While the Detroit Red Wings season isn’t in jeopardy, another month or two of uninspiring hockey will get them there, so some changes should be in store. Some of those proposed changes should involve moving a few players if their performance issues continue to plague the team, and that’s been the case with the trio I’m discussing below.
For one of them, I saw this coming, so I can’t say their so-so (at best) play has surprised me. As for the other two, it’s been an absolute shocker.
So, who’s been underperforming the most at their respective positions on this Red Wings team that never seems capable of stringing a few wins together at a time so far? Let’s kick things off with one name that I was certain was about to see even better days in 2024-25 and continue to defy the aging process.
Patrick Kane
Back in November, Patrick Kane had me and I’m sure a lot of you fooled. Here I was, thinking Steve Yzerman was a genius for bringing him back in after a rebound year, only for things to absolutely fizzle out here in mid-December. Okay, maybe not mid-December, but hey, the 15th’s less than a week away as I write this.
Yeah, Kane spent some time on injured reserve, so he’s got just 23 games to date. But 10 points, three goals, and a 6.4 shooting percentage? Really? In the content linked above, I also implied that maybe it was time for a farewell tour for one of the game’s best players of the 2010s and early 2020s, and Kane’s only kept proving me right since.
But there’s still a significant portion of games to go this season, so maybe I’m overreacting. The Wings are still in the goal-scoring doldrums, so Kane has time to step up and play the role of ‘hero,’ even if it doesn’t look feasible at the moment.
Ville Husso
Man, just when it looks like Ville Husso is about to exorcise his latest netminding demons, he disappoints all of us. Thanks to injuries to Cam Talbot and Alex Lyon, we’ve been forced to watch a lot of Husso lately. And for three games, he delivered, allowing no more than a trio of goals per contest while his worst save percentage between December 3rd and December 7th sat at 0.914.
Then trouble struck, as Husso allowed three goals on seven shots in what was an eventual win against the Buffalo Sabres. Yep, it was an unceremonious landing for Husso, and it dropped his GAA back to 3.74 with a save percentage of 0.870.
Once everyone in the crease is healthy again, Steve Yzerman may want to consider trading Husso to the San Jose Sharks. They clearly don’t mind acquiring some of the worst goaltenders in the league, so why not call them up?
Erik Gustafsson
I’m currently laughing at my overly-optimistic self because of how confident I was in Erik Gustafsson over the summer. Gustafsson, who never seemed to get a fair chance anywhere, looked like an absolute steal of a free agent signing to replace Shayne Gostisbehere in my book, and he was out to prove to the rest of the hockey world why that was.
Oh, Gustafsson has been proving something, all right. He’s proven to all of us that he’s been exactly what every other team seemingly thought he was: a blueliner with a limited ceiling who has no business playing top-four minutes.
And that’s been the case in Detroit, as he’s mainly played third-pairing minutes, and rightfully so. He currently has five points in 20 games, zero goals, a minus-6, and 34 giveaways. Yeah, it might be time to end this experiment at some point before the trade deadline.