Amid the lowest monthly average ice time of his young career, Red Wings rookie Axel Sandin-Pellikka remains focused on improving and earning more opportunities.
It’s been a season of rookies for the Detroit Red Wings, who began their centennial campaign with three first-year players on the roster: Axel Sandin-Pellikka, Emmitt Finnie, and Michael Brandsegg-Nygård.
Brandsegg-Nygård was later returned to the Grand Rapids Griffins of the AHL, while 2023 first-round pick (ninth overall) Nate Danielson was called up and would play 28 games for Detroit before being reassigned as well.
Sandin-Pellikka and Finnie, meanwhile, have remained with the club for the entire season to date. Both have made meaningful contributions, though, like most rookies, have also experienced the expected growing pains of playing in the world’s top hockey league.
Sandin-Pellikka saw his ice time, previously never dipping below 10 minutes per game, drop to just over nine minutes during Detroit’s 4–3 overtime win over Carolina on Jan. 12, during which he sat for much of the third period. Similar reductions followed on Jan. 16 against San Jose (9:01 of ice time) and again on Jan. 21 against Toronto (9:55 of ice time).
Since that game, the Red Wings have been short one key defenseman in Simon Edvinsson, who suffered a lower-body injury and has since been ruled out until at least after the NHL schedule resumes in late February following the Olympic break.
While he'd like to play more, the Swedish blue liner noted that he must perform at a level that would force head coach Todd McLellan to give him additional ice time.
"We'll see, the season's been ups and downs, and the ice time has gone down a little bit because I haven't been playing very well," Sandin-Pellkka said following Tuesday's morning skate. "I want to be better and make myself deserve that ice time."
"Simon is a huge loss for us, he's easily one of our top defenseman, so we're going to have to step up here," he continued.
While he didn’t recall any specific conversations with McLellan or assistant coach Trent Yawney about building or maintaining confidence, he understands that their decisions are aimed at what’s best for him.
"They want me to go out and play, and they want what's best for me," he said.
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McLellan noted that while Sandin-Pellikka's ice time may not have jumped significantly, they feel that he's shouldering larger responsibilities in Edvinsson's absence.
"He's done that the last two games," McLellan said. "Simon hasn't played for the last six periods, and Axe has had to handle more of the load. It may not show up in minutes, but it could show up in situational decisions with Yawns putting him out at certain times or against certain opponents. We were on the road and didn't get the last change."
"Axe has done over the last two games exactly what we need Axe to do in Simon's absence."
Sandin-Pellikka, who now has six goals with 12 assists and has averaged just under 19 minutes of ice time over his first 14 NHL games, saw a modest increase following Edvinsson’s departure.
He logged 12:31 in Detroit’s 4–3 overtime loss to Minnesota on Jan. 22, then 13:29 in the team’s most recent game, a 5–1 win over Winnipeg on Saturday.
Still, the 13:13 he’s averaged this month marks the lowest ice time of his young career, down from 16:00 in December and 18:43 and 19:05 in October and November, respectively.
Coincidentally, this month is the only one in which he’s posted a positive plus-minus rating, sitting at +2 after ratings of −9, −3, and −5 in October, November, and December, respectively.
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