Red Wings Finally Get Marco Kasper and Mason Appleton Back From IR

The Detroit Red Wings are finally getting some reinforcements, which is great news for a team that just spent a week getting bullied across the league. Daily Faceoff reports that centers Marco Kasper and Mason Appleton have been officially activated off injured reserve.

Getting two forwards back is a massive relief for a Detroit squad that has looked completely lost offensively. When you drop three straight games to the Tampa Bay Lightning, Vegas Golden Knights, and Colorado Avalanche while scoring a grand total of three goals, you need warm bodies who know how to hold a stick.

"Daily Faceoff reported the official activation of Kasper and Appleton off injured reserve."

Kasper has been sitting on the shelf with an upper-body injury since Detroit's season-opening 2-0 loss to the New York Rangers. The 22-year-old former eighth-overall pick is coming off a solid 37-point rookie campaign, and the Wings desperately need his energy back in the middle of the ice.

Then there is Appleton, who vanished with an undisclosed injury after going scoreless in the first two games of the year. Detroit is paying the 30-year-old $5.8 million over two years to be a reliable depth piece, which is mathematically difficult to do when you are wearing a suit in the press box.

Right now, the Red Wings' injury report has been reading like a CVS receipt. With J.T. Compher also dealing with a day-to-day issue, Detroit has been running out forward lines that look like they were drawn out of a hat five minutes before puck drop.

Getting Kasper and Appleton back at least makes them look like a professional hockey team again instead of a beer league squad scrambling for last-minute subs. It gives the coaching staff actual options instead of just crossing their fingers and hoping for a miracle.

We will see if the returning duo can jumpstart this dead offense when Detroit visits the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday. If you are looking at the goal totals, you might want to wait and see if these guys actually have their game legs, because right now, expecting the Wings to light the lamp is an exercise in pure delusion.