from Ansar Khan of Mlive,

For weeks there has been little doubt the Detroit Red Wings would miss the playoffs.

Now that they are out officially, is it time to give some younger players more ice time and expand their roles over the final eight games? Use their last recall on a defenseman? Look to the future and focus more on development?

Yes, no, maybe. We'll see.

"There's a fine line there," coach Jeff Blashill said following his team's 1-0 loss to the Washington Capitals Thursday at Little Caesars Arena. "You have to make sure you compete and work. If you don't compete and work you're not getting ice time.

"Two ... if you want to take one of those guys' job, you got to play better than them. If I start playing guys because of their age, you lose 100 percent credibility and you don't teach lessons of earned ice."...

"What Svech has to do on a shift by shift basis is be better than one of these guys - (Gustav) Nyquist, Bert (Tyler Bertuzzi), (Anthony) Mantha, (Darren) Helm, (Justin) Abdelkader, (Andreas Athanasiou) - those are the guys playing wing right now, so he's got to beat one of those guys out. Other than that, the rest of the young guys play a pretty significant role on the team."

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Below, watch the game highlights and post-game interviews.