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For the 10th consecutive season, the Detroit Red Wings are watching the Stanley Cup Playoffs from home.
Their fate was officially sealed after yet another late-season collapse, in which a once-comfortable lead above the playoff cut line vanished, culminating in a disappointing 5–3 loss and a chorus of boos from frustrated fans at Little Caesars Arena on April 11.
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Down the stretch, it was McLellan who repeatedly decried what he viewed as “jerseys” on the ice, or players who weren’t making a difference and weren’t giving a complete, total effort.
So far, we’ve examined the lack of production from both Michael Rasmussen, Detroit’s former ninth-overall pick in the 2017 NHL Draft, and forward J.T. Compher, who hasn’t come close to delivering the level of production expected from a player carrying a $5.1 million cap hit.
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While Appleton has never been a player that the clubs that he’s played for so far in his NHL career expect to be a focal point of their offense, the Red Wings were counting on him to make more of an impact than he did in the second half of the season.
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Appleton, whom the Red Wings inked to a two-year, $5.8 million deal last offseason with a cap hit of $2.9 million, began his tenure in Detroit on a positive note.
Not only did he score the game-winning goal against the Toronto Maple Leafs late in regulation in their fourth game of the season, but he was on track for around 35-40 points after his first month.
However, his offense began to taper off, and after the calendar flipped to 2026, was nearly nonexistent.
In fact, beginning on January 1, Appleton went 19 straight games without registering a single point, finally breaking that dismal streak with a pair of assists on March 2. But from that point on, he managed just one point over the next 14 games.
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Ultimately, over his last 34 games of the season, Appleton scored just once.
Appleton was largely ineffective for the Red Wings in the second half of the season, leading to questions about whether or not he’ll be offered a new contract upon the expiration of his current deal next summer – or if GM Steve Yzerman could potentially look to move on from him before then.
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