The 2022′ season has been a rocky road for the Detroit Red Wings. Battling, competing each night, but never quite grasping a healthy lineup. After what was a very promising start to the year, Detroit has since gone gloomy.

25 games in the Red Wings had 13-7-5 record leaving them with 31 points, meanwhile on the verge of playoff contention. Since then Detroit has dropped six in a row, going 0-4-2 over their last six games. The Red Wings have been outscored 23 to 10 in their losing streak. In the midst of the struggles, there is a bright light at the end of the tunnel. Jakub Vrana, Robby Fabbri amongst others, will be returning to the lineup in the coming new year, but is it too little, too late for the Red Wings? Has their luck run out? Darren McCarty says “Luck is when your lineup is fully healthy…”

When I sat down with the former 4x time Stanley Cup Champion, I asked him about the current state of this team and about their chances to turn the season around, therefor making a run at playoffs. He replied with:

“The Red Wings biggest issue right now is they’re trying to hold it together with limited availability“.. “One of the biggest turnarounds you’ll see for this team is when Jakub Vrana returns to the lineup. What you’re really finding out is, the production you’re missing between Vrana and Tyler Bertuzzi is causing a huge hole offensively for this team”. 

Can the Red Wings still make Playoffs?

Darren: “If the Detroit Red Wings put their best team on the ice, if those guys are healthy. They’re a playoff team. But unfortunately they’re not. The secondary scoring isn’t there as much as it needs to be, and they’re not keeping the puck out of the net. Teams will go through slumps on the road but you need take points on your home ice, and they haven’t been able to do that recently” “They’re much closer to reaching that point as a team, but there are still many steps they have to take. The difference between a winner and a loser is the crossbar, they’re that close, but they haven’t crossed the red line”  

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