The Detroit Red Wings and Buffalo Sabres held their morning skates today without Dylan Larkin, who remains absent due to a personal reason. Coach Jeff Blashill addressed Larkin’s absence ahead of tonight’s game vs. Buffalo (7 PM EDT on Bally Sports Detroit/MSG-B/97.1 FM), and MLive’s Ansar Khan addressed Larkin’s absence as well in his pre-game notebook…
“Dylan’s an engine for us. Tyler’s an engine. They’re two of our best players,” coach Jeff Blashill said after the morning skate. “But the degree to which you miss guys always depends on the degree to which the guys who are in those spots, how good they play. If we get an effort tonight where the 12 forwards that are dressed are playing their ‘A’ game, I think you don’t feel the loss nearly as much. I think if we get an effort tonight where the 12 forwards are playing their ‘C’ game, you’re going to wish maybe that you have Dylan in the lineup. That’s the reality. We’re going to have 20 dressed good enough to win.”
Blashill has not disclosed the nature of Larkin’s absence but said he remains on the active 23-man roster.
Pius Suter (one goal, one assist in 11 games) is expected to center the top line with Bertuzzi (six goals, nine points) and Lucas Raymond (five goals, 10 points).
The Red Wings have scored only one goal in the past two games and have registered just 26 shots on goal over the past five periods. Blashill said they passed up too many shooting opportunities in Thursday’s 5-1 loss at Boston.
As did the Free Press’s Helene St. James…
A highly unusual situation with Dylan Larkin is entering its second week, as the Detroit Red Wings remain without their captain.
Larkin has not been on the ice with teammates since playing Oct. 30 at Toronto, with the team saying he is away for personal reasons.
“I don’t see any reason to talk about our internal discussions on any of it,” coach Jeff Blashill said Saturday morning. “I understand it’s hard for you guys not to have answers, but he’s missing for personal reasons and we’ll leave it at that.”
Blashill did say Larkin has remained on the 23-man roster.
Since losing 5-4 to the Maple Leafs, the Wings (4-5-2) had a day off Oct. 31, practiced Monday in Montreal, lost 3-0 Tuesday against the Canadiens, practiced Wednesday in Boston, lost 5-1 against the Bruins on Thursday and practiced Friday in Buffalo. When Larkin was not at Monday’s practice, Blashill said it was a maintenance day — a catchall that usually means a player is a little banged up and needs extra rest — but since then, Blashill has said Larkin “is away for personal reasons.”
COVID-19 can be ruled out, because the NHL reports if team personnel is in pandemic protocol. Likewise, the NHL Players Association reports if a player has entered one of its support programs — for example, the PA announced Oct. 7 that Canadiens goaltender Carey Price had taken a leave of absence to deal with unspecified mental health issues.
And Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff noted the following:
Defenseman Marc Staal, who suffered an undislcosed injury in Thursday’s 5-1 loss at Boston, will be a game-time decision. Defenseman Gustav Lindstrom (undisclosed) remains on IR.
“I don’t know if it’ll be tomorrow or Tuesday that he’ll be available but he’s getting closer, unless he has a setback,” Blashill said of Lindstrom.
Blashill admitted that his squad is suffering from a team-wide loss of confidence. They need to work toward getting their swagger back.
“You got to earn that confidence and earn that swagger by going out and playing a good hockey game, and that doesn’t by any stretch guarantee a win but that’s how it starts, making sure you’re playing really good hockey,” Blashill said.
