When they returned to work Tuesday from the NHL All-Star break, the first order of business for the Detroit Red Wings was a closed-door meeting to outline their plans for the remaining 34 games of the regular season.

“We can’t let things slip by, we’ve got to make sure we’re ready for these 34 games and we’ve got to make sure we don’t let anything slip by,” was how Detroit coach Jeff Blashill explained the meeting’s purpose to Mlive.com.

Now, you are probably thinking this is like closing the barn door long after the cows have romped away, and you definitely have a valid point. The Wings are 15 points behind third-place Toronto in the Atlantic Division. They aren’t closing that gap to grab a playoff spot. Likewise, they must make up 10 points to gain the eighth and final wildcard position in the Eastern Conference and overcome four teams ahead of them in the process.

You can say it’s hopeless, and Blashill gets that.

“You’re right, the past hasn’t predicted a run,” Blashill frankly admitted. “That’s why all of you and pretty much everyone in the hockey world would bet against us right now. I get that.

“Where do you get confidence from that? One would be history. I don’t know where Ottawa’s run came from (in 2014-15)? I’m sure they never won that many games in a row and all the sudden, boom, they’re as hot as can be.”

Ottawa went 21-3-3 in its last 27 games in 2014-15 to make the playoffs. The same season, Minnesota went 28-9-3 in its last 40 games to make it. In 2015-16, Philadelphia went 26-12-7 in its last 45 games to qualify for postseason play.


“I don’t know where Philly’s run came from a couple years ago, but all the sudden they got hot and they couldn’t lose,” Blashill said. This season, the Flyers put together a 15-5-1 roll to get back into the playoff hunt.

Can the Wings do the same? Blashill thinks so.

“I know we have the players to do it,” Blashill said. “I know we’re built as a team. I think we play good hockey almost every single night. We just need to get that little fraction better on a night by night basis, gain that confidence and go.”

He can see you shaking your head.

“I understand why people wouldn’t believe me,” Blashill said. “I have no problem with that. I don’t care what anybody else thinks. I care what the group in this room thinks. In the end it doesn’t matter what any of us thinks. It matters what we do.”

Can the Wings do it? Can they rally and get back into the playoff race?

That’s highly unlikely, and certainly based on recent past performance, for anyone beyond the team’s dressing room to anticipate such a turnaround would be pure folly.

At the same time, Blashill has to believe it. That’s his job, to make this team win. And if he doesn’t - if they don’t - then it’s very likely that he will no longer have that job to do.

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