Red Wings bolster playoff hopes with trade acquisitions

DETROIT -- A mix of emotions surrounds the Detroit Red Wings following the NHL Trade Deadline. Optimism and apprehension. Excitement and tension.

Detroit added defenseman Justin Faulk and forward David Perron before the deadline Friday, then lost captain Dylan Larkin to a lower-body injury a few hours later in a 3-1 loss to the Florida Panthers at Little Caesars Arena.

Faulk is scheduled to make his Red Wings debut at the New Jersey Devils on Sunday (7 p.m. ET; ESPN). But Perron won't play for about two weeks as he continues to recover from surgery to repair a sports hernia, and Larkin won't play against the Devils, at minimum.

The good news is that Larkin will travel with the Red Wings on a four-game trip. But coach Todd McLellan gave no timeline for his return, and it was telling when McLellan was asked Saturday if there was a silver lining to the injury, considering Larkin played so much hard hockey helping Team USA win gold at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026.

"No, there's no silver lining," McLellan said with a laugh. "He's our captain. He's played extremely well, and any way shape or form that we can have him in the lineup is a good thing for our team. So, there's no silver lining in rest or anything like that, and he'd probably scoff at the suggestion of that, because he's a competitor and wants to be in there with his teammates."

The Red Wings have a lot on the line and little margin for error. They haven't made the Stanley Cup Playoffs for nine seasons, the longest drought in their 100-year history. McLellan is tired of answering questions about March, saying this is a new group that will write its own story. But it's on this group to change the narrative.

In 2023-24, Detroit held the first wild card into the playoffs from the Eastern Conference on March 1 and went 3-9-2 for the month. A huge factor: Larkin missed eight games with a lower-body injury. Last season, Detroit held the second wild card in the East on March 1 and went 4-10-0 for the month. Each time, the Red Wings fell out of a playoff spot.

This time, Detroit held the first wild card in the East on March 1. After a 4-2 win at the Nashville Predators on Monday, the Red Wings rose to third in the Atlantic Division. But they lost to the Vegas Golden Knights 4-3 in overtime Wednesday after leading 3-1 in the third period, and then they lost to the Panthers. Vegas and Florida each was on the second game of a back-to-back on the road while Detroit was rested at home.

The Red Wings acquired Perron from the Ottawa Senators for a conditional fourth-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft, but they paid a higher price to acquire Faulk from the St. Louis Blues -- first- and third-round picks in the 2026 draft, plus defenseman Justin Holl and forward prospect Dmitri Buchelnikov. Perron can become an unrestricted free agent July 1; Faulk is signed through next season.

"It's been a place here where they've really been trying to gather prospects, gather picks," defenseman Ben Chiarot said after the Vegas game. "And now to see it going the other way, picks going out the door, and good players coming in the door, it's a great sign for what we've have accomplished so far, and [we] need to pick it up and have better efforts than we did tonight."

The Red Wings (35-21-7) are 4-5-3 in their past 12 games. They're one point ahead of the Montreal Canadiens and two points ahead of the Boston Bruins, the division rivals who hold the first and second wild cards in the East, respectively. They're five points ahead of the Columbus Blue Jackets, the first team below the cut line in the conference.

Asked what he wants to see down the stretch, general manager Steve Yzerman referred to the Vegas game. The Red Wings sat back too much. He wants to see them keep making plays with confidence under pressure.

"We witnessed it the last couple years, and we were in the similar situation -- maybe not as good, but similar," Yzerman said. "And it's like, 'Guys, it gets harder. We got to keep plugging away every game and find a way to get points.'"

Entering Saturday, the Red Wings were tied for 27th in 5-on-5 goals with the New York Rangers (105), a red flag considering the style of play tightens down the stretch and into the playoffs. Larkin (18) ranks second on the team in even-strength goals behind forward Alex DeBrincat (21), another reason they can't afford to have him out for long. But Faulk and Perron should help, as should forward Michael Brandsegg-Nygard, called up from Grand Rapids of the American Hockey League on Saturday.

Faulk had 32 points (11 goals, 21 assists) in 61 games for St. Louis, including nine even-strength goals, tied for 11th in the NHL among defensemen. Perron had 25 points (10 goals, 15 assists) in 49 games for Ottawa, including seven even-strength goals. Brandsegg-Nygard has 37 points (16 goals, 21 assists) in 50 games for Grand Rapids, including nine points (six goals, three assists) in four games from Feb. 25-March 4.

Faulk, 33, and Perron, 37, should add a confident, veteran presence too -- especially Perron, who won the Stanley Cup with St. Louis in 2019 and was a vocal leader in Detroit from 2022-24.

"It shows that management believes in the group that we have in here, wants to try to help us get into the playoffs," forward James van Riemsdyk said. "It's up to the group that we have here now to get the job done."