It's tempting to play the "what if" game when looking at the 2018-19 season Detroit Red Wings defenseman Danny DeKeyser had.
What if DeKeyser could've avoided at least one of the three injuries he dealt with this past season, especially when several other defensemen were hurt?
When DeKeyser was in the lineup, the Red Wings were a better team, no question about it.
When he and Mike Green both played, the Wings were above .500.
But that was a rare occurrence and the club suffered for it.
Now 29, DeKeyser is considered one of the main stalwarts on the blue line as the Wings work to improve while getting younger back there.
He plays the most minutes, generally plays against the other teams' best players, kills penalties and can man the point on the power play if injuries force the issue.
DeKeyser and the Wings would like nothing better this season than if he could stay healthy as he did playing all 82 games in 2016-17, while playing at the level he did when healthy in 2018-19.
400 -- On Dec. 2 against the Colorado Avalanche, DeKeyser played his 400th career NHL game. DeKeyser was even in 20:46.
100 -- On Oct. 8 at Anaheim, DeKeyser assisted on Darren Helm's second-period goal, the 100th point of his career. He was plus-1 in a team-high 27:13. He finished the season with 119 career points.
21:58 -- DeKeyser led the Wings in average ice time at 21:58. Dylan Larkin was second on the team, averaging 21:50 per game. Green was third at 21:40.
30 -- DeKeyser missed 30 games due to injury; eight games with a right hand injury from Oct. 15-Nov. 1, 19 games with a left hand injury from Dec. 6-Jan. 12, and the final three games of the season with a lower-body injury from April 2-6. However, he was only third on the team in that category. Green led with 39 man-games lost and Trevor Daley was second with 38 man-games lost.
2 -- On a team that struggled to score, DeKeyser impressively finished tied for second in plus-minus at plus-2. Luke Glendening and Dylan McIlrath also finished plus-2, in 78 games and seven games, respectively.
94 -- DeKeyser was third on the team in blocked shots with 94. Glendening led with 102 and Niklas Kronwall was second with 96. But DeKeyser played just 52 games.
3 -- In his limited action, DeKeyser still managed to score three game-winning goals. He scored in overtime, assisted by Gustav Nyquist and Andreas Athanasiou, on Feb. 1 to give the Wings a 3-2 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs. The next night in Ottawa, DeKeyser had the game-winner in the 2-0 shutout of the Senators, assisted by Thomas Vanek and Nick Jensen. And on March 29, DeKeyser scored the first goal in a 4-0 shutout of the New Jersey Devils, assisted by Larkin and Tyler Bertuzzi. The overtime winner against the Maple Leafs was the third of his career, moving him into third all-time among Detroit defensemen.
20 -- DeKeyser finished with 20 points (5-15-20) in 52 games, eight more than he had in 65 games during the 2017-18 season and the most since he also had 20 (8-12-20) in 78 games during the 2015-16 season. DeKeyser's career best is 31 points (2-29-31) in 80 games in the 2014-15 season.
