of possession for the Wings, recording a 55.5% expected goals share at 5-on-5, per MoneyPuck.

Four of Detroit’s six games over the next two weeks are against teams in playoff position – the Lightning, Stars, Canadiens, and Bruins. Tampa and Montreal have pulled away from the rest of the pack, but they’re in direct competition with Boston for a wild-card spot. Another game is against the Senators, who are chasing them for a spot. Only one game in that stretch is against a bottom-feeder, the Flames. As such, Detroit’s postseason odds are back under the 70% mark, per MoneyPuck.