from Ted Kulfan of the Detroit News,

The Wings enter Thursday's games with 79 points (35-33-9), with five games remaining. Both Florida and the Islanders have 87 points with four games remaining. Pittsburgh has 86 points, Buffalo and Ottawa both 81.

A total of two points total lost for the Wings in these five games eliminates them. All they can do is keep winning and hope all the teams above them keep losing.

What hurts now is remembering some of the recent losses. Two to lowly Philadelphia. Another to a gutted St. Louis team. Those three games really are in the forefront, in recent weeks.

If the Wings had earned some points in those games, and probably should have, this could be a real interesting week ahead.

"If we had won a couple of games, a few more games in the last month, it would be nice for sure," forward David Perron said. "Next year we have to get that feeling and urgency a little bit earlier, so we remember how important every game is."

read on ($)

from Ansar Khan of Mlive,

Marco Kaspers taste of NHL action this season was brief but beneficial.

The Detroit Red Wings top pick in the 2022 draft who made his debut Sunday likely is done for the season with a lower-body injury, coach Derek Lalonde said Wednesday.

Its very unfortunate, Lalonde said. Wed have loved to have gotten him some games. The one game is played was extremely valuable. We wont question his toughness, so the underlying issue he has with the lower-body (injury) he played with for 2½ periods, he probably wont be available for the rest of the year....

Lalonde said Kasper wont require surgery, but the issue likely will cut into his offseason training a bit.

Hell be having a good summer and be ready for Day 1 of camp next year, Lalonde said.

read on

from Tony Ferrari of The Hockey News,

Detroit Red Wings do-it-all defender Moritz Seider ultimately took home the Calder Trophy, with human highlight reel Trevor Zegras and budding super pest Michael Bunting coming up just short.///

A year later, theyre all completing their second full season in the NHL. Lets take a look at how each has fared as the 2022-23 NHL season winds down.

MORITZ SEIDER, D, DETROIT RED WINGS

2021-22 stats: 7 goals and 43 assists for 50 points in 82 games

2022-23 stats: 5 goals and 35 assists for 40 points in 77 games

The winner of last years Calder Trophy had an up-and-down season, but he seems to be finishing much stronger than he started. Paired with divisive free-agent signing Ben Chiarot to start the season, Seider had mixed results with carrying Chiarot. Seider seemed off in the offensive zone, and his defensive play suffered because he was often not on the same page as his partner. It was truly just a poor match between the two.

Since being paired with Jake Walman, the young German defender returned to the form that we all expected from the Wings blueliner. Walman and Seider seem to have a better understanding of when each is going to attempt to step up in the play or join the rush. They maintain solid defensive positioning and provide the safety net both need.

Seider is one of the league's best young defenders, and although his trajectory may have taken a slight dip early this season, he remains on track to be a very good top-pair defender.

The hopes of getting into the periphery of the Norris conversation this year may be a bit premature, but Seider cemented himself as Detroits No. 1 defenseman this season. He was also the first Wings blueliner to start their career with back-to-back 40-point seasons since Nicklas Lidstrom pretty good company.

the other two players...

from Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press,

The Wings had an optional skate Wednesday, but all three goaltenders Ville Husso, Alex Nedeljkovic and Magnus Hellberg were on the ice. Nedeljkovic had to be removed from the 23-man roster and reassigned to the minors once Husso was available Tuesday, because Nedeljkovic was called up on an emergency basis. But there is still some uncertainty regarding Husso's health after he missed two weeks with a lower-body injury; if he can't play Thursday, Lalonde said, Nedeljkovic will be back on the roster and get the start against the Buffalo Sabres.

"Ville is still in a day-to-day eval," Lalonde said. "We're still evaluating that lower body for a potential flareup. So it will be a day-to-day."

While the Wings are disappointed that Kasper won't experience any further game action, there is value to him being around the team and witnessing what it takes to be in the NHL. He played 15 minutes in Sunday's 5-2 victory at the Toronto Maple Leafs, and impressed with his physical play all the more considering he only turns 19 Saturday.

"I like him being around the process, being around meetings, learning what we are trying to accomplish," Lalonde said. "Those habits, the way we want to develop our team game, just being around it, the value of individual clips from the one game. They are huge experiences for him. We want to have him around as much as possible the next couple weeks."

a bit more ($)

Well I didnt know that injury situation with Kasper.  Apparently the Wings did but didnt think it was that serious?  Sorry he wont get to play more this year.