There’s just over a week until the NHL trade deadline and gold-medalist Dylan Larkin and the Detroit Red Wings sit inside a playoff spot. Coming out of the Olympic break the Red Wings look like one of the top teams in the Atlantic, and as they resume their schedule with just 24 games left, they’re look a lot more secure that spot than they did at this time last year. Now’s the time for Two Truths and a Lie before this team (presumably) sees some changed out faces.

 

Truth: Red Wings just might have a shot

At the beginning of the season, I predicted that the Red Wings would finish yet another year out of the playoffs. The team, from the outside looking in, hadn’t made any radical on-paper additions aside from rookies Axel Sandin-Pellikka and Emmitt Finnie. However, Detroit has gotten surprising contributions from James van Riemsdyk and their homegrown stars have really shined this year. Lucas Raymond once again leads the team in points after finishing at the top of the scoreboard for the Red Wings last year, and Mo Seider has shown himself to likely be the best all-around defenseman in the league, playing north of 30 minutes a game some nights.

 

Alex DeBrincat, so far the biggest piece general manager Steve Yzerman has traded for in his tenure in Detroit, is on his way to a career season as well. While Detroit entered something of a skid at the end of the last month, with Simon Edvinsson returning and a chance to significantly improve the roster at the trade deadline, I think the Red Wings should be able to hold on to their spot in the standings and break that nine year playoff drought.

 

Truth: Trade Deadline will make waves one way or the other

Breaking the organization’s playoff drought this year would mean a lot for the Red Wings, and that isn’t just on the emotional level. After two  that have left fans scratching their heads when it comes to the players brought in by Yzerman and co., this year’s crop has proven itself to be quite effective. The aforementioned van Riemsdyk in the forward group and some quiet but steady improvement from Jacob Bernard-Docker on Detroit’s back-end have helped to solidify a Red Wings group that has sometimes had to ask questions about some of their core group.

 

Getting the right players, at the right price coming out of this year’s trade deadline may not just be paramount for the Red Wings’ immediate playoff chances, but the future as well. If they don’t get impact reinforcements, it’ll be another disappointing year for a group that thinks they have earned the faith for that kind of gamble from the front office. Not only that, but acquiring the “wrong” impact player could negatively effect the development of a player like Sandin-Pellikka or Marco Kasper.

 

Lie: Red Wings are only a defenseman away

In the last edition of Two Truths and a Lie, I stressed the importance of the Red Wings adding a top four defenseman to the group. If not for the outstanding play of John Gibson over the last month, the team may have slid out of a playoff spot in a very tightly contested division where teams hold a three way tie for second in the division . On the flip side of that, however, is their goal scoring ability.

 

As of their last game on Feb. 2, Moneypuck had the Red Wings expected goal differential at -4.0. Detroit has been underwater in the 5 on 5 department for months now, and if they want to avoid getting swept out of the playoffs, they’ll need to be harder to outscore in a game. They’re certainly not going to be getting the likes of Ryan O’Reilly or Steve Stamkos, but bringing in a centerman with depressed value like Elias Petersson might not be outside of the question. However, that shouldn’t mean they sell the farm.

 

Part of Detroit’s great success this year has been because of the pieces drafted and developed by Yzerman. Finnie was a seventh round rookie coming into opening night, and he played top line minutes for much of the first half of the season.

 

That wasn’t because the Red Wings “didn’t have other options.”

 

It was because the young forward had proven he had the ability to, and the Red Wings still have a few prospects in Grand Rapids who might just prove to have the same ability.