Detroit Red Wings could use a player or two from 1997 Stanley Cup team, in town Thursday

“Is there a right-shot center in there?”

That’s who Derek Lalonde would like to pluck from Thursday’s festivities and sneak into the Detroit Red Wings’ lineup as they try to right themselves against the Washington Capitals.

The 1997 Stanley Cup championship team will be celebrated beforehand — fans are encouraged to be in their seats at Little Caesars Arena by 6 p.m. — and that means a star studded guest list, including Steve Yzerman, Nicklas Lidstrom, Scotty Bowman, Tomas Holmstrom, Igor Larionov, Mike Vernon and many more. Lalonde said he was most excited to see Bowman mill about, being a long-time admirer. (Jake Walman, who isn’t yet ready to return from offseason surgery, said he might ask Holmstrom if it’s OK to wear his No. 96.)

When it was pointed out to Lalonde that his general manager — Yzerman — was a right-shot center, Lalonde laughed and said, “I think Steve would win a few faceoffs.”

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The Wings (4-3-2) do get center Michael Rasmussen back from a two-game suspension, but Oskar Sundqvist (upper body) still isn’t practicing and Tyler Bertuzzi (upper body), Jakub Vrana (players assistance program) and Robby Fabbri (knee) aren’t on the near horizon. The Capitals (5-4-2) are also hurting: Forwards Nicklas Backstrom, T.J. Oshie and Carl Hagelin and Tom Wilson are out, and defenseman John Carlson is day-to-day.

Much of Wings practice was spent working on breakouts. It was one of the areas where they struggled most in Monday’s 8-3 debacle against the Buffalo Sabres.

“We have to do a better job on them,” forward Pius Suter said. “That’s what we were doing when we were more successful — we do better on breakouts, it translates to more offense. We couldn’t get the puck back and when we did, we made a bad play.”

Suter was on a line with Joe Veleno and Matt Luff in practice. Rasmussen was with Dominik Kubalik and Filip Zadina, and Dylan Larkin was with two right-shot wingers, David Perron and Lucas Raymond. Andrew Copp was with Elmer Söderblom and Adam Erne.

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“We were pretty slow transitioning from playing defense to offense,” Copp said. “When we get possession, we’re pretty slow to get to our breakout routes, and it looks like we’re playing slow and the other team is playing fast.”

To Lalonde’s frustration, the loss to the Sabres came on the heels of what he termed the Wings’ “best win to date,” when they beat the Minnesota Wild, 2-1, at LCA.

“We went from a game where we turned it over 21 times the entire game, and then we were in the high 30s, low 40s,” Lalonde said. “We’d like a little poise, a little patience, a little more help, everybody kind of wanting pucks. Even through some of our success early on, those d-zone breakouts were a little above league average, so it’s a point of emphasis to continue to work on.

“A lot of times with turnovers, people look at the person with the puck. A lot of times it’s the help he gets away from the puck, and that needs to be a little bit better as a group.”

Thanks to the practice facility inside LCA, the Wings and Capitals will warm up there, so that all that needs to be done when the pre-game festivities end is to resurface the ice. Having championship players — the ’98 group will be honored before Saturday’s game — in the building should further serve to inspire an improved performance.

“When you start to reflect on those guys, yeah they were special players, but those guys wanted to come to work every day, wanted to work hard every day,” Lalonde said. “Those are championship teams. That’s where we want to be. That’s why I think it’s pretty neat to have those guys around.”

Contact Helene St. James at hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames. Read more on the Detroit Red Wings and sign up for our Red Wings newsletter. Her latest book, “On the Clock: Behind the Scenes with the Detroit Red Wings at the NHL Draft,” is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Triumph Books. Personalized copies available via her e-mail.