Coach Todd McLellan sees no reason to rush Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond back into Detroit Red Wings practices even though their teams have been knocked out of the 2026 Olympic Games.

McLellan spoke to both Raymond and Seider and told them he didn’t need them back right away.

“They need some time, both physically and emotionally,” McLellan said Thursday. “It’s a toll over there. We want them fresh and recovered. They’ll get back over the weekend, and we’ll integrate them next week into practice.”

It’s not like they have been lying on the beach and need to get up to speed. They played four games against the world’s best players.

The Red Wings wants to make sure they do the re-engagement of the Olympians correctly because they will be in the middle of a playoff fight as soon as the season restarts. It’s difficult to know how the athletes will feel coming back to league games. Some may play inspired from the high level of Olympic competition and others might experience letdown. Or it could be a mixture of both.

Last season, Dylan Larkin’s and Raymond’s return from 4 Nations Faceoff competition started with two strong games by each player, Larkin had a goal and two assists in his first two games back and Raymond had a goal and three assists.

Then Larkin went four games without a point and Raymond had five scoreless games.

Larkin Will Get Rest Time

Raymond and Seider are both coming off superb Olympic performances. Sweden’s Raymond is tied for second in Olympic scoring with nine points in four games. Seider earned rave reviews as the stalwart defenseman of the German team.

The expectation is McLellan will develop a plan for Larkin as soon as he is finished. The Americans play Slovakia Friday in the semifinals. Then, depending upon whether they win or lose, Larkin’s USA team will play either in the gold medal game on Sunday or bronze medal game on Saturday.

Larkin may not be able to practice before the Red Wings’ first game next Thursday at the Ottawa Senators.

Thursday marked the second day that the Red Wings called up two players from the Grand Rapids Griffins (Dominik Shine and Sheldon Dries) to give the team a full practice. Shine and Dries were sent back down later in the day. Dries and Austin Watson were called up like that earlier in the week.