Derek Lalonde has touted the Red Wings' depth through their strong start to the season. It's about to be put to the test.
Detroit placed Dylan Larkin, J.T. Compher and Klim Koston on injured reserve Monday, losing their best player, their No. 2 center and their most physical forward in one fell swoop. The club could also lose playmaking winger David Perron to a suspension ahead of a hearing with the NHL's department of player safety.
Larkin was injured when he was knocked unconscious by a blow to the back of the head from Mathieu Joseph and a subsequent cross-check toward the neck from Parker Kelly during the Wings' loss to the Senators last weekend. That prompted Perron to take a run at nearby Sens defenseman Artem Zub, cross-checking him in the face in retaliation. Perron's hearing will take place Monday afternoon.
Larkin's injured reserve stint is retroactive to Dec. 9, rendering the Red Wings' captain ineligible for at least their next three games: at Dallas, at St. Louis and home vs. Carolina. The minimum IR stay is seven days. Larkin has 25 points in 24 games this season.
Compher was injured in the Red Wings' win over the Sabres last Tuesday and hasn't played since. His IR stint is retroactive to Dec. 5, meaning he could be back in the lineup Thursday against the Hurricanes. In the first season of a five-year, $25.5 million contract with Detroit, Compher has 19 points in 24 games while playing, like Larkin, in all situations.
Kostin missed the loss to the Senators after being injured in Detroit's overtime loss to the Sharks last Thursday in which he scored his second goal of the season. His IR stint is retroactive to Dec. 7, so he, too, could return Thursday against Carolina. Kostin plays limited minutes, but has added some needed punch to the Red Wings' bottom six.
If Perron, who has 13 points in 26 games and plays on Detroit's top power play, is suspended Monday as expected, the Red Wings will have lost four forwards from their nightly lineup -- just as they enter a stretch of four games in six days and eight in 13. They are fourth in the Atlantic and fifth in the East with 32 points through 26 games. They were on an almost identical pace last season with 31 points through 26 games, before they fell into a six-game skid that included a brief injury absence for Larkin.
Why should this year's team be different?
"Different depth," Lalonde said last week before the Wings dropped two in a row. "Obviously no one had us in this position at this point. Of course we're probably overachieving as a group, but we were last year at this time, too. But it's just different. We didn't have the same depth."
Lalonde pointed out that goalie Ville Husso was also "playing at an extremely high level" in the early going last season. When he came back down to earth, so did the Red Wings. The Wings, to their credit, have won largely in spite of Husso this season, with backups Alex Lyon and James Reimer covering for Husso's slow start.
"It's different depth that we have throughout our D core, different depth that we have up front and fortunately we're sitting here with the depth in net, too," said Lalonde. "We've used all three (goalies) and it's been successful, so I just think it's the depth."
Now the Red Wings are reaching deep into Grand Rapids, recalling forwards Jonatan Berggren, Zach Aston-Reese and Austin Czarnik from the AHL Griffins under emergency conditions. Berggren played in 68 games for Detroit last season, but has only logged four this season. He has 15 points in 16 games for the Griffins. Czarnik has six points in 40 games for the Red Wings over the last two seasons, while Aston-Reese played in 77 games last season for the Maple Leafs. Both have ample NHL experience.
The other difference for the Red Wings this year, said Lalonde, is a higher level of confidence.
"We went into a lot of games last year thinking we could win. I think it's a different confidence of that. We do feel we have a chance every night," he said. "At the same time, as we have found out, we can't be just OK and still win. We have to be on all the time."
That will be truer now than ever.
