The Detroit Red Wings have lost six games in a row. This losing streak comes at a particularly inopportune time, as the NHL’s trade deadline just passed. General manager Steve Yzerman decided to effectively stand pat, only trading Klim Kostin to the San Jose Sharks for defenseman Radim Simek and a seventh-round draft pick in the 2024 NHL draft. When it comes to the playoff chase that has eluded the Red Wings for seven seasons, “It’s all on us now,” Patrick Kane said.
Yzerman has proven time and time again that he is willing to remake the team’s roster. The fact that former general manager Ken Holland was in charge for the 25-year streak of making the Stanley Cup playoffs meant that the team’s draft position would be hurt, thus hurting the overall talent on the Red Wings’ roster. The Red Wings’ roster when Yzerman took over as general manager included such names as Christopher Ehn, Trevor Daley, and Adam Erne.
Kostin was signed by Yzerman to a two-year, $4 million contract in the offseason to make the Red Wings team more difficult to play against. Kostin has only played 30 games for the Red Wings, scoring only three goals in 33 games played for the team. In a salary cap world, this is too much money to pay for a player who is not an asset on the ice. The next free agents that need to be signed are Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond, who will be eligible to sign contract extensions with the team. Seider is 23-years-old, and Raymond is 21-years-old.
An injury to captain Dylan Larkin and a cooling down of Raymond may be to blame for this losing streak. Larkin left a recent game against the Florida Panthers with a lower-body injury. This was the first loss in the five-game streak. Prior to this streak, the Red Wings held the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference playoff chase. It has now been seven seasons since the Red Wings have made the playoffs. Larkin will be out until at least the Red Wings’ game against the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday, according to head coach Derek Lalonde.
This is not the first time that Larkin has been injured this season. A hit from behind by Mathieu Joseph of the Ottawa Senators sent Larkin to the ice where he laid unconscious before being helped off the ice. Larkin would miss nine days because of this hit. “Joseph plays on the line of being in your face. That’s how I’m sure he feels he has to play,” Larkin said. “I don’t have a problem with Mathieu Joseph.” David Perron would be suspended for six games after hitting Artem Zub from behind, despite Zub not having anything to do with the play.
Raymond is quietly having one of the most impressive seasons of any Red Wing. In 65 games played during the 2023-24 season, Raymond has scored 18 goals and added 35 assists. This is the second-highest goal scored during Raymond’s young career, and it puts him on pace to score 67 goals this season. Raymond has only scored two goals in the last 10 games he has played. Larkin being out with a lower-body injury allows opposing teams the ability to focus on Raymond.
Raymond’s frustration with the team’s current losing streak was evident at a recent practice when he and Ben Chiarot got into a shoving match. Five Red Wings that were on the ice needed to intervene to separate the two. “You wanna see a response from [the Sabres game] from the guys,” Lalonde said. You have a very hard meeting, obviously very disappointed with the road trip, and you’d like to see a little response in practice, and obviously that happened today.” Lalonde called the skirmish “very productive,” saying, “our last defensive drill if we had half that intensity last night, I think it’s a little bit different outcome, but we’ll have that opportunity tomorrow.”
Larkin is the most important player on the Red Wings’ roster. In 55 games played for the Red Wings during the 2023-24 NHL season, Larkin has scored 26 goals and added 28 assists. This six-game losing streak is proof of that. The Red Wings’ first playoff appearance in seven seasons may hinge on whether Larkin can return to the lineup healthy. The rest of the Red Wings’ lineup needs to step up in the time it takes for this to happen if they want to make the Stanley Cup playoffs.
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