With just four games left before the Olympic break, Red Wings head coach Todd McLellan is taking a playoff-style approach to the final stretch - and he’s not hiding it.
The message is clear: ride the core, push the pace, and empty the tank. With nearly three weeks of rest waiting on the other side of this mini-sprint, McLellan is leaning hard on his top players, knowing they’ll have time to recharge soon enough.
“We can run the engine dry for 20 players, 20 of the 23 players,” McLellan said. “And I think pushing them to the limit is a good thing for us right now.”
That mindset was on full display in Tuesday night’s 3-1 loss to the Kings. As the game wore on, McLellan tightened his rotation - especially on the blue line.
For much of the latter half of the second period, Detroit essentially rolled with four defensemen. Travis Hamonic didn’t see the ice in the final 7:20 of the period, and Axel Sandin-Pellikka was limited to a brief three-second shift on a power play during the last 6:34.
This isn’t about punishing players. It’s about maximizing the moment - squeezing every drop out of the team’s top contributors while they still can. And with matchups against the Capitals, a home-and-home with the Avalanche, and a road tilt against Utah coming up, expect more of the same.
McLellan’s game management will likely continue to reflect this urgency. That could mean heavier faceoff usage for lines centered by Andrew Copp and Dylan Larkin, especially in back-to-back situations where a coach might normally spread minutes more conservatively.
“We can probably start out Copp’s line or Larkin’s line a little bit more faceoff-wise back to back, maybe one after another more than I have in the past,” McLellan noted. “So we can do that, and we likely will.”
After the game in Utah, the Red Wings won’t hit the ice again until February 26, when they visit Ottawa. That’s 22 days off - a rare midseason break that gives McLellan the freedom to coach these next four games like they’re must-wins in April.
And while the standings may not say “playoffs” just yet, the intensity certainly will.