It’s not like Detroit Red Wings coach Todd McLellan could head to the beach and not think about the pressure his team faces coming out of the Olympic break.

The Red Wings are a team that hasn’t qualified for the playoffs since 2015-16. That was 11-year veteran Dylan Larkin’s rookie year. McLellan has spent plenty of waking hours thinking about this week of practice to prepare his team hold the playoff position they currently possession.

“There’s going to be teams that do a really good job and excel, and then there will be teams that don’t do a good job. And they give it back. I’d like to think we can be that first group,” McLellan said.

The Red Wings resume practice today in preparation to continue the season Feb. 26 at Ottawa. McLellan is treating this like a second training camp. A strong start is essential.

“To accomplish that, you have to have some resilience and some focus and the commitment level has to start all over again,” McLellan said. “…It’s almost like two seasons.”

The Red Wings do have concerns heading into the restart. Here they are:

Five-on-Five Scoring

The Red Wings rank 27th in the NHL in five-on-five scoring. No team currently in a playoff spot is below the Red Wings in this category. Their total of 99 five-on-five goals in 58 games is 58 goals behind the Colorado Avalanche. They lead the NHL in that category.

GM Steve Yzerman is looking for help in the trade market, but there is no one out there that will dramatically make the team more dangerous at even-strength. The hope would be that Yzerman adds a scorer. Then maybe Marco Kasper repeats last season’s scenario of scoring down the stretch. They also will count on more from Patrick Kane. Also, don’t rule out John Leonard being called up to add a few more goals from their third and fourth lines.

Patrick Kane’s Contribution

Kane’s numbers (32 points in 43) show what a valuable player he can be. But heading into the Olympic break, Patrick Kane was in an undeniable scoring slump. Since he scored his 500th career goal, Kane has gone 13 games without scoring a goal. The Red Wings will need more from him down the stretch. Kane is critical to Detroit’s offense because of his ability to control the puck and carry it into the offensive zone.  But they also need him to score.

Power Play Yips

The only reason that Detroit’s 5-on-5 offense hasn’t hurt the team more is that the team was one of the league’s best power plays for much of the season. It was a top five power play for an extended period. But going into the break, the Red Wings were in a 2-for-25 (eight percent) skid with the man advantage. With the current slump, Detroit’s power play has fallen to ninth place. Undoubtedly, this will be a point of emphasis in this week of practices.

Gibson’s Sharpness

No one goalie did more for his NHL team than Gibson did for the Red Wings over the two months before the Olympic break. But the break probably came at the right time for Gibson who made nine starts over 19 days before the Olympics.

But after three weeks without competition, where will Gibson’s sharpness be?  Because of the Red Wings’ scoring woes, the Red Wings are more goalie-dependent than most rivals. They need Gibson to be as exceptional as he was in December and January.

Trade Deadline

The Red Wings are in good shape to qualify for the playoffs, but everyone, including the Detroit players, are expecting the team to get help. Based on the chatter around the NHL, Yzerman is intent on adding a two-way defenseman to play in the top four.

Detroit coach Todd McLellan is pleased with Axel Sandin Pellikka’s performance level as a rookie, but he isn’t as effective defensively as he is offensively. He’s a work in progress defensively. It makes sense to bring in a veteran who can play 20-plus minutes. ASP is a competitive player, but is going to make mistakes. And the Red Wings cannot afford many mistakes.

It’s difficult to know how much help the Red Wings can get for their offense, because there are more available defensmen than scorers.

Good Start a Must

Last season, the Red Wings went 2-6-1 in the nine games after the 4 Nations Faceoff.  That was devastating to their playoff aspirations. McLellan will be emphasizing the need for a strong start when play resumes in the NHL. There cannot be a replay of last year’s