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Jared McIsaac is heading overseas as Detroit has loaned the once highly touted defenseman to HC’s Ambri Piotta. You can read a bit in the link about McIsaac’s shift from rising star to potential non qualifier. There is a rough road that the defenseman ran into and that was injury lane. (Or, the Smackdown Hotel for fans of late 90’s and early 2000s WWE wrestling).

Mantha went through it, Svechnikov went through it, Sandin-Pelikka is currently coming back from some significant time off. The sport of hockey has no shortage of ways to sideline a player. When you get to meet and greet events or see a former player standing, you’ll see the “shuffle”. The side to side sway and occasional light kick as pain and/or numbness sets in again. Then there are players who seem to have made it through unscathed. Lidstrom and Messier stand out to me as two hall of fame players that just seem to either be genetically gifted or were incredibly good about preventative maintenance.

Wings fans have seen Yzerman clean house since his arrival. The main roster has three holdovers from the Holland Era (Larkin, Rasmussen, Veleno) with Berggren in Grand Rapids. The latter is definitely a source of frustration for many fans in terms of usage and assignment.

The group Yzerman has put together for this season has been a personal favorite in terms of offensive talent. It took a bit for defensive structure and goal tending to find more solid footing but as of late (last night’s performance aside) there has been a stronger connection to better defending, timely saves and offensive output.

Most of us haven’t played at the top level in sports, but in life whether it’s work or personal, bad days happen. You do your best to hit the “reset button” and move forward. Detroit will have to do just that and try to win 2 of 3 and grab an OT point in the next three contests for this trip to be an overall positive. It’s ironic that one of the casualties of a team slow down awaits his old team in Hronek in Vancouver. He and Bertuzzi were shipped out last year and it was tough on the team. The right shot defensive position is not nearly as strong (opinion) with Hronek gone. He and Seider could roll out 2 lines with strong right side options and it was a highlight of last season.

Except for the occasional Chycrun mention linked to at least a conversation with Detroit, it’s the calm before the storm in terms of the trade deadline. Detroit isn’t in the place to part with high draft picks and prospects. The glance toward the post season is more of a finish line than a plan for a deep run at this point. If nothing happens or Detroit ends up lending cap space for picks it won’t come as a surprise. There are other teams who are putting all the chips in as this is their “window”. Detroit has the ability to continue to draft/develop/add at this point.

Let me know your thoughts, and if McIsaac can find his way back to the pipeline or if his time in the Detroit organization is dwindling.

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