Larkin 'desperate' for Red Wings to make playoffs

A poor start to the season has only increased Dylan Larkin's desire to lead the Detroit Red Wings to the playoffs.

"I'm desperate for it," Larkin told Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press. "But I've committed to this team, and I've signed a long-term contract with this team because I believe in the players we have. I think we're building here. Every game right now is meaningful, so that's good. Good for us, good for our young hockey team."

The Red Wings haven't qualified for the postseason since 2015-16, Larkin's rookie campaign. The club is currently seventh in the Atlantic Division at 7-9-1 and has lost four of its last five games.

Detroit missed out on the second Eastern Conference wild-card spot last season due to a tiebreaker and were expected by many to be in the mix this year. The Red Wings haven't looked like a playoff team by any metric through 17 games, owning a minus-13 goal differential and a 45.02% expected goals rate at five-on-five, according to Evolving-Hockey.

"I think we've done just OK," Larkin said. "In certain areas we've struggled but other areas, we've done well, and that's defensively, and we've sacrificed offense to do that. I think our goaltending has been really good."

He added, "You look at our division, there's a lot of teams clumped right together, just looking for a breakthrough. It's right there."

Despite the rocky start, the Red Wings are only four points back of the Tampa Bay Lightning for third in the Atlantic. The Boston Bruins, Ottawa Senators, and Buffalo Sabres are also in the hunt and ahead of Detroit in the standings.

Larkin leads the Red Wings with 10 goals in 17 games.