Detroit Red Wings grind my gears while chasing purgatory of mediocrity

One of my core memories involves a trip to Arizona with my family (including my parents, sister, uncles, aunts, and cousins).

Sitting in the driveway on an icy winter day in Massachusetts, impatiently waiting for my sister to get in the car. Dad watches his rearview mirror. One minute he sees her walking up to the Beast (the loving name given to the green 2002 Chevy Avalanche). The next thing I hear is him yelling, “Man down, man down.”

After a quick recovery, she hobbled to the truck. 

With a hurt knee, my dad asked if we should go to the hospital or to the airport. Knowing that we would miss our flight if we went to the hospital, my sister, being a trooper, decided on the airport—partly because we thought the airport would have a first aid station (plot twist, it did not).

This opening event to our trip is pretty much how the rest of it went. (Just to drive the point further, the place we stayed at—well after we left—had a gas leak, and it exploded.)

Arguably, I was as excited for this new season of Detroit Red Wings hockey as I was for the infamous Arizona trip. Things have gone about the same as the Arizona trip thus far into the season too.

Detroit Red Wings grind my gears for this reason

Detroit Red Wings’ mishandling of young players remains a constant theme.

From day one there was disappointment when Albert Johansson sat in the press box.

Why he wasn’t in the opening night lineup or given a chance out of the gate to earn his spot, I’ll never know. 

Johansson played well with Olli Määttä during his first two games with the Detroit Red Wings in the regular season. As consistent as taxes are, head coach Derek Lalonde sat Johansson. There was no explanation, no reason for why Johansson was sat. 

According to Lalonde, Johansson played well. Even though Lalonde was concerned prior to the start of the season that Johansson could hold his own in the National Hockey League (NHL), Lalonde made a point to compliment Johansson on his overall game.

While I understand and respect the tenure of veteran players in the NHL, there comes a point where the development of young players who should be within the organization over the next three to five years takes precedence over the need to appease a veteran.  Had Johansson remained in the lineup, who knows what would have happened?

Instead, we are left with reality. Johansson sat for over ten days waiting for his next chance to play.

I don’t know about you, but when an NHL regular player returns to the lineup after significant time off (regardless of why he hasn’t played), I understand that there is an adjustment back to playing at his highest output. 

In the context of Johansson’s next stint playing with the Detroit Red Wings, he wasn’t quite the same. Understandably, he didn’t look as sharp. Although he put in the same valiant effort, sometimes he struggle (along with his defensive partners) at exiting his own zone, and there were missed assignments or plays that weren’t the best. 

I appreciate that Lalonde gave Johansson extra time to adjust, instead of putting him in the pressbox right away after these games. At the same time, the biggest deficit in Johansson’s game was coming in cold to the NHL, which is absolutely Lalonde’s fault. 

A coach who prides himself on developing young players, Lalonde seems awfully content putting young players in positions where success is far from expected. In addition to Johansson, Lucas Raymond, and Moritz Seider haven’t been put in positions to take their game to the next level this season.

Raymond is kind of floating throughout the lineup through no fault of his own. 

Based on my eye test, Raymond is one of the most consistent players that we have. The statistics, specifically advanced metrics, aren’t too kind to Raymond. 

Raymond can’t control who he plays with or against. No matter who is involved, Raymond plays the same way. I can’t appreciate Raymond’s overall game and that his statistics will eventually reflect his hard work. 

It would be tremendous if Lalonde allowed Raymond to play with the same line for more than a few games. 

But, if I could hand-pick the center he plays with each game, I would, without a shadow of a doubt, pick Marco Kasper. Those two have shown sparks, so it would be nice to see if they can light a fire. My dream would be putting Jonatan Berggren on the same line, but I’m sure that would be too fun.

At any rate, the sooner Lalonde stops the Lucas Raymond Line Shuffle Dance, the sooner Raymond’s effectiveness will improve (as will the overall team chemistry).

Giving Raymond a bit more skilled guys to play with might Raymond’s (and the team’s) campaign as well. Although he can help shut down the opponents’ best lines, Raymond is best for his team when he’s using his offensive skills. Set him free, please.

Conversely, Seider has played the toughest minutes in the last two seasons for any NHL defender. While exciting at first, it’s shown to exhaust Seider.

Impressively, it hasn’t prevented him from playing yet. However, it hasn’t allowed him to nurture some of Seiders most enticing qualities. 

Contrary to the Seider we have seen in the NHL, Seider has shown in other leagues that he’s more than a defensive, stay-at-home defenseman with odd pops of offense. Seider regularly created chances for himself and his teammates in the offensive zone.

Particularly in the last two seasons, he’s been so busy trying to catch his breath and tread water that he hasn’t had the time he needs in the offensive zone to learn how to best apply his skills. 

People might say he gets plenty of ice time and enough offensive zone time—especially with the power play. Seider is well-conditioned, but I have to wonder if he’s ever at his full capacity (mentally and physically) after the workload he’s asked to complete each game.  Usually, he’s not being sheltered and, in fact, having to overcompensate for his defensive partner(s) flaws. 

The focus on his defensive partner’s needs also regularly left him without the energy to do the things he wanted to do. 

Pairing Simon Edvinsson with Seider has been a welcomed sight. Edvinsson is still working through kinks in his game, but my favorite part about Edvinsson is watching Seider. 

Seider seems a bit different with Edvinsson on his pairing. Standing that much taller, and taking chances we haven’t seen from Seider in the NHL. It’s refreshing to see him trust his partner (even if there are times when things don’t work out for the best), those plays haven’t changed how Seider sees Edvinsson. He continues to trust Edvinsson will make the right play and doesn’t change his game unless absolutely necessary. 

They also seem to be equally protective of each other. These moments are some of my favorite any given night.

My biggest gripe is why did it take this long to find that partner for Seider? Ideally, it would have been a veteran to show Seider the ropes and help him acclimate to the NHL, but that ball was dropped by general manager, Steve Yzerman, who didn’t provide many viable options with the positioning of Seider in the lineup.

At the same time, as someone who loves working in developing people, it’s frustrating to watch a coach put a young player’s needs on the backburner in favor of treading water. 

Winning is great, but there is always a time and place for everything. Right now, I wish the focus was on nurturing the core that will be making a run at Lord Stanley rather than chasing some mirage in the distance that turns out to be nothing more than a purgatory of mediocrity.