One key adjustment the Red Wings need to make before Thursday night

The Detroit Red Wings will head into the second game of a home-and-home with the New York Rangers on Thursday night with an early season record of 1-2-0. It's been a weird three games to open the year. Game one's loss at home was a 6-3 shellacking at the hands of the Pittsburgh Penguins. It appeared as though the Red Wings thought it was still preseason. In fairness, the Penguins had already played a game and were blown out 6-0 at home by the New York Rangers.

The second game of the year was newly added netminder Cam Talbot stealing the show, blanking the Nashville Predators 3-0. Talbot had a little help from his friends, led by Moritz Seider, with his eight hits and seven blocked shots. The third game of the year was unfortunate. The Red Wings outplayed the Rangers for the majority of the contest but found themselves stonewalled by Igor Shesterkin.

As head coach Derek Lalonde said following the game, he looks like a $12 million goaltender and saw why he turned down an apparent eight-year $88 million contract extension. Lalonde followed that comment with 'good agent.' Of course, it was a snarky comment that was somewhat blown out of proportion by the masses online, but you must admit, it was pretty comical.

A couple of quick game notes before we dive into things. Rangers alternate captain Chris Kreider did not practice on Wednesday due to an illness and is questionable heading into Thursday's game. Kreider is making the trip to Detroit, the first of a quick three-game road trip.

On Detroit's side of things, Justin Holl was sent down to Grand Rapids on Tuesday and recalled on Wednesday in what was just a paper move. Holl will be in Detroit's lineup as Jeff Petry remains sidelined with an upper-body injury, and his status remains day-to-day. Next, Austin Watson was also sent back to Grand Rapids, with Christian Fischer appearing 50/50 to return to the lineup. If he's unable to go, Watson will likely substitute again. Erik Gustafsson is expected to return to the lineup following being a healthy scratch in favor of rookie Albert Johansson for the past two games. A questionable decision with how well Johansson has performed in limited action. Detroit hopes Gustafsson can enhance their lackluster power play. Cam Talbot is getting the nod in goal.

The Detroit Red Wings need to spark their power play; here's one idea.

Speaking of the lackluster power play, that seems like a good place to start. Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin noticed what many of us have noticed over the first three games of the season: a stagnant power play. Is it because Shayne Gostisbehere, who recorded 29 of his 56 points last season on the power play, is no longer head-manning the point? Did David Perron, who notched 17 points and became a staple working the half-wall, mean more to this club than many of us thought? Perhaps Detroit is missing their former skilled depth forwards, such as Daniel Sprong and Robby Fabbri. Maybe packaging a second-round draft pick with Jake Walman to entice San Jose to take on his affordable $3.4 million contract wasn't as beneficial to the Red Wings as Steve Yzerman thought it would be.

The Red Wings are 1-11 with the man advantage to begin the year. Larkin recently aired his frustration knowing all of the talent Detroit deploys.

"We haven't gotten any quality looks at the net," captain Dylan Larkin said after Monday's 4-1 loss at Madison Square Garden. "I think we've done a good job setting up possession, and we've moved the puck around well. I also think that for whatever reason right now, we do really well on the first power play, and then we kind of go to sleep for the rest of our opportunities. That can't happen. Every time you go over the boards, you need to try and make it count."

Last year, Detroit's power play operated at a robust 23.1% clip, good enough to finish as a top-ten unit. This season, albeit just three games, the 9.1% just won't cut it, especially in tight games.

A top unit that usually consists of Larkin, Patrick Kane, Alex DeBrincat, Lucas Raymond, and Moritz Seider needs to be a lot more dangerous and apply far more sustained pressure moving forward. According to Wednesday's practice, the Red Wings will slide Seider down to the second group and replace him with a "power-play specialist" Erik Gustafsson. I am being a bit sarcastic because I have no idea why the Red Wings moved on from Gostisbehere who signed a three-year deal that averages $3.2 million this past summer with the Hurricanes. I understand he's one-dimensional and a liability during five-on-five play, but at least he could make up for it a bit with his offensive skill set.

The adjustment I'd like to see is Simon Edvinsson rotated in anchoring the point on that first power play unit. It might be a small subtle change to some, but one I feel the Red Wings as a whole could really benefit from. Edvinsson displayed a ton of offensive upside in Grand Rapids and, in his various short stints with the Red Wings, has proved to be a creative, smooth-skater defender who loves to jump up into the play when the opportunity arises. Edvinsson has recorded three goals and five points over 28 career NHL games. Last season in Grand Rapids, he totaled eight goals and 30 points over 54 contests.

Of course, Edvinsson is a top-four defender with the Red Wings, arguably already the second-best option, and is often paired with Jeff Petry or, more recently, Justin Holl, but I don't feel as though Lalonde has utilized him in a way he can fully blossom. Seider is a tremendous defender and the best overall option on the backend in Detroit, but he struggled some in New York, settling down the top power-play unit. Although it will hinder his offensive opportunities, I'd like to see Seider catch his breath while the Red Wings are up a skater so he's fresh and ready to take on the top assignments following the power play; plus, he's needed as a top penalty killer. Lalonde has also experimented with Ben Chiarot on the point of the second unit over Edvinsson: what are we even doing?