Detroit Red Wings lament special teams failures in latest loss
Detroit Red Wings Dylan Larkin, Nate Danielson & Todd McLellan, Nov. 9, 2025 in Detroit.
Todd McLellan hinted personnel moves could be coming for the Detroit Red Wings, pending an assessment of the most recent addition to the lineup.
The Wings (9-7-0) don’t play again until Thursday, Nov. 13, giving them time to assess the best lineup to pull the team out of a three-game skid. Nate Danielson, the team’s top pick in 2023 (at No. 9) joined the cast Sunday, and while his NHL debut was tarnished by a 5-1 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks, that result was not on the shoulders of the 21-year-old forward.
“We wanted to see him now so we can make some decisions, perhaps on some other players,” the Wings coach said after Sunday’s game at Little Caesars Arena. “For him, for his first game, I thought he did some real good things on the ice. It’s unfortunate that he leaves, like the rest of the players, with a loss. But him as an individual certainly wasn’t our problem.”
McLellan had Danielson centering the third line, between Marco Kasper and Mason Appleton, and also used Danielson on the second power play unit. Danielson was with the Grand Rapids Griffins in Chicago when he was notified of the call-up.
“I wasn’t too nervous this morning,” he said. “But definitely leading up to game time and first shift was a little bit nervous, but then settled in pretty good after that.”
Danielson, a responsible two-way forward, had a good training camp; so good that McLellan said about a week before the season began that Danielson looked like he would make the Wings. But that was derailed when he suffered a wrist injury, and when that healed, he was assigned to the Griffins. He had a goal and four assists in four AHL games when the Wings decided they could use him.
“Nate, had he not been hurt in training camp, I think he would have started with our team, based on where he was when he did get injured,” McLellan said. “He worked hard to stay healthy. He had an upper body injury, and he was able to keep his legs going. So that didn’t go away. And he’s had a pretty good start in Grand Rapids.”
The Wings already had a spare forward, so Danielson’s arrival led to both Michael Rasmussen and Jonatan Berggren being healthy scratches. It’s the second scratch of the season for Rasmussen, who has one goal, two assists and a minus-5 rating in 14 games. Rasmussen is big, at 6 feet 6, but he has struggled to be effective on a consistent basis for almost three years now, dating to a leg injury in February 2023.
Berggren has been scratched multiple times, leaving him with two goals, two assists and a minus-5 rating in 10 games. He scored 15 goals as a rookie in 2022-23, and had 12 last season, but the team wants to see more inner drive from him.
The team had Monday down as an off day.
Contact Helene St. James at hstjames@freepress.com.
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