Why is Darren Helm still playing for the Detroit Red Wings?

The Detroit Red Wings' most recent Stanley Cup championship was 13 years ago, even if their multiyear residency in the NHL's basement makes that memory feel protractedly distant.

There were 23 players who appeared for Detroit in the 2008 playoffs. Twenty of them are retired, with three having been subsequently enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Pavel Datsyuk, 42, is playing in the KHL. Only two of those Red Wings are still playing in today's NHL, and both still with Detroit: centers Valtteri Filppula and Darren Helm.

Filppula bounced around after leaving Detroit as a free agent in 2013, skating with three other teams before returning for the 2019-20 season.

Not Helm. He's been a Detroit…