{"id":441073,"date":"2026-01-27T16:46:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T16:46:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/441073\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T16:46:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T16:46:08","slug":"the-red-wings-depth-has-arrived-with-simon-edvinsson-out-it-will-now-be-tested","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/441073\/","title":{"rendered":"The Red Wings\u2019 depth has arrived. With Simon Edvinsson out, it will now be tested"},"content":{"rendered":"

DETROIT \u2014 The Detroit Red Wings got some bad news Monday: top-pair defenseman Simon Edvinsson will be out through the Olympic break with an undisclosed injury.<\/p>\n

For a team battling at the top of its division and conference, that\u2019s certainly a tough blow, as Edvinsson plays the second-most minutes per game and continues to evolve into one of the Red Wings\u2019 core pieces.<\/p>\n

But if there are any silver linings, they are these: first, after missing two games on the team\u2019s recent road trip, Edvinsson may only miss five more games with the 6-foot-6 defender expected back after the looming break; second, the injury comes right as the Red Wings\u2019 depth is starting to arrive in full.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you lose players, there\u2019s all the cliches,\u201d head coach Todd McLellan said. \u201cSomebody else steps up, all that type of stuff. It just means that everybody has to pull a little harder and do a little bit more. And if you manage the game properly, you can get through it.\u201d<\/p>\n

For much of the last two months, the Red Wings\u2019 depth has been coming along. Detroit\u2019s stars carried the team through the season\u2019s first month or so, but the Red Wings\u2019 surge in December coincided with the emergence of James van Riemsdyk and Andrew Copp as legit secondary contributors (as well as a dominant run from goaltender John Gibson). Other contributors have certainly had their moments throughout the year, as well.<\/p>\n

But lately, it\u2019s been much more of a full-lineup push, perhaps most driven by the re-emergence of a pair of second-year players who have recently returned to the form that made them exciting players entering the season.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the most notable is Marco Kasper, whose play in the second half of last season was perhaps the most important breakthrough on the team. Kasper first popped playing on the wing with Dylan Larkin and Lucas Raymond shortly after McLellan was hired at Christmas, and then, when injury struck, moved to second-line center and was effective there, too. He entered the season penciled into that top-six role as a result, but after some bad breaks early, went into a prolonged slump. He had just six points through his first 47 games.<\/p>\n

Recently, though, Kasper looks much more like the player who warranted such excitement. He now has six points in just his last five games, including a highlight-reel assist in a two-point showing against San Jose<\/a>, and then a confident goal Saturday on reigning MVP Connor Hellebuyck. He\u2019s back with Larkin and Raymond on the top line, too.<\/p>\n

\"Dylan<\/p>\n

\n Marco Kasper is back on the top line with Dylan Larkin and Lucas Raymond. (Terrence Lee \/ Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s not just the points, though they certainly help. Kasper\u2019s play had picked up without the production before this recent run, but the validation those numbers provide does matter, particularly in fostering confidence and reinforcing habits.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was playing the right way,\u201d McLellan said. \u201cEverything but the paper, the stat sheet, at the end of the night was pretty damn good for a while. But that tick on the assist or the goal, or whatever it might be, wasn\u2019t there, so the reward for everything he was doing really wasn\u2019t there. He stuck with it \u2026 and he\u2019s pushed his way through, and now he had a goal, he gets an assist here and there, but his game hasn\u2019t wavered. And I think he\u2019s figured that out, that if he just plays hockey the way that he can, it\u2019s a real positive for him and for us as a team.\u201d<\/p>\n

One big benefit: it has helped Detroit stabilize its lines, which had been in a period of flux in early January. The line of Copp, Alex DeBrincat and Patrick Kane was consistent, but the Red Wings were looking to spark their top line and find more at five-on-five in general. Now Detroit\u2019s lineup looks arguably as good as it has all year, top-to-bottom.<\/p>\n

Kasper and Raymond have been hot up top, though Detroit\u2019s first line still probably has another gear to find. The Copp line continues to be effective. J.T. Compher scored a pair of goals Saturday in Winnipeg, with Emmitt Finnie (another surprise contributor) assisting on one, and that pair\u2019s linemate van Riemsdyk tacking on a goal in Minnesota, too.<\/p>\n

Even the fourth line, while perhaps not as productive on the stat sheet, has been more noticeable, partly because of a strong run from Elmer S\u00f6derblom, who McLellan has said \u201clooks like that player that we need, over and over and over again.\u201d The 6-foot-8 S\u00f6derblom has rare size and slick hands to match, and has increasingly managed to pair the two, getting to pucks down low and using his combination of strength and skill to hold onto them to create an advantage.<\/p>\n

Put it all together, and the Red Wings have gotten to a rather complete-looking lineup up front, even if in a small sample.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s huge,\u201d van Riemsdyk said. \u201cOver the course of the long season you need different guys chipping in and different opportunities and different times of the year. That\u2019s the mark of a good team. \u2026 Especially as it gets tighter and into the playoffs, the top lines are going to get checked against really hard, so it usually comes down to the depth guys being able to contribute in ways too.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not to say the Red Wings couldn\u2019t still use the right addition up front at the trade deadline<\/a>, as most contending teams can \u2014 especially with the reality of injuries. But it certainly makes it a less urgent need, especially with Detroit having some viable potential reinforcements in AHL Grand Rapids, between rookies Nate Danielson and Michael Brandsegg-Nyg\u00e5rd or veteran John Leonard, all of whom have played in Detroit at points this season.<\/p>\n

Where the deadline is most interesting for Detroit will be on the blue line, where Edvinsson\u2019s injury is going to give its depth an early test.<\/p>\n

If Edvinsson is out only five more games, that span shouldn\u2019t break Detroit one way or another. But the positive, as McLellan alluded to, is that the Red Wings have already had players step up, allowing them to manage so far by taking three out of four points so far in the two games without Edvinsson.<\/p>\n

In those games, the workload jump was most noticeable for what had previously been Detroit\u2019s third defense pairing, Albert Johansson and Jacob Bernard-Docker. As with Kasper, that pairing had already been quietly coming along for the past few weeks before Edvinsson\u2019s injury.<\/p>\n

Since the start of January, Johansson and Bernard-Docker lead all Red Wings defensemen in five-on-five on-ice expected goal share, with Johansson at a staggering 59.19 percent and Bernard-Docker at 56.67. Their actual goals share is even better, with both north of 80 percent. Those numbers also have come with increased quality of competition in that span, according to hockeystatcards.com, which makes it all the more notable. They each took clear second-pair minutes in the last two games.<\/p>\n

And for Johansson, there was already an uptick in usage even before Edvinsson\u2019s injury. He\u2019s now averaging 19:39 per game since Jan. 12.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Albert\u2019s playing his best hockey of the season,\u201d McLellan said last week. \u201cComing into camp, we counted on him a lot, but this was the time last year when his game really took off, too. Maybe he settles in a little bit more in the second half, I\u2019m not sure, but his legs have been excellent. He\u2019s been able to skate pucks out of trouble and his legs get him to spots where he can break up plays. So he\u2019s been very good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johansson, for his part, said it\u2019s been \u201ca lot of fun\u201d playing those increased minutes, and that he\u2019s felt himself find his game over the last month.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you have confidence, you\u2019re not thinking too much, you kind of just go out there and play,\u201d Johansson said. \u201cAnd I think that starts with playing good defensively, like not giving up goals or scoring chances or whatever it is. \u2026 When you\u2019re keeping the puck out of your own net, you get more time to play with the puck and play in the O zone, and I think that kind of shows in my game right now too.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s been clear through the eye test and in the data. And it\u2019s been true for his defense partner as well, with Bernard-Docker looking reliable next to him after being yo-yoed in and out of the lineup for Travis Hamonic early. The consistency of Bernard-Docker\u2019s role could very well be helping him and Johansson of late \u2014 though McLellan has changed up the pairs some in Edvinsson\u2019s recent absence.<\/p>\n

It still seems entirely possible, and perhaps likely, that the Red Wings will make a move for blue-line reinforcements at the deadline. As Johansson\u2019s ice time has surged, rookie Axel Sandin-Pellikka has seen his minutes go the other direction, playing fewer than 15 minutes in five straight games, and fewer than 10 in three of his last seven.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not unusual for coaches to shelter a rookie from tough, late-game minutes early in their career, but in a playoff series, Detroit is going to want to have some certainty. Maybe that comes in the form of bumping up Johansson (who can play his off hand) or Bernard-Docker. Or maybe it comes via an outside addition to bolster the mix.<\/p>\n

In that sense, being without Edvinsson will offer general manager Steve Yzerman a bit of a window into how his current group responds when the demands get harder. And perhaps that\u2019s one more slight silver lining, albeit from a situation the Red Wings surely would have preferred to avoid.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact that we\u2019ve got to shuffle some things around and guys have to play with other partners, and in different situations, that\u2019s not a bad thing for the group,\u201d McLellan said. \u201cThey haven\u2019t had a lot of adversity back there, knock on wood, for injuries. So, now we\u2019ve got to deal with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Five games from now, we\u2019ll know how the Red Wings fare in that test. But if there\u2019s any upside, it\u2019s that the trial is arriving at the same time as their depth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DETROIT \u2014 The Detroit Red Wings got some bad news Monday: top-pair defenseman Simon Edvinsson will be out…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":441074,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,3064,575,85],"class_list":["post-441073","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-detroit-red-wings","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441073","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=441073"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441073\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/441074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=441073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=441073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=441073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}