Red Wings at Calgary Flames 10-23-15

Gustav Nyquist (right) is one of the Red Wings who can help take the load off Henrik Zetterberg.

(AP File Photo)

DETROIT - The Detroit Red Wings' transition to a new era began three years ago with the emergence of Gustav Nyquist, Tomas Tatar and Danny DeKeyser.

Last year, Justin Abdelkader and Petr Mrazek stepped up. This season, Dylan Larkin made a huge impact and Andreas Athanasiou showed tremendous promise.

The shift in reliance from older to younger players must be accelerated next season when Henrik Zetterberg turns 36, Niklas Kronwall will be 35 and Pavel Datsyuk, in all likelihood, will be playing in Russia.

"We're going to continue to try to move some young people onto our team and some of the young people we're going to try to move up in responsibility with more ice time," general manager Ken Holland said.

"Do we have any young players who can take the team over? I'm not sure. ... They've got to grow into it."

Holland acknowledged the need to lighten the veterans' load.

Zetterberg, who averaged 19:39 in ice time, for the second year in a row faded significantly in the second half and didn't produce in the playoffs. Kronwall, who struggled through his worst season, had his ice time trimmed to 22:01 (from 23:50), but it was still the highest on the team.

"Some of our key players are a little older, they're not quite the players they were 4-5 years ago," Holland said. "They're still really good players. If we can support them better, they still got lots to give. But if we don't support them better and we're expecting the older guys to carry the franchise around, they're not going to do that."

Holland said that responsibility falls on him and coach Jeff Blashill.

"They might not be able to play 20-24 minutes, but they can still play a few less minutes and maybe a little down the line can still be really good players," Holland said. "That's what they did for (Nicklas) Lidstrom, (Steve) Yzerman, (Robert) Lang and (Brendan) Shanahan, as their careers were starting to wind down. Zetterberg, Datsyuk and Kronwall, those players pitched in big-time, and those stars were still able to have an impact on our team.

"I still think these older players have a lot of will and determination. We need some of our younger people to take a step up."

Zetterberg agreed that the older players need their minutes trimmed for youth.

"That's a natural step to go," Zetterberg said. "Me, Pav and Kronwall went through the same thing with the older guys. For us to be around with Stevie, (Kris) Draper, Shanahan, (Chris) Chelios and (Igor) Larionov, just to see what they did was huge for us. Hopefully, we can help the younger guys in that way."

But, he added, "We're not going to give it away. They have to earn it. When they do, it'll happen naturally."

Nyquist and Tatar, who combined for 18 fewer goals, must take some of those minutes, after averaging 1:29 and 1:52 less in ice time, respectively. The opportunity should be there, with the impending departures of Datsyuk and Brad Richards, regardless of what other moves are made in the off-season.

"If Pav leaves there's going to be an opportunity for someone to be playing more minutes, more offensive minutes, playing with better players and playing on the power play," Holland said. "It's up to them to take advantage of that opportunity."

Abdelkader said players in their 20s must have a bigger impact and in some ways carry the team.

"We have to try to take some of the weight off (older players') shoulders," Abdelkader said. "Larkin coming up and having a good year, he's obviously a bright, young star. AA has done a terrific job and he'll take another step. I think each and every one of us can raise our game."

Larkin is determined to take another step.

"As Blash has said, you've got to look in the mirror and want to be better," Larkin said. "I had a good start but I'm not happy with or satisfied by how the season went as a whole."

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