Thankfully, the 2024 calendar year is coming to a close. As we begin this new year, I hope to see the Detroit Red Wings take steps in the right direction. Whether they are giant leaps or baby steps, the Detroit Red Wings must continue to move forward.
As the season progresses things get more challenging. Both the schedules and exhaustion set in, coupled with possible injuries and lack of time to prepare for upcoming games the Detroit Red Wings have difficult steps to overcome. However, their new head coach, Todd McLellan, seems to embrace these challenges. It would be in the best interest of each Detroit Red Wings player to do so, as well.
This list is to include things that fans can have on their resolution lists as well, if you are so inclined.
I would love to hear your thoughts and your New Years resolution list in terms of the Detroit Red Wings.
Three keys to a successful New Year for the Detroit Red Wings and its fans
1 Steve Yzerman needs to help his team up
I hate the term “handout,” but I am adamant that people need help up every so often. Whether it’s from a piece of furniture or an individual, everyone falls sometimes, and recovery from said fall can be expedited with certain tools (or people). or, at the very least, having a good laugh or attitude toward that fall.
Clearly, the Detroit Red Wings have desperately needed help all season long. Finally, their proverbial patriarch helped after watching them flounder for so long.
He changed coaches and McLellan has provided a different voice. Possibly the expectations are similar to the last coach, but the way that McLellan is delivering the message seems to be the biggest change. The Detroit Red Wings, at least thus far, have responded well.
The Detroit Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman needs to continue to build his team and support them. While I understand that he’s doing his best to make the team as competitive as possible, he needs to push the envelope just a bit more. Whether it’s a trade, waiving a player, or staying the course, I think he let the negativity in the Detroit Red Wings dressing room run too rampant for too long. If the Detroit Red Wings continue to build as they have over the last two games, then hopefully nothing else needs to happen.
However, if there is even a slight step back or question about any player’s dedication to the team, I think he needs to make adjustments as soon as possible.
Toxic environments tend to fester and become very dangerous in the long term. The sooner it’s cut off, the sooner recovery from the toxic exposure can begin.
Going forward, Yzerman needs to have a better pulse on his team and act accordingly instead of waiting for a quarter of a season to pass before realizing there’s a problem that needs to be addressed.
Once he realized the initial trouble, he moved rather quickly (in less than 10 days he began the new coach search and formulated a plan to implement the change).
2 Play hard every 60 minutes
I am completely over the Detroit Red Wings attempting to kill time on the clock.
News flash to the Detroit Red Wings, they cannot kill penalties to save their life. Why they believe they can kill any amount of time off of the clock for more than two minutes is beyond me.
It’s not what McLellan wants. He relayed to the media after Sunday’s win that he believes the Detroit Red Wings haven’t fully grasped that
When you haven’t won a lot…you do what you have to do to try to protect everything. Sometimes you can do that by going that way [pointing forwards] not always this way [pointing behind]”. Todd McLellan
Basically, protecting a lead doesn’t always mean the Detroit Red Wings need to take their foot off of the proverbial gas pedal. Instead, continuing to generate offense, I assume without cheating for it, is one of the easiest ways to protect a lead. If the opposing team doesn’t have possession of the puck and they are on their own end, it’s hard to generate offense.
It’s a different way to play. This type of ice hockey is entertaining for the players and Detroit Red Wings fans.
3 Believe
A simple concept, yet hard to regain once lost. Belief can be fleeting and seems to have run lightyears away from the Detroit Red Wings.
When I hear McLellan let the media and guys know that he (and the rest of the coaching staff) believe in the group, I think it does wonders. Some of my lowest points in my work life derived from bosses losing faith in me. Even worse, at times, I lost confidence in myself. Having to regain that can take years if a person ever finds it again.
Sometimes it takes just one person to find that inner spark, though.
I remember back when Dylan Larkin would freely hand out empty net goals to every teammate that he could. There was this one time, I remember Anthony Mantha spreading the wealth to his fellow teammate, giving him the freebie goal. I forget which veteran came up to him and let him know that his selfless act cost him an assist on the goal. It was all in good fun, and no good deed goes unpunished, but it was a fun time. Even with all the losses and heartache, I still remember those as good times.
Flash forward to the game against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday night, I’ve never seen Larkin so ready to score on an empty net. Lucas Raymond knew what it meant. Although he could have easily scored, he made sure his captain, his leader, his teammate, was the priority. It seemed to have ignited Larkin, or so I hope to see in the upcoming games.
Finding belief or confidence doesn’t have to be some grand gesture. It doesn’t have to be words. Some small act can change someone’s entire world.
For the Detroit Red Wings, this process must be the starting point. They must continue to build together, to invest in each other, to help each other up no matter what. Whether it’s Moritz Seider filling in for Alex Lyon or Ben Chiarot attempting to help be a physical presence on the ice (although I would much prefer that the physicality not lead to an opposing player being on Seider or Lyon, I appreciate Chiarot’s efforts). These moments are great building blocks for future success.
4 Play freaking hockey
Above all else, the Detroit Red Wings have to just play freaking hockey.
Have some fun, break some eggs, and learn from mistakes that are made, don’t dwell on them. Watching the Detroit Red Wings lately, it appears they’ve had a humungous weight lifted of their shoulders. They’ve been free to go out there and make mistakes.
McLellan has repeated, almost like a broken record, that mistakes will happen. In today’s media availability after the game, he understands the Detroit Red Wings can’t be perfect. Even the Stanley Cup-winning Florida Panthers had step-backs. That happens to everyone, but he and his coaching staff will help them get through those difficult times.
In just three games, I’ve gone from dreading Detroit Red Wings games to looking forward to them. Hopefully, the Detroit Red Wings players feel the same way and find that happiness coming to the rink again.