The Detroit Red Wings returned home Saturday evening and lost 2-1 to Colorado after a short two-game road trip to Boston and Ottawa. Their overall record is 10-13-4, good for 24 points, and they are winless over their past five games. A trip to Buffalo on Monday looms. Detroit is one point out of last place in the Atlantic Division and four points behind the Tampa Bay Lightning, who are currently fourth in the division.
To say it's been a disappointing first couple of months-plus to begin the 2024-25 season would be an understatement. Many of us thought this Red Wings team would take a step forward this year and qualify for the postseason for the first time since the 2015-16 season. Last year, Detroit missed the playoffs by one point, losing the tiebreaker to the Washington Capitals. If you recall, the Red Wings stumbled down the stretch, losing to Washington and others, particularly Arizona, late in the year. Missing the postseason was really their own doing, as they controlled their fate. That meltdown late in the year, albeit Detroit was forced to play without Dylan Larkin for a stretch as he was out injured, was really the beginning of the 'fire Derek Lalonde' movement among Red Wings fans. At least that's when things began to really gain momentum in that regard, at least online.
The notion of firing Lalonde has only grown over the past couple of months, and NHL insiders are now speculating he might be on borrowed time. I recently mentioned an article by The Fourth Period, which talked about Lalonde's future appears to be in doubt, knowing he's in the final year of his three-year contract. They mentioned (which Red Wings fans know) that Yzerman will not tip his hand, always holds his cards close to the vest, and never leaks information, making his potential upcoming moves nearly impossible to predict. We know Yzerman is shrewd. We know Yzerman is patient, but he's ultra-competitive. We know Yzerman wants to build a winning franchise that will be sustainable for years to come. We also know Yzerman is very loyal, sometimes to a fault, particularly with his head coaches. Taking all of this into consideration, with Detroit's off-season expectations for the season, I can't help but wonder how long Yzerman will be content with mediocrity. That's a nice way of describing the state of the current Red Wings season.
Yzerman also deserves to take some of the blame for the Red Wings being stuck in quicksand. There have been plenty of questionable roster decisions over the past couple of years that should be criticized. I am not going to mention them all, but signing Andrew Copp, J.T. Compher, Ben Chiarot, Erik Gustafsson, and Justin Holl to multi-year deals, all of which are considered overpaid. This past summer, Yzerman attached a second-round pick to Jake Walman to entice the San Jose Sharks to accept his $3.4 million contract. Walman, 28, has recorded 19 points over 24 games this season and is a plus-8 on a lousy team, averaging over 22 minutes of ice per night. Another odd decision this summer was Yzerman allowing Shayne Gostisbehere to walk in free agency with the intent of replacing him with Gustafsson.
Gostisbehere signed a three-year deal that averages $3.2 million with the Hurricanes. He's notched 21 points over 26 games this year, averaging just a tick under 19 minutes per night. Understanding Gostisbhere is anything but a defensive stalwart; he's a machine-generating offense on the power play and third pairing. He has the ability to play his off-hand and would have paired well with Albert Johansson or Olli Maatta before he was shipped out of town. Yzerman has done his share of very good things, too. He's been awesome at drafting high-end prospects, particularly in the first round, despite Detroit not receiving a lick of lottery luck. Yzerman also landed Patrick Kane in free agency plus was able to retain him this past summer. He's traded for Alex DeBrincat and added Vladimir Tarasenko, among other impactful players that have come and gone in free agency, such as David Perron, etc.
Detroit Red Wings head coach Derek Lalonde needs to shake things up if he hopes to keep his job
This past summer, he came to terms with Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider on long-term contracts, which will eventually appear to be team-friendly in a couple of seasons. The same will be said for Dylan Larkin. So, there has been some good and bad like any professional general manager, but his patience with Lalonde must be growing thin. The Detroit Red Wings are not only underachieving as a whole; they've struggled to score, only recording 66 goals on the year, which ranks 29th and worst in the Eastern Conference, plus only 44 of those have come at even strength. Detroit's power play is really the only facet of their game, aside from goaltending, that is actually a positive. They've operated at a 26.9% success rate this season, suitable for sixth-best in the league.
The penalty kill, on the other hand, is on a historic pace. That's historically bad, by the way, operating at a 67.5% success rate, the second-worst ever recorded in a single season. Obviously, this season isn't even half over yet, so there is time to improve. The New York Islanders have overtaken the worst PK this season at 66.7%. The worst penalty kill percentage in a single season goes to the 1979-80 Los Angeles Kings (68.2%). I can't even come up with a realistic hypothetical reason why Derek Lalonde hasn't fired assistant coach Bob Boughner, who runs Detroit's penalty kill and defense yet. If not, Boughner, maybe Jay Varady, just to show he's trying to shake something up other than his lineup.
It's apparent (by Detroit's on-ice performance) that the Detroit Red Wings would benefit from a new voice in the room, and maybe it would be a last-ditch effort to get this club to meet their expectations and a coaching boost that may propel this group to overachieve. The rebuilding Chicago Blackhawks recently fired head coach Luke Richardson, and the Boston Bruins, who are right in the mix for a playoff spot, fired Jim Montgomery and turned things over to Joe Sacco. The Blues canned Drew Bannister to hire Montgomery, so there have been plenty of other organizations not afraid to make in-season changes. Yet, Yzerman continues to sit on his hands. Names to watch are Joel Quenneville, Gerard Gallant, Lane Lambert, Jay Woodcroft, David Carle, and possibly Dan Watson.