A week after being eliminated from the playoff race for a ninth straight year, the Detroit Red Wings gathered to clean out their lockers and meet with general manager Steve Yzerman and coach Todd McLellan. It's the end game for every team in the NHL, but nobody wants to go through it in mid-April, days after the regular season ended.

DETROIT – A 57-year-old and a 4-year-old will have a significant influence on whether Patrick Kane returns to the Detroit Red Wings. The older guy is coach Todd McLellan. Kane was struggling to find his game in late December. Then McLellan arrived and Kane prospered.

Kane tallied 59 points in 72 games this season. Although his per-game production dropped from a year ago (he scored 0.94 points per game last year to this season's 0.82 average), Kane proved to be a key presence on the Red Wings' power-play unit, racking up 29 PPP.