Drew Sharp of the Detroit Free Press states...

It’s too early for panic with the Wings currently fighting for one of the two conference wild-card playoff berths in the new league realignment. But it isn’t too soon for genuine concern because their absurd rash of injuries doesn’t fully explain the unevenness of effort and execution.

Face it. The Wings are an average team. If they were fully healthy, they would remain an average team — incapable of advancing beyond the second round of the playoffs the past four years. They haven’t been a serious Stanley Cup contender since their Game 7 loss to Pittsburgh in the 2009 Stanley Cup final. But they still cling to the perception that they remain reasonably close to the hockey elite.

Then..

It’s especially frustrating for the Wings because Chicago is a reminder of what they once were — fast, deep, hoggish with the puck and shrewdly opportunistic in decisions made on and off the ice. But the roles have reversed.

Perhaps it’s time the Wings follow the Blackhawks’ blueprint and trust their youth more instead of thinking of them as merely a stopgap until many of the veterans return from their assorted aches and pains. Half of the roster has missed 20% of the games this season. Only Drew Miller and Kyle Quincey have played in every game. Nyquist, Riley Sheahan and Tomas Jurco comprised half of their top-six forwards against the Blackhawks.

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I question Sharp and wonder if he even know what the Blackhawks' blueprint is? Lose badly for at least five years, draft high and hope the picks work out.