The Detroit Red Wings looked miserable following Dylan Larkin's goal to open things up on Thursday night in their 5-1 loss to the Montreal Canadiens. While the Wings won the battle on the face-off dot and outmuscled the Habs with 35 hits, it was a performance to forget.
Montreal scored five unanswered goals, and by the time the second frame ended, it was 5-1. But you know what? The Wings played the way everyone should have expected them to.
When you forgo acquiring seasoned veterans like Jack Roslovic and end up promoting three rookies to the big club, you're going to have problems early on. And those problems aren't going anywhere anytime soon.
This is a Red Wings team that has three players (Marco Kasper, Albert Johansson, and Simon Edvinsson) heading into their second full season, while Emmitt Finnie, Axel Sandin-Pellikka, and Michael Brandsegg-Nygard are in their first year. Sandin-Pellikka and Brandsegg-Nygard have very little experience playing hockey at the North American level. And don't forget about Elmer Soderblom, who has yet to play a full season.
So, what did you expect if you sat down and thought the Red Wings would win this thing? There was no way that this was going to be anything less than a blowout loss. The players listed above show how young this Red Wings team is, and this will be the norm for at least the month of October, with some light when the brutal stretch against primarily playoff teams ends.
The upside is this: The players on this team, especially the youngsters, will make up a fine core when Steve Yzerman keeps them together. That means the Wings aren't going to be this bad forever, and you can rest assured that this is the low point of the season, and it's best to get it out of the way early.
Does this mean the Wings are a bad hockey team?
Right now, they are, and it's going to take some time to gel. But when they do, they will be the ones blowing opponents out and winning consistently. That can happen this year, but it won't happen now.
You can't measure success in wins and losses until this team gets used to playing as a unit and the youngsters get a feel for the NHL's demands. It needs to be player growth. And once the team builds that chemistry and reaches a certain threshold, that's when the wins will come. So stay optimistic, and let them get their bad games out of the way. This team will reward you for your patience.