State of emergency was trending on X on Friday and amazingly, it had nothing to do with the Detroit Red Wings. Losers of three in a row 60% of the way through a season-high five-game road swing, Detroit is also down two forwards.
Both Patrick Kane and Austin Czarnik are under the weather with illness and listing as doubtful for Saturday afternoon’s 12:30 p.m. start against the Florida Panthers. Their absences wound up forcing the Red Wings to go with 11 forwards and seven defensemen during Thursday’s 4-0 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes.
Evidently, Detroit coach Derek Lalonde wasn’t fond of how that set up was working out for his team. To that end, he’s summoning a veteran NHL presence to help out his club. Center Zach Aston-Reese, with 308 NHL games on his resume, is getting a recall from the AHL Grand Rapids Griffins.
Aston-Reese, 29, spent the majority of those NHL tilts with the Pittsburgh Penguins from 2017-22. He’s also played with the Anaheim Ducks and scored 10 goals last season in 77 games with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Aston-Reese suited up for one game with the Red Wings earlier this season.
In 56 games for the Griffins, Aston-Reese is showing 13-15-28 totals. He’s very blunt in self-assessing his abilities on the ice.
“I think I’m a good two-way player,” Aston-Reese said earlier this season upon arriving in Grand Rapids. “Very smart defensively, sometimes a little too defensive. I think this is a great opportunity to work on the offensive side of my game.
“I can play physical. I know that part of my game could be more consistent as far as the physicality and finishing checks.”
Red Wings Need Help
Detroit’s road record of late is appaling. The Red Wings are 0-7-1 through their past eight games away from Little Caesars Arena.
They’ve scored 14 goals over that eight-game span, an average of 1.75 goals per game. Detroit has been shutout three times in the club’s last seven road games, including two of the past three outings.
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