Subscribe
Follow Us
The Detroit Red Wings will be without one of their top offensive weapons when the surging Montreal Canadiens visit Little Caesars Arena for an all-Atlantic Division clash on Thursday night. Patrick Kane is day to day with an upper-body injury and will not suit up for the contest, head coach Todd McLellan confirmed.
Kane sustained the injury in a 4-1 loss to the Dallas Stars on Sunday night. He suited up against the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday — also a loss — but didn't play for the last six minutes of the tilt, per NHL.com's Dave Hogg.
The veteran American has been one of Detroit's better offensive players in 2024-25, managing 11 goals and 30 points over 42 games. He had been red hot before the pair of losses to Dallas and Philadelphia, enjoying a 10-game point streak that saw the three-time Stanley Cup champion record 16 points.
The 36-year-old is in the midst of a one-year, $4 million contract he signed over the summer; he's set to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1.
In Kane's absence, Vladimir Tarasenko is set to play on the second line with Andrew Copp and Alex DeBrincat; the Russian will also join the top powerplay group along with DeBrincat, Lucas Raymond, Dylan Larkin and Moritz Seider. Joe Veleno is also expected to re-enter the lineup after sitting out against the Flyers on Tuesday, per Hogg.
The Red Wings are looking for a spark after a brutal stretch that's seen the club lose three in a row and four of five dating back to January 14.
Red Wings have cooled right off after red hot stretch
Detroit was one of the National Hockey League's best teams at the end of December, racking off seven consecutive wins to return to relevance in the Eastern Conference.
But the last week and a half has not been kind to McLellan's group; the Red Wings lost three of four games on a Southern road trip, with the Lightning, Stars and Flyers all taking two points. Although a 5-2 victory over the defending champion Florida Panthers was encouraging, it came on the heels of an abysmal 6-3 loss to the lowly San Jose Sharks.
With that, the Wings have dropped four of five, and in the logjam that is the East, have already fallen to five points back of a playoff berth. That's certainly not encouraging, especially considering nearly every team in the conference still has postseason aspirations.
Now back to .500 at 21-21-5, things are starting to look bleak for this roster. Kane is a huge piece of the puzzle, and any time he is forced to miss will be detrimental. If Detroit is unable to turn things around in the short-term, general manager Steve Yzerman could have some difficult decisions to make ahead of the March 7 NHL Trade Deadline.
The Red Wings currently own the second longest playoff drought in the league, and haven't been playing hockey at the end of April since 2016. They'll look to continue in the quest to rectify that — without Kane — when puck drops at Little Caesars Arena on Thursday night.
