There's been one recurring theme with the Detroit Red Wings over the last three seasons. Yes, they've always found a way to collapse around March, but there's something much bigger that's dashed their hopes long before the calendar turns from February.
It's depth -- or a lack thereof.
This season, it looks as if this trend will continue. Detroit's bottom-six has seen a rotating cast of characters over the last few weeks. So far, Michael Rasmussen, J.T. Compher, Keegan Kolesar, Carter Mazur, John Leonard, Sheldon Dries, Mason Appleton, Marco Kasper and Nate Danielson have all taken turns on the bottom-six, with Andrew Copp and Michael Brandsegg-Nygard only briefly filling in at the start of the season.
The eight regular players mentioned in the bottom-six thus far have a combined 14 points on the season.
Three players individually have more points than the entire bottom-six combined: Alex DeBrincat (16 points), Lucas Raymond (16 points) and Viktor Arvidsson (15 points).
Until this issue is addressed, the Red Wings will continue to deal with offensive peaks and valleys.
Fortunately, there are some solutions the team can consider to right the proverbial ship:
Eager call-ups await Red Wings in the AHL
The easiest - and likely most effective - solution to this problem already exists within the organization. The Red Wings are positively brimming with talent in the pipeline. 2025 first round pick Carter Bear is scoring above a point-per-game in the AHL, with 14 points in 12 games. Jesse Kiiskinen, a young, energetic forward, brings gritty depth with 12 points in 14 games.
Even Dylan James, the former second round pick, is more than capable of shouldering a heavy burden at the professional level.
While we've seen our fair share of AHL call-ups already in the form of Sheldon Dries and John Leonard, perhaps it's time to give the yonger players a chance to show their stuff. Leonard and Dries are known commodities at this point. What could Jesse Kiiskinen do on this roster? What sort of strengths does Carter Bear have at the NHL level?
Familiar faces returning soon
Back in the Ken Holland era, the old joke used to be that the players coming back from injured reserve were technically trade deadline acquisitions. One could easily apply that adage here; Marco Kasper and Mason Appleton are both set to return to the Red Wings at some point on this road trip. How much of an impact they'll have remains to be seen, but any extra depth can be seen as a net benefit.
This is especially true if Marco Kasper can return to form. After an impressive freshman campaign, he suffered through a sophomore slump -- something extremely common in the NHL. In an ideal world, he returns to form and thrives on the team's second line, providing the third with a better center in Andrew Copp.
This comes with two benefits: for the second line, it adds some snarl alongside Michael Brandsegg-Nygard. The third line, in turn, receives a defensive threat who can still score around half a point-per-game, giving the team some more depth. It's unclear what kind of benefit Mason Appleton will bring to the team, but he might serve as a good fourth line forward with defensive awareness.
Trades are always on the table
While not the likeliest of options, the Red Wings could always seek a solution on the trade market. They would, of course, need to make room for these new acquisitions, but it couldn't hurt to get some fresh faces in the lineup. If rumors are believed to be true, the Red Wings have considered shopping players like Michael Rasmussen and J.T. Compher around, though it's hard to imagine they'll have a lot of suitors.
If the Red Wings wind up trading one of Dylan Larkin or Simon Edvinsson, they could expect one of the pieces (though not a major one) to be a depth piece to help with cap space. That player, if a net benefit, could help shore up some of the issues on the depth chart.
It isn't likely that the Red Wings trade for a third line center or a fourth line grinding forward, but the option is available. After all, they just did this with Keegan Kolesar earlier in the offseason. While it hasn't panned out yet, there's still plenty of season to turn it around.
It's up to interim GM Shawn Horcoff to get creative here.
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