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Ouellet just wants to play - somewhere |
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Detroit Red Wings defenseman Xavier Ouellet just wants to play. He hopes it’s with the Red Wings, but if not, he seems OK with that possibility as well.
He’ll get the chance to show what he can do on Thursday. Ouellet is back in the Detroit lineup for just the fifth time in the last 22 games as the Wings face the Buffalo Sabres at Little Caesars Arena.
“I’m 24 years old, I think I need to play, personally,” Ouellet told Mlive.com. “I’m a Red Wing today and I want to be a Red Wing. I’ve worked really hard to be where I am here right now. So I’m looking for an opportunity. Hopefully it’s here. I don’t know, it’s kind of hard to say.”
Ouellet has been shopped around the league by the Wings and it probably wouldn’t take much - a late-round conditional draft pick, for instance - to pry him out of Detroit’s hands if a team was seeking to bolster their defensive depth prior to Monday’s NHL trade deadline.
Might he welcome a move to another club, a chance to start over?
“I wouldn’t say hope,” Ouellet said. “As of today, I’m a Red Wing and I want to be a Red Wing and I want to play. The main thing for me is I need to get on the ice, I need to play. I’m playing tonight so that’s exciting. I need to be ready and I need to do what I can do.”
Sitting and watching as the Wings have struggled to make an impact in the standings and crash toward their second season in a row without playoff participation has weighed on Ouellet’s conscience.
“Personally it’s been rough,” Ouellet admitted. “I think every athlete wants to play, wants to contribute. So yeah, it’s not fun to sit for a long period of time. So that’s been a little rough mentally, but I guess it’s part of the game.
“I need to keep working on myself, which I did. I kept working hard in the gym and on the ice, so I feel really good physically, now it’s just getting the timing back and feel good and feel better with the puck.”
What’s holding Ouellet back is no secret. His skating isn’t up to par with the level required to be an NHL regular.
“His skating has been something he’s worked hard on,” Detroit coach Jeff Blashill said. “He worked hard on it this summer with his skating coach in the area that I know well. He put in lots of hours.
“I also think skating at times can come with confidence at times in terms of your footwork. He’s got to trust his feet - that’s a confidence thing - and go out and play.”
Lineup Juggling
Ouellet comes in for Luke Witkowski, as defenseman Mike Green misses his fourth straight game due to an upper-body injury. Green hopes to be ready for Saturday’s game against the Carolina Hurricanes. Blashill indicated that Green was still dealing with discomfort.
“I don’t know if you can really call it a setback but he’s not quite where he thought he’d be today, but he has a lot of confidence he’ll be ready for the weekend,” Blashill explained.
Forward Martin Frk will also be a scratch for the second time in three games. Tyler Bertuzzi will take Frk’s spot on the power play and David Booth replaces Frk on the fourth line.
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