Youth is being served up an opportunity

The Detroit Red Wings will get an eyeful of youth being served Tuesday when the Arizona Coyotes visit Little Caesars Arena. The Coyotes roster includes ?? players 25 or younger, including a pair of teenagers. Even their GM John Chayka is a relative pup at 28. Youth, though, hasn’t been serving the 1-10-1 Coyotes well. They are struggling yet again this season and haven’t qualified for the playoffs since the 2011-12 season. In other words, going whole hog for a youth movement, as many Wings fans wish to be the route the team should take, can prove to be a very painful journey. The Wings are opting to break in their youngsters more slowly but it is a process that is steadily increasing as the team’s fortunes on the ice have decreased. Two games ago, Detroit coach Jeff Blashill proclaimed that he was setting his lines in stone for the time being, and on one of those units, he combined Dylan Larkin (21) between Anthony Mantha (23) and Andreas Athanasiou (23) in a kid line that will play in the Wings’ top six forwards, as well as in any and all situations on the ice. It’s part of the plan to build a future for the franchise. Captain Henrik Zetterberg is still Detroit’s best player but he’s also 37, meaning his days as the best Red Wing will end sooner rather than later. It’s time for the team to discover new leadership, and quite frankly, younger veterans such as Gus Nyquist and Tomas Tatar haven’t exhibited the traits expected from leaders. That means that before long, this team could be the team of Larkin, Mantha and Athanasiou. “It’s critical that we continue progress with guys besides Z,… Blashill said. “Z’s still one of the better players in the league, in my opinion … but we need other guys to be able to do that as well. “I think the maturation process and whether that’s Tats or Nyquie, whether that’s Double-A or Larks-Mantha, we need those guys with that high-end offensive ability to step up and make those high-end offensive plays.… For Detroit’s young guns, they are ready to grab the opportunity presented to them to be impact Red Wings. “It’s huge,… Mantha said. “We talked about it earlier in the year. We want to be impact players. “You don’t want to be seen as kids but for us it’s just take those next five, six games together and create things offensively, be smart defensively and just help our team win.… Larkin also welcomes the weight of responsibility being placed upon his shoulders. “Absolutely, this is time,… Larkin said. “I’m excited playing with these two guys. I don’t think there’s time to figure each other out or try and take a back seat, this is time for us to come together as a unit, play hard for each other and produce. “Our team needs it.… Follow me on Twitter @asktheduffer