Saturday Dallas Stars Roundup: Tough Guy Debates with Bourque and Johnston, a Bottom Six Shakeup, and Something about Thomas Harley

Detroit needs this one, badly

The Detroit Red Wings are hoping to avoid stretching their playoff drought to ten seasons this year. But doing so doesn’t look like it’s going to be easy.

Steve Yzerman took over as general manager in April of 2019. Seven years later, his Red Wings are still looking to make the postseason dance, despite coming close as recently as last year, and the late part of the season is also shaping up to be a concern for the collecrtive winged wheel.

Detroit is 1-3-1 in their last five games, and they’re without top centers Dylan Larkin and Andrew Copp. That means J.T. Compher, who has 21 points in 66 games this year, figures to be their top centerman tonight.

We also found out this morning that the Wings will be without Michael Rasmussen and Michael Brandsegg-Nygård tonight. As a result of all the injuries, they’ve got a host of emergency recalls, and a lineup that figures to be a much thinner group than the one Dallas faced just before Christmas in a tough loss.

So, does coach Todd McLellan think Detroit can pick up the slack at center by asking more of other positions in the lineup?