Red Wings aiming to ‘come back refreshed for a big push’ after NHL’s Olympic break

DETROIT -- Now that the Detroit Red Wings have finally reached the NHL’s Olympic break, their leadership trio -- captain Dylan Larkin and alternate captains Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider -- will make its way to Milan while the rest of the club plans to recharge a little bit before returning to practice at Little Ceasars Arena’s BELFOR Training Center later in the month.

“Every team in the League needs an opportunity to rest, which is great for 75 percent of it,” Detroit head coach Todd McLellan told DetroitRedWings.com earlier this week. “The other 25 percent are the players who are going to the Olympics, and they’re going to have to manage themselves…We’ll encourage them to rest and take care of their bodies. Then when we come back, we’ll have a mini–Training Camp. We’ll review our structure, get them skating and focused again because what we just went through to get to this point is going to happen all over again.”

As of Friday morning, both the Red Wings (33-19-6; 72 points) and Montreal Canadiens (32-17-8; 72 points) were six points behind the Tampa Bay Lighting (37-14-4; 76 points) for first place in what remains a tightly competitive Atlantic Division. Tampa Bay had four games in hand on Detroit, while Montreal had one.

Thinking back to when they first assembled for Training Camp in Traverse City, Mich., in September, Larkin said the Red Wings have shown significant growth over the past several months and described their Centennial season so far as “an unbelievable ride.”

“Honestly, it’s been a lot of fun,” Larkin said. “The commitment and team chemistry…I’ve had probably the most fun I’ve had in my career playing with these guys. You’re not going to win them all, but we’ve shown to ourselves that through adversity we can stick together, and I think that’s brought our team together. I think we can beat anyone. A lot of fun with these guys, and I wish everyone a great break and for us to come back refreshed for a big push.”

McLellan believes the extra rest will help everybody, including Detroit’s support staff.

“We’ve put in some hours, but the players are the ones that are getting beat up,” McLellan said. “The training staff, the equipment people, the nutritionists, the fitness people, all of our sports science, the medical team that is at the rink so early and stay so late – they all need a breather too. I hope they go and turn things off, then be able to come back and bring that energy back to the group.”

Once Thursday’s slate of games wraps up, nobody in the Atlantic Division will have played more regular-season games before the Olympic break than Detroit’s 58.

“With the break and how the schedule gets set, because of that, it becomes even more of a grind than usual,” van Riemsdyk said. “You got to use it to your advantage. Refresh physically and mentally. Be ready to roll for the stretch run because it’s going to be a lot of very hard-fought games, but those are going to be the most fun games of the year to play because you’re playing for the playoffs. Playing those meaningful games down the stretch, there’s nothing like it.”

The Red Wings are set to play 11 of their remaining 24 contests at Little Caesars Arena, and will return for the stretch run on Feb. 26 when they visit the Ottawa Senators at Canadian Tire Centre for what also marks the start of a three-game road trip.

“We put ourselves in a real good spot,” McLellan said. “We’ve worked really hard as a team. Every player that’s been in the lineup has given us something on any given night. We’ve set ourselves up to have a good mini–Training Camp coming out of the break, and then we control what happens to our hockey club from thereon. And really, that’s all you can ask for.”