The Free Press’s Helene St. James reports that the Red Wings’ management team has assembled ahead of Friday’s trade deadline at 3 PM EST, and as such, the team is bracing for the possibility of making acquisitions–or not making any additions:
Nicklas Lidstrom took the elevator up to the press box Tuesday and made his way to the management suite, eager to catch the Detroit Red Wings live as a crucial week nears the end point.
Lidstrom is one of a handful of advisors who have joined general manager Steve Yzerman in meetings this week to discuss what changes to make, if any, ahead of Friday’s 3 p.m. trade deadline. The Wings expect to have Michael Rasmussen available Thursday when they host the Utah Hockey Club, helping the depth down the middle. But the Wings could still use some help at center, in addition to addressing the lack of depth on defense.
…
It’s on Yzerman, Lidstrom, assistant general managers Kris Draper and Shawn Horcoff, plus pro scouts including Kirk Maltby, to parse whether there’s a bigger move that makes sense, that can be made at a reasonable cost to the rebuild.
Inside the locker room, the focus is on emerging from a three-game losing streak that has pushed the Wings (30-25-6) out of the playoff picture.
“We have to dig ourselves out of the way it has been going,” defenseman Simon Edvinsson said. “We need to get going here again. It’s still up to us. I still feel we have it in our hands, but we can’t think we’re going to lose a playoff spot. We have to think that we are going to hunt for a playoff spot. When you start to get that and get that mentality, you’re going to play more loose, and that’s what we did when we had those winning streaks. That’s going to be the biggest thing. I know everybody in here wants to go to playoffs so bad.”
Patrick Kane isn’t so sure that it’s time to focus on the playoffs per se. He’s worried about what St. James stated above–snapping the team’s 3-game losing streak, first and foremost:
“We were in this position last year and we didn’t get the job done,” Kane said. “We find ourselves in a similar spot. There’s still a lot of hockey to be played, but at the same time, every game is crucial. I know there’s a lot of talk about getting into the playoffs and in the playoff picture, but sometimes when you look too far ahead, then you’re not focusing on the task ahead and taking it just a game at a time. That’s our main focus right now — the next game. Focus on Utah, try to play a good game, and then worry about what comes after.”
St. James posted a 6:34 clip of comments made by Edvinsson, Kane, and coach Todd McLellan yesterday…
With coach McLellan having told the Wings’ media corps that he’s not a big believer that the trade deadline is about reinforcing the roster…
McLellan said earlier this week that Wings players “shouldn’t expect the cavalry” to come to their rescue. It’s not like he wouldn’t like more players — he suggested after the game that Gordie Howe and Bobby Orr would be nice (and that was with Yzerman and Nicklas Lidström in attendance at Little Caesars Arena) — but McLellan’s point was the players already on the roster are the ones who determine how well the Wings fare the rest of the regular season.
And Moritz Seider agreed with his coach:
[The players are saying] exactly what you’d expect them to say: That they believe in what they have. “”I’ll always take those odds for ourselves,” defenseman Moritz Seider said. “I like to bet on ourselves because I think we can believe in each other, we can trust in each other, and hopefully in the end, we send a positive message that this is a good team.”
Seider’s defense partner, Ben Chiarot, said that, “If you’re a team looking to fill some needs, you’re hopeful of adding something. But chemistry is an important thing, and you want to have that going into the playoffs.”
