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Wings success highlights GM Holland’s development philosophy

Detroit Red Wings v New York Rangers

NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 21: Gustav Nyquist #14 of the Detroit Red Wings skates against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on March 21, 2012 in New York City. The Rangers defeated the Red Wings 2-1 in overtime. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

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The Detroit Red Wings will make the playoffs for the 23rd consecutive season despite enduring far more than their far share of injuries. They’ve been forced to rely heavily on call ups from the AHL Grand Rapids Griffins and some of those players have become the reason the streak is still alive.

It’s further justification of Red Wings GM Ken Holland’s philosophy of waiting until a player can firmly establish themselves in the minors before calling them up.

“Leading the Grand Rapids Griffins last year was (Tomas) Tatar, (Gustav) Nyquist, Riley Sheahan and Luke Glendening so when they got their call they didn’t come up here wondering if they could play they had done it at another level so the next step for them was to go to the NHL,” Holland told the Macomb Daily.

“Now can you do it? I don’t know, but that time in the minors prepares them to be the best that they can be.”

Constantly winning means that Detroit rarely has high draft picks, but much of their talent is nevertheless homegrown. Three of the four players Holland mentioned were Red wings’ draft picks, while Luke Glendening was never drafted and had to climb his way up the ranks after his four-year tenure at the University of Michigan.

Detroit’s injury situation isn’t quite as dire as it once was, but the Red Wings will still be missing Henrik Zetterberg and Jonathan Ericsson when the playoffs start. That will contribute to the youngsters that got them this far getting a chance to play in the first round.

If nothing else, that would allow their development to continue by giving them a taste of what it’s like to play in NHL postseason games. That’s something the Red Wings hope they’ll get used to as they aim to extend their playoff appearance streak indefinitely.

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