Detroit Red Wings: We Want to Lose with the Kids

Wins have been few and far between early this season for the Detroit Red Wings.  If we are going to continue to lose games, we might as well lose with the youth getting the majority of the ice-time.

It is time for Jeff Blashill to go or get real.  Blashill is trying to coach for his job rather than the franchise.  What we mean by that is that the development and progress of the young players are suffering due to Blashill and the Detroit Red Wings staff continuing to play “grinder” type players and veterans.

Blashill and his staff are continually playing the likes of Justin Abdelkader, Darren Helm, Luke Glendening over younger players like Michael Rasmussen, Martin Frk and Anthony Mantha.  In what world does that make any sense in?

Jeff Blashill came into the league being tagged a “player development” coach.  Ummm ok?  Which young players can you think of that have thrived under the guidance of Jeff Blashill? Exactly.  You may think Dylan Larkin, well yes he is a very good player; he isn’t a great player yet and nowhere near elite YET.

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Larkin regressed before he took a step forward under Blashill’s watch.  He is by far the Detroit Red Wings best player, but he was destined to be an outstanding player from the beginning.  I would say playing alongside Henrik Zetterberg had a much more significant effect on Larkin than Blashill ever has.

What about Anthony Mantha?  Jeff Blashill for the second straight year has the young forward sitting at the end of the bench more times than not while Glendening is double shifted.  How can you expect Mantha to score 30 goals or even duplicate his 24 from last season playing 8 minutes a night as he did two games ago?  The previous four before Friday night Mantha played less than 15 a game.  It is absolutely inexcusable.

Andreas Athanasiou has been much better after he lobbied for more ice-time before the season started and Jeff Blashill begrudgingly allocated a few more minutes a night for AA.  I say “begrudgingly” because it didn’t come without any return fire from Blashill.  If you recall he mentioned that many NHL players are capable with the same minutes, AA has played.  He went on, and I am paraphrasing, the better you play with minimal minutes, the more you will earn.

How about on a rebuilding team we play the young players who will still be here in five years rather than the 30 plus-year-olds.  The Detroit Red Wings are going to finish at or near the bottom of the league.  If you didn’t believe that before the start of the season, you should know clearly see it by now.

I would ask our head coach if we are going to finish in the lottery sweepstakes, why not focus on player development rather than playing the safe veterans who have minimal scoring upside?  Why are we not coaching up Michael Rasmussen, Tyler Bertuzzi and Filip Zadina?

I will say he has allowed Dennis Cholowski to play huge minutes.  That is a great thing to see.  The kid continues to impress us with his poise and confidence.  I can’t help but wonder if the Detroit Red Wings were completely healthy on the back-end to start the season would Blashill have been playing Dennis as much as he has?  It seems like a clear cut yes answer, right?  Well, nothing is clear cut with this General Manager and head coach both trying to hold onto the old days rather than looking towards the future.