from Nate Brown of Detroit Hockey Now,
Simply put, the Detroit Red Wings looked exhausted Friday night. Outside of little bursts here and there, Detroit seemed out of gas by the middle of the second period. A short spurt in the dying seconds of the game from a flying Dylan Larkin appeared to maybe inject some life into what was a tired effort.
After playing four games in seven days, including back-to-back contests Thursday-Friday, Detroit gets some much-needed rest that doesn’t see it in another game until a February 7 home date against Edmonton.
It should be a break that will help renew a team that faces another stretch of pivotal games.
In 13 games, Detroit went 5-7-1 through their January stretch, certainly not where the Red Wings wanted to be. When they resume play in February, they will be less than a month away from the trade deadline. Whether the Red Wings will be buyers or sellers is one of many questions that willbe answered over this next stretch of games.
There are other questions, ranging from being a playoff team, to whether Dylan Larkin will sign a contract extension. Detroit’s performance through January, though, saw mixed results. Predictable were losses to New Jersey and Toronto, both top teams in the conference and division.
To avoid doing some chores I don’t want to I will sometimes look at standings or stats. The Wings February looks like this, playing .521.
12 games against 8 teams. 5 at Home and 7 Road.
6/8 of the teams are in playoff position with a combined 163 - 98 - 33.
The other 2 are Vancouver 20 - 26 - 3 ( Home and Away), and Ottawa 22 - 23 - 3 (2 Away).
So this will be a challenging month for this team.
It’s difficult to guess how many points it will take to make the playoffs, last year it would have taken 101 to knock out Boston, but typically 95pts .580 is close.
To get to 95 points from 50 in 34 remaining games the Wings will have to play .661.
45 points could be 20 - 9 - 5 ( pick your own W-L-OT combination ).
Given these 12 games in February does anyone think we’re closer to a playoff spot by the end of the month?
Does anyone see Detroit going 20 - 9 - 5 the rest of the way?
I expect the rah-rah from the broadcasters and players. What are the players supposed to say, “Yeah we’re just battling to keep our heads above water, I don’t know why anyone would pay $95 for a ticket to watch us.”
I’m prepared that Steve will deadline trade anyone he can get a return of picks on, hopefully without dumping any young core to build on.
Thanks! That kept me from cleaning the cat litter box. Oh, nope, it’s still there.
Yooper Traffic Circle ( roundabout, U.K. )
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