Detroit Red Wings: Derek Lalonde’s 2022-23 Report Card

When Jeff Blashill manned the Detroit Red Wings bench, he was given a pretty long leash by general manager (GM) Steve Yzerman. Taking charge of personnel decisions was what Red Wings fans were most excited about with the hiring of Steve Yzerman, and by that time, their patience had been running thin for the most part with head coach Blashill.

After earning a contract extension, Blashill eventually ran his course in Detroit, swapped cities with Derek Lalonde, and took a job in Tampa Bay. All this to say, Lalonde came from a winning organization where he earned two Stanley Cup rings as an assistant coach with the Lightning. He joined the Detroit Red Wings knowing that they were a bottom feeder of the league but took the job anyway and joined the architect of the Lightning dynasty, Yzerman himself.

Evaluating a coach’s performance is slightly more complicated than just looking at the team’s record and doing simple math with win increases or goal differential movements. It is far more nuanced than that. Yes, the Red Wings played meaningful competitive games further into this season as compared to the last couple under coach Blashill, but they also played in an abundance of tight games with fewer four- and five-goal blowouts.

Albeit, a couple did come towards the last month with key players missing from the trade deadline and a mountain of injuries to Robby Fabbri, Filip Zadina, and Michael Rasmussen. The message from Lalonde to his team stayed strong, and the ” compete ” level did not diminish. Lalonde guided the Detroit Red Wings to an overall record of 35-37-10.

Let’s dive into Derek Lalonde’s first season in Detroit.

A stagnant Detroit Red Wings powerplay is no fault of Lalonde.

One of the major concerns for the Detroit Red Wings heading into the 2022-23 season was whether or not the coaching staff could turn around a stagnant power play. As far as powerplay percentage and powerplay goals go, they improved rather significantly during this season under Lalonde. They finished middle of the pack, 16th best, in power play percentage. It is not a number that will punch you in the face. However, it is an improvement of ten spots.

Last year Detroit finished 26th in PP percentage. Assistant coach Alex Tanguay runs the power play system and units, so it should be considered that he may have simply improved upon last season and is pushing the special teams in the right direction. Even with the free-agent additions of David Perron and Dominik Kubalík, who both were awarded decent minutes on the powerplay units, the drastic improvement must be given credit, not just towards the talent added to it.

Tanguay was retained by Yzerman after hiring Lalonde, meaning he could not hire his own choice to be his assistant to run the powerplay. That could very well change this off-season. If Lalonde forces Yzerman’s hand, it could possibly be one of the most critical moves this summer.

When you look at the 5-on-5 play, Lalonde has implemented a system that gives more of a leash to the skilled players to be aggressive and try things that Blashill rarely allowed. It can not be understated how important it could be to allow the head coach to choose his staff and ensure they are all on the same page regarding what kind of system they would like to run, thus potentially improving the power play numbers even more.

Detroit Red Wings head coach Derek Lalonde is blind to the price tag.

Potentially the most admirable aspect of what Lalonde has done in his rookie season behind the Detroit Red Wings bench as head coach is shown he is blind to the price tag. What the players on his roster are being paid means nothing to him if they are not producing or even contributing in a positive fashion.

It became apparent during the 2022-2023 campaign that if a certain player had a great game, they were awarded more ice time and, in some cases, replaced top-tier players on the powerplay and sometimes on the first or second line.

The most notable cases of this would be the increased minutes for Joe Veleno’s line before Zadina was lost to injury. They showed great chemistry and created a lot of time in the offensive zone. This forced Lalonde to trim down some high-paid players’ minutes like Andrew Copp, Fabbri, and Kubalík. Also, the use of Alex Chaisson on the powerplay was highly telling. What management values players at with certain dollar figures means nothing to Lalonde.

If you produce, you play. This might seem like a basic strategy, but you might be surprised if you were to look around the league and see coaching staff forcing “star” players into situations when they have a hot hand sitting on the bench.