Detroit Red Wings: On urgency, and who shovels the driveway
Detroit Red Wings James van Riemsdyk, Erik Gustafsson & Todd McLellan, Jan. 15, 2026 in Detroit.
One, two, three, four, five, came the count from coach Todd McLellan as the Detroit Red Wings went through special teams drills.
They returned to the ice on Thuesday, Jan. 15, looking much refreshed after a day off and ready to take on the San Jose Sharks on Friday (7 p.m., FanDuel Sports Network Detroit) at Little Caesars Aren. The Wings (28-16-4) are coming off a loss, and that led to a couple of new looks at practice – most notably, Lucas Raymond returning to the top line with Dylan Larkin, with James van Riemsdyk making his debut with the group.
The Wings were scoreless in their last game, a 3-0 loss at the Boston Bruins on Tuesday, and are 4-for-21 on power plays over their past six games – hence the counting.
“We’ve done that a few times this year just to create some urgency as far as timing goes with power play,” McLellan said. “I think sometimes if they hear my voice or hear the countdown, they’ll get a sense of urgency.”
Van Riemsdyk said the emphasis on directness was a good reminder.
“There’s going to be some nights where the puck’s not maybe bouncing your way and it’s not going to look as pretty, but I think when you have that overall approach and mindset and strategy of keeping things direct and simple, then you play off of that. I think that allows you to be successful on nights when maybe the hands aren’t feeling as good or whatever it might be, so that’s definitely an important thing as we go down the stretch here.”
The Wings haven’t lost consecutive games in regulation since Thanksgiving, and the 22 points banked since Dec. 1 match those of the NHL’s top team, the Colorado Avalanche.
“I definitely feel like we’ve been playing consistently, really consistently night in, night out,” van Riemsdyk said. “Just the mental and execution side of the game, I think that’s just so important. That’s how you continually find ways to win games and get points in games, is when you’re more sharp with a lot of those details and not giving away any free chances against orfree goals against by mental and executional sort of things.”
Snow day, part I
The Wings announced Thursday morning they had called up veteran defenseman Erik Gustafsson, who was sent to the minors at the start of the season. The 33-year-old has played 516 NHL games,including two this season and 60 last season with the Wings in the first of a two-year, $4 million contract.
“I’m just trying to be myself and the positive guy I am,” he said. “I try to go in and do the best I can out there and help the team down there.”
While he was with the Grand Rapids Griffins, Gustafsson’s wife and children stayed in the metro Detroit area, so he comes home to them as often as possible. The Wings knew he was in the area, so when there was a concern about Ben Chiarot’s availability, they figured Gustafsson was easy to bring in for practice, especially given the inclement weather.
“He’s not making it to Grand Rapids whether we recalled him today or not, so it was easy to call him up,” McLellan said. “We had a roster spot, we have some D that are banged up. We didn’t want to practice with too few D-men after a day off, so he’s here, he’s got equipment let’s use him,”
Chiarot left practice early for maintenance reasons, but McLellan indicated the Wings may well have all the regulars available Friday.
Snow day, part II
On the subject of snow, McLellan was asked if he clears his own driveway.
“This is a funny story,” he said, smiling. “She’ll probably kill me, but my wife loves shoveling snow. She gives me the wrath when I get out and get the shovel. That’s her exercise, although she did phone me today and tell me it was a little bit heavy, so I’ll have to go help her.”
Contact Helene St. James at [email protected].
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