from Ansar Khan of Mlive,
Ten days ago, with 10 games to play and one of the NHL’s more difficult remaining schedules, the Detroit Red Wings were poised to improve their draft lottery odds.
Instead, those odds have diminished following a 4-1 stretch. That’s fine with coach Derek Lalonde, who sees a greater benefit to winning down the stretch.
“Winning is important; some of these habits from a good team game which have led to our winning of late are important,” Lalonde said. “I know some fans out there are probably frustrated. We’ve literally jumped up six spots on the draft board in the last week.”
They offer no apologies for the rise that’s worsened their chances of landing one of the top two picks in the draft.
“We’re going to play to win because I think it’s important,” Lalonde said. “We went through that really tough 5-6 game stretch (0-5-1 from Feb. 25-March 5), it felt like it was three months long. You talk sometimes about how seasons can drag along. We go on this streak of late -- winning, rolling, playing the right way, everyone’s getting good reps -- all the sudden we only have five games left, it slowed down, which is part of the experience.”
from Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press,
"We are still in a very sensitive development stage for those guys and all these minutes and roles and opportunity are important," coach Derek Lalonde said.
Veleno, 23 and Berggren, 22, both have seen their roles expand over the past couple weeks, a result of the Wings losing Robby Fabbri and Michael Rasmussen to season-ending injuries and trading Tyler Bertuzzi and Oskar Sundqvist. Veleno has gotten looks on the second unit on power plays; when he converted on one during the 5-0 victory in Montreal, it gave Veleno a personal-best nine goals through 76 games despite going 25 games without a goal.
"I have some offensive upside in me, Ive had it my whole career," Veleno said. "I think its just working on it and being consistent and making sure I focus more on those breakaways and make sure I capitalize on those chances. Im still trying to improve as a player, still trying to evolve my all-around game. Ive been fortunate to get some more minutes Im just trying to take advantage of that opportunity. "
Veleno is a pending restricted free agent. The Wings like his speed and size (6 feet 1, 203 pounds) but questions remain regarding his potential.
"I still think with Joe, hes still finding his way," Lalonde said. "Its a lot to ask of these young players. At times you want more of Joe, you want him to develop in certain ways. He is still growing as a player. I think he is going to have to start defining what he is going to be, not only in this league, but for us as a team.
"I would like a very responsible player. I want him hard to play against. Hes shown signs of that. I think the offense can come with playing the right way. Hes shown some signs of that, too."
more ($)
Lalonde says Husso starts.
While hurting their draft possibilities, it probably won't matter with Bettman pulling his annual lottery B.S.
Its a little late for this. If they really wanted to make the playoffs they should have started back around January. Just like the Lions they need someone else to lose to keep their trying to cross the finish line on crutches season alive. Its not just about the lottery its the position as well. Sure the Wings will probably get a decent player but will it be the player Steve really wanted or plan C because the first 2 were gone already.
Yeah despite being miserable to watch it would benefit them to do what arizona, philly, vancouver and washington have done putting together impressive losing streaks. Feel better about it knowing they have 5 picks in the first two rounds to work with. And to be honest I think it's been good for the guys still out there to finish the year playing decent hockey instead of getting their teeth kicked in and just counting down the days.
Here's hoping Steve can work some magic with his multiple picks to move up or make some trades to improve during the draft
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