Detroit — Vacation time is essentially over for the Red Wings.
While Dylan Larkin (USA), Moritz Seider (Germany) and Lucas Raymond (Sweden) continue competing in the Winter Olympics, all the Wings’ non-Olympians return back to work Tuesday at Belfor Training Center.
It’s been a nice, lengthy break. The Wings haven’t played since losing 4-1 in Utah on Feb. 4, at which point, many players departed for sun and warmth, and rest aching bodies that have been pushed to the brink by this season’s condensed regular season NHL schedule.
You can bet, though, coach Todd McLellan and his staff will gladly help knock off the rust and help players return to NHL game shape in the next week, in what McLellan has termed a “mini-training camp.”
“We’ll review our structure, get them skating and focused again because what we just went through to get to this point is going to happen all over again,” McLellan said.
The Wings have 72 points (33-19-6), tied with Montreal for second place in the Atlantic Division (Montreal has played one less game), six points behind division-leading Tampa Bay.
The Wings lead both wild cards, Buffalo (70 points) and Boston (69 points) — both have played one fewer game than the Wings — and lead Columbus, the first time outside of the playoff picture, by seven points (Columbus has played two fewer games).
Looking to end a nine-year playoff drought, the Wings are in prime position to finally again participate in playoff hockey.
“We put ourselves in a real good spot,” McLellan said. “We’ve worked really hard as a team. Every player that’s been in the lineup has given us something on any given night. We control what happens to our hockey club and that’s all you can ask for.”
Larkin, Raymond and Seider will arrive back in North America once their country’s tournament run ends.
The Wings begin the post-Olympic portion of the schedule in difficult fashion. They begin a three-game road trip Feb. 26 in Ottawa, before also visiting Carolina (Feb. 28) and Nashville (March 2). Thirteen of the remaining 24 games are away from Little Caesars Arena.
tkulfan@detroitnews.com
@tkulfan
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Non-Olympian Red Wings returning to rink as practice resumes
Reporting by Ted Kulfan, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
