The Detroit Red Wings hoped to rebound from Tuesday’s 6-3 loss to the San Jose Sharks via a corrective practice, which will hopefully address issues ahead of the team’s 4-games-in-6-nights road trip through Florida, Tampa Bay, Dallas and Philadelphia.

The Hockey News’s Sam Stockton and MLive’s Ansar Khan reported in from the BELFOR Training Center underneath Little Caesars Arena:

Alex Lyon on the ice for today’s Red Wings practice, while Tyler Motte is not pic.twitter.com/dhh2Z6Z8cp

— Sam Stockton (@_samstockton) January 15, 2025

#RedWings practice before heading out on four-game trip that starts tomorrow at Florida (7, ESPN). Motte, who slammed his face against the boards last night, not skating. They’ll probably recall a forward from ⁦@griffinshockey⁩ at some point. pic.twitter.com/3j49GBbFEU

— Ansar Khan (@AnsarKhanMLive) January 15, 2025

#RedWings lines:
Kasper-Larkin-Raymond
DeBrincat-Copp-Kane
Berggren-Compher-Tarasenko
Rasmussen-Veleno-Fischer
Chiarot-Seider
Edvinsson-Johansson
Gustafsson-Holl
Lagesson
Talbot/Husso/Lyon pic.twitter.com/s6qjnvYEro

— Ansar Khan (@AnsarKhanMLive) January 15, 2025

Update: Ugh.

Per Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen:

How much did the Detroit Red Wings learn about themselves during their recently-ended seven-game winning streak?

We will probably know the answer to that this weekend when the Red Wings are on a four-game road trip against Florida, Tampa Bay, Dallas and Philadelphia.  Those are four games they could easily lose. Florida, Tampa Bay and Dallas are ahead of them in the standings, and the Red Wings have a long history of losing in Philly. The Red Wings are 2-17-2 in their last 21 games in the City Of Brotherly Love. Detroit is 8-8-2 on the road.

The Red Wings hoped to attack the trip with their winning streak intact, but a poor effort resulted in a 6-3 loss to San Jose Tuesday.

“We over complicated the game in the first period and then just chased the game a little bit,” Seider said. “I think after like 10 minutes, we realized just playing easy, playing simple is a lot more effective than playing east-west hockey. Got some good shots on that. Tough angle shots and make the goalie work and obviously felt a lot better. And then, yeah, rough break in the third, but I think it’s just a bump in the road. We’ll fix that and get ready for a good road trip. 

Continued

Bleacher Report’s Sara Civian attempts to determine whether NHL teams will be “buyers” or “sellers” ahead of the March 7th trade deadline, and she believes that the Red Wings will be “Yzerbuyers“:

It’s pretty tough to predict what’s on GM Steve Yzerman’s agenda, and that’s by design.

The Yzerplan might’ve been late to the party this season, but a coaching change that gave Todd McLellan the reins has drastically improved the vibes and the look of the team, and suddenly Detroit is four points out of a playoff spot.

The problem is essentially half of the East is, too. Their playoff fate is too out of the Red Wings’ hands to make a move that would hurt them in the future for one shot at a playoff run.

If the Sabres are clearing house, a young center like Dylan Cozens could be a good option. But I can only see that sort of situation working here.

Continued; Cozens is a reclamation project, but the Buffalo News’s Mike Harrington wasn’t kidding when he suggested that the Sabres are going to want a Seider or Raymond in return for the Sabres’ struggling power center.

ESPN’s Neil Paine “tiered” 12 bubble playoff teams into several desperation levels this morning, and he has the Red Wings “hanging on by a thread”:

Detroit Red Wings (20-19)

Playoff odds: 21%

Where to begin with the Wings? This team once made the playoffs in 25 straight seasons but hasn’t made it back in eight (going on nine) years — repeatedly teasing its fans with a return in recent seasons. But unlike last season, when Detroit was looking solid for the postseason until the tail end of the schedule, these Red Wings have seen their odds slowly slide throughout the first half, only recently making a modest climb to their current level around 20%. It is mystifying how a team with Lucas Raymond, Alex DeBrincat, Dylan Larkin and Moritz Seider is fighting for its playoff life and trying to keep one of the NHL’s prestige franchises from reaching the doorstep of a decade-long playoff drought, but here we are.

Must improve: Depth. Detroit’s top players — all under age 30 — would be the envy of many NHL teams. But the Red Wings have gotten the 10th-fewest adjusted goals above replacement (GAR) from outside their top five of any roster in the league.

Special panic factor: Impatience! It spoke volumes when a testy Steve Yzerman snapped at a reporter a few weeks ago when asked about his team’s never-ending rebuild. The Red Wings have been at this for a long time, and it’s surprising they haven’t had their breakthrough under the “Yzerplan” yet.

Continued; we know that the Wings need more scoring depth already. Some of the Red Wings’ veterans need to step up, and so do some of the “kids” in Grand Rapids.

Via Red Wings Prospects on Twitter, HockeySverige’s Ronnie Ronnqvist spoke with Red Wings defenseman Albert Johansson’s father, Roger, recently. Roger Johansson is an NHL veteran, so he can discuss his son’s success from a unique perspective.

Breakthrough is here: “Dad, my time is coming”

It’s taken time, but now Albert Johansson has had his breakthrough in the NHL. For Hockeysverige.se, his father, the big alumnus, Roger Johansson, talks about the trip to Detroit:

“It’s very strong to keep your head up above water through adversity at this time.

Albert Johansson’s come a long way in Grand Rapids for two seasons, and now has the chance to play in the NHL with Detroit. An impressive and patient journey that has taken him to where he is today.

“First of all, he has a talent and believed in himself almost all the time,” says dad Roger, a former NHL player, when hockeysverige.se asks him what has taken his son all the way to the NHL.

“He joined the SHL already when he was very, very young (17 years old). I don’t think he got to play in his first six games, but he just said, ‘Dad, my time is coming.'”

“After that, he had a good trip. Now that he’s been over to Grand Rapids, they of course had a plan for him and he completed it. There was no panic when he hadn’t been called up.

“He was called up once. That same night, he broke his hand. Then that chance went on. He has always been training well.”

Bleacher Report’s Joe Yerdon discusses the mid-season grades for every NHL team’s goaltending duos…or trios, in the Red Wings’ case…issuing a middling grade for the Red Wings’ three-headed goalie monster:

Cam Talbot, Alex Lyon and Ville Husso

We know this is about tandems, but you tell the Detroit Red Wings that, OK?

Talbot has been really good for the Wings this season and we can say that about when Derek Lalonde was coaching them and now with Todd McLellan behind the bench, too. His .903 save percentage and 10-9-2 record exemplifies how it’s been for the Wings this season, but according to MoneyPuck.com, he’s saved 2.3 goals above expected in all situations this season. Imagine how rough it would’ve been for Detroit if he hadn’t done that.

Lyon and Husso have taken turns in the net this season as well and Lyon’s .902 in 16 games (14 starts) with a shutout will play every day. Er, play every other day since he’s usually the backup. Husso’s .877 in eight games (seven starts) isn’t ideal, although he’s dealt with injury issues again this year.

Talbot and Lyon with an invigorated Red Wings team in front of them puts them in a place to maybe get back to the playoffs for the first time since 2016.

Grade: C-plus

Continued; I’d give the Wings a similar grade. Talbot’s been very good when he’s good, but very bad in some situations; Lyon is streaky, and Husso has been battling injuries and demotions to Grand Rapids, but he just hasn’t been very good at the NHL level.

The Detroit Red Wings head to Southeastern Florida to play the Panthers tomorrow evening in an ESPN game (7 PM EST start), and the Associated Press has already posted a bare-bones Red Wings-Panthers preview:

BOTTOM LINE: The Detroit Red Wings visit the Florida Panthers after Vladimir Tarasenko scored two goals in the Red Wings’ 6-3 loss to the San Jose Sharks.

Florida is 26-16-3 overall with a 5-4-1 record in Atlantic Division play. The Panthers serve 10.5 penalty minutes per game to rank second in the league.

Detroit is 20-19-4 overall and 4-7-1 against the Atlantic Division. The Red Wings have a 3-6-2 record in games they serve more penalty minutes than their opponents.

The match-up Thursday is the first meeting of the season between the two teams.

TOP PERFORMERS: Matthew Tkachuk has 14 goals and 26 assists for the Panthers. Sam Reinhart has five goals and one assist over the last 10 games.

Alex DeBrincat has 19 goals and 17 assists for the Red Wings. Dylan Larkin has scored six goals with six assists over the past 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Panthers: 4-5-1, averaging two goals, 3.2 assists, 5.4 penalties and 13.1 penalty minutes while giving up 2.6 goals per game.

Red Wings: 7-3-0, averaging 3.6 goals, 6.7 assists, 2.1 penalties and 4.4 penalty minutes while giving up three goals per game.

The Athletic’s Sean McIndoe offers a list of the best non-Hockey-Hall-of-Famers to play for 30 of the NHL’s 32 teams, and he makes a selection for the Red Wings that I’ve got something to say about:

Detroit Red Wings

I kind of love the Red Wings’ all-time top five, which starts with four all-time greats in Gordie Howe, Steve Yzerman, Alex Delvecchio and Nicklas Lidstrom, before winding up at pretty much the perfect archetype for today’s list: checking line legend Kris Draper, whose 1,137-game stint in Detroit included a Selke, four Stanley Cups and the launch of a legendary rivalry. Not a bad value for a dollar.

Continued; as far as I’m concerned, the Red Wings need a banner in the rafters for “The Grind Line.” Why? Its 4 members–Draper, Kirk Maltby, Darren McCarty and Joe Kocur–have 14 Stanley Cup rings between them.

That banner should be right up there with #91.

Of Red Wings-related note this morning, after the Red Wings’ 6-3 loss to the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday night:

1. The Free Press’s Helene St. James discusses Wings coach Todd McLellan’s blunt assessments of his team’s performance, both collectively and individually speaking, last night:

Todd McLellan didn’t cushion his opinion after watching the Detroit Red Wings lose for the first time in eight games.

The Wings (20-19-4) head on their first extended road trip under McLellan tarnished by a 6-3 loss to the San Jose Sharks that basically reinforced McLellan’s concerns from the previous game.

“I thought the third period against Seattle the other day showed up,” McLellan said Tuesday. “We were sloppy in that third, we gave up quite a bit. We started the game that way – we didn’t break pucks out very well and when we did enter the offensive zone, not a lot went to the net.

“So a disappointing night for our group. New experience for us in our few weeks here. I’m anxious to see — do we carry this with us, or do we respond? If we respond and we do the proper things, I don’t know if we’ll win or lose, but we’ll give ourselves a chance and if we don’t, then we have a lot of work to do. I’m excited about seeing that.”

The Red Wings’ 6-3 loss to the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday ended the team’s 7-game winning streak with an embarrassment of mistakes and missteps as the Sharks swept the season series with Detroit.

The Red Wings now face a difficult 4-games-in-6-nights road trip through Florida, Tampa Bay, Dallas and Philadelphia, and they’ll head off to their road test after more than a few lessons taught by coach Todd McLellan at tomorrow’s practice.

For the Sharks, who scored on their only power play–and scored shorthanded goals on both of Detroit’s power plays–the game was a “statement-making” win, as well as the end of a 3-game losing streak, as they told the San Jose Mercury News’s Curtis Pashelka: