The Detroit Red Wings are preparing for the second of a back to back game series with the Dallas Stars, the first of which resulted in a 2-1 overtime setback.
The status of captain Dylan Larkin for Thursday night’s game doesn’t appear set in stone, however.
According to Detroit Free Press beat writer Helene St. James, the Red Wings captain missed practice earlier today, though it had nothing to do with the COVID-19 issues the team is experiencing:
Jeff Blashill said Dylan Larkin did not practice today. It's not COVID protocol. Uncertain about status for Thursday's Red Wings at Dallas.
— Helene St. James (@HeleneStJames) January 27, 2021
In seven games so far this season, Larkin has tallied three times with three assists. Over the course of a normal 82 game season, that’s a pace of 35 goals and 35 assists.
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ESPN suggests Red Wings are about to turn the corner
The Detroit Red Wings hope that last season’s dead-last NHL record was the low point of their current rebuild.
Are things finally looking up?
With a new captain, new faces in the lineup, and another year of experience for the young players on the roster, one ESPN writer believes so.
In fact, ESPN’s Emily Kaplan went so far as to make a comparison with the current version of the Red Wings with the former rival Colorado Avalanche, who underwent similar experiences in recent years.
“After talking to Larkin, it was hard not to draw comparisons to my conversation last week with Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog and the potential similarities from Colorado’s rise to what Detroit is hoping to accomplish. Landeskog was on the 2016-17 Avs team that had an NHL-low 48 points, but dropped to No. 4 in the draft lottery (though it landed them Cale Makar). Things started to fall in place after that. Colorado hasn’t missed the playoffs since, and opened this season as Stanley Cup favorites.
The Red Wings also fell to No. 4 in the 2020 draft lottery (they selected Swedish winger Lucas Raymond). Could they engineer as swift of a turnaround?”
