Beginning to be ravaged by injuries, the Detroit Red Wings need some help and it could be coming in the form of Tomas Jurco. Jurco has been with the team for many years and has production has only continued to slip. Are they going to be able to finally utilize him in an offensive role?

Jurco’s career started with a bunch of promise and it has only gone continually down hill. His opportunities have consistently come in the bottom six and in a defensive role. Given his skill set, it doesn’t make much sense and it has caused him to butt heads with Jeff Blashill. 

While injuries are never a good occurrence, the fact that he is coming back now is fantastic timing. Rather than playing with Steve Ott and Drew Miller, he will get a chance to play with Riley Sheahan and hopefully will find a good rhythm. The abruptness in which his role has changed could not have helped him. It only made his situation with the team more tenuous.

His underlying numbers have always been great and given what we know about the Wings’, they don’t seem to care much about those types of numbers. He raises almost every other player on the team’s Corsi and when he does find the ice he generates shots like a top six player. 

This may be one of his last chances to make an impact on the team and stick around. Red Wings prospects are known to stick around and percolate longer then other prospects, that rope for Jurco may be coming to an end though.

It’s a critical point in the season for both Jurco and the Wings’ if they can make this work, they’ll both come out of this looking smart. It is now or never for the young-ish Slovak.