Detroit Red Wings Week in Review: Lose, Rinse, Repeat
By Nate Brown
The Detroit Red Wings had another forgettable week, losing to Florida on Sunday and then getting swept by Tampa on Wednesday and Friday. There of course, are a multitude of reasons why the Red Wings are in the position they are, but it’s still a pretty familiar one—staring up from the bottom of the division. Here’s a look back at the week and what could be in store for the week ahead.
Florida has not been all sunshine and rainbows for the Red Wings
The Wings are winless on the Florida road trip so far and continue to Miami where they face Florida for the third time in eight days.
hasn’t played since last Saturday’s game and it’s showed on the power play, which has been abysmal—which if you lost an a–would be an anagram for Bylsma. The Red Wings were 0/9 through all three games on the man advantage and head into the game this afternoon at a 9.8% clip. But it’s not like this is new. Watching the video below shows that the Red Wings power play has been a disaster for over a year now–providing few answers but more and more questions.
Bertuzzi collected the lionshare of his goals on the powerplay and his absence has been devastating. The only way to really see improvement would be to play the right players, but that’s item #2 on the list.
The wrong Red Wings are on the ice
Take your pick: Frans Nielsen, Valtteri Filppula, Luke Glendening, Adam Erne or Darren Helm. Combined they make $14.9 million. Combined statistically they have one goal and two assists. To be fair to Erne and Helm, they’ve played less games and Glendening has been great in the faceoff circle. Filppula sat last night, and Nielsen should join him today. All but Nielsen have expiring contracts and I would wager that Nielsen is a buyout candidate once this season is through. There’s no reason why Matthias Brome, Michael Rasmussen, Givani Smith and Taro Hirose should be relegated to either the taxi squad or Grand Rapids. Those four combined have double the points (6) while Brome should have at least three goals by now. Dennis Cholowski should also be given a hard look. Now that Grand Rapids has started, it’s clear he has to produce or he’s most likely on his way out of Detroit.
Just please make it stop
It’s another eight-game losing streak in two seasons and some of these games, like last year, have just been brutal to watch. It’s so close to the calvary arriving from overseas to boost the team, but it’s still another two-three years before meaningful hockey is played beyond April. The fanbase is all in on the Yzerplan but you have to wonder–and really. hope–that the summer brings a massive facelift to this team. With so much money coming off the books, it stands to reason that an infusion of young talent and maybe some free agents or acquisitions via trade could put this team in a better position to be competitive each night. Until then, we’re left to scratch our heads at suggestions of Mike Babcock returning to Detroit.
Ending on a Positive note
Filip Zadina is back!
This really can't be worse than last year, can it?. light. Related Story
Games this week
Red Wings at Florida – 3pm today
Red Wings at Florida – 7pm Tuesday
Red Wings at Nashville – 8 pm Thursday
Red Wings at Nashville – 8 pm Saturday