Solid October doesn’t magically solidify Red Wings’ future concerns

Underlying Numbers Still Don’t Like The Red Wings

Look, they play the games for a reason. In the playoffs, small sample sizes don’t matter if they are in your favor. The regular season is an absolute slog, however, and the Red Wings don’t look particularly good under the hood as October rolls over into November.

Only seven teams have a lower expected goal percentage at even strength than Detroit, and eight squads have a higher shooting percentage than the Red Wings. This team isn’t going to score on nearly 13 percent of their shots all season. Nor will they continue to average four goals a game like they have to this point. The ingredients are there for a nasty regression, especially if Villie Husso remains average.

The next few weeks will tell us a lot about what this version of the Red Wings is really made of. Seven of their next ten games come against teams that made the playoffs last year. Toss in a game against the Ottawa Senators, the new-look Blue Jackets, and the better-than-expected Montreal Canadiens, and this upcoming stretch could mean more for Detroit’s season than October has. And the Red Wings have a few things to clean up if they want to stay in the playoff hunt for another month.

Stats appear courtesy of MoneyPuck.com and NHL.com and are accurate through games played on October 30.