from Ted Kulfan of the Detroit News,
The Wings visit Anaheim on Tuesday, then play in San Jose on Thursday and Columbus on Friday. As scheduling quirks go, this could be a profitable one for the Wings. Anaheim had the NHL's worst (32nd) win percentage as of Monday morning (.300, 4-10-1), while San Jose ranked 27th (.382, 5-9-3) and Columbus 31st (.321, 4-9-1).
Bottom line: These are the three of the weakest teams currently in the NHL. All three likely are to contend to have the best odds of drafting first overall next summer. These are games the Red Wings should be able to win, and need to, if they have hopes of playoff-contending deep into this regular season....
Anaheim is young and playing with little confidence, San Jose has only won two regulation-time games all season, and Columbus is injury-decimated and has goaltending issues.
There are no sure things in professional sports. But these three games will be as close as it gets, in that regard, for the Wings.
"If you're going to be a successful team, you got to be above .500 on every trip," forward David Perron said after Saturday's loss. "That puts us needing at least two out of three for sure and points in all the games."
more ($$)
from Max Bultman of The Athletic,
So, as the Red Wings work through their West Coast road trip, today well attempt to do just that. Here are some of the teams biggest early-season trends, and an attempt to determine whether they will ultimately be viewed as fact or fiction by seasons end.
The trend: Dominik Kubalik is among Detroits most important offensive players
Fact or fiction long-term: Fact
In 78 games last season, Kubalik had 32 points for the Blackhawks, leading Chicago to allow the winger to walk away with no qualifying offer as a free agent. It was a down year, and his uncharacteristic 9.3 shooting percentage made him a rebound candidate, but who saw this one coming?...
The trend: Detroit is a bottom-five faceoff team in the league
Fact or fiction long-term: Fiction
Entering Sunday, the Red Wings were sporting the leagues third-worst faceoff percentage at 44.5 percent. That comes as a bit of a shocker as a team that entered the season with two returning centers who were above 50 percent on the dot last season in Dylan Larkin and Michael Rasmussen, plus another major free-agent signing Andrew Copp who was above 51 percent for his career....
The trend: Moritz Seider is experiencing a sophomore slump
Fact or fiction long-term: Too soon to call
Seiders had games even some consecutively that make you feel like hes about to break out of whats been a slower start to the season than most anticipated.
Through 15 games, he has just five points. Some of that may be due to less time on the top power play, but more concerning has been Seiders puck management, which has been a bit too sloppy in the early going....
The trend: Detroit is on pace for 93 points, a playoff spot
Fact or fiction long-term: Fiction
Frankly, its too early for this sentence to mean anything, but: Entering Sunday, the Red Wings were in one of the two wild-card positions in the Eastern Conference. Their record has them on a 93-point pace for the season which would be seven points behind what it took to make the playoffs last year and right in the thick of the race so far. Thats a welcome sight after far too many Red Wings seasons have been over by Christmas recently.
more (paid)
...but more concerning has been Seiders puck management, which has been a bit too sloppy in the early going....
Something is definitely "off" with Seider this year. It seems like he's made more sloppy plays to this point than he did in all of last season. Not sure why, but it is beginning to be a concern.
My theory is, Seider is off to a slow start, bkz he hasn't had nearly the prep time he's been getting. Up until this summer, he was constantly attending prospect camps, draft combines, rookie tournaments, prospect tournaments, etc. Suddenly he has an entire summer off, and has to jump back in and get up to speed in a lot less time than he's been getting. He'll get there, tho.
Or maybe he's just still unlearning everything Blash taught him... 😀
Create an Account
In order to leave a comment, please create an account.