The biggest culprits of Detroit's March collapse

Well, it happened again. The Detroit Red Wings collapsed again in March. It's become an annual tradition for the fanbase. One that makes us all question our sanity and really have to dig deep with our love for the team.

This time around, though, there are more obvious culprits than others. The last people that should be blamed his season's March Sadness are the likes of Alex DeBrincat, Moritz Seider and John Gibson. One could even make a case for Marco Kasper and Emmit Finnie. Having said that, there were points when players called up from Grand Rapids like John Leonard, Sheldon Dries, and Dominik Shine looked better than a chunk of this roster.

That's not a good thing.

Obviously, some players on this team were just flat-out bad. But there were also a few who didn't perform to expectations this month. The team was forced to really lean on these guys when injury issues arose early in the month. Still, it's not just on individual players; some systems are not working, and have not been for a while now.

Underperforming or just bad?

Lucas Raymond: 5 goals, 4 assists, 9 points in 14 games

I love Lucas Raymond. It's hard not to. Everybody loves Raymond! Unfortunately, he has not performed like the team would have hoped. He's one of the players that the team planned to rely heavily on to carry the offense. Nine points in 14 games just isn't good enough for a guy who's been playing at a 90-point pace all season.

There is a near-certainty that he's been playing injured, which would explain why he isn't shooting the puck as he should. But it doesn't explain his total lack of production. One of Raymond's best skills is his playmaking. He's emerged as one of the best passers and some of the best vision in the league. While he may not be able to comfortably shoot as he can, he should at least be racking up the points in assists.

If this team wants to make a legitimate push for the playoffs in April, it starts with Lucas Raymond getting back to what's worked for him all season.

J.T. Compher: 2 goals, 2 assists , 4 points in 14 games

I honestly don't even know what more to say about Compher at this point. There were a few flashes of him playing really well when he temporarily filled in as the team's 1C. Unfortunately, it didn't stick. While he still has flashes of pushing hard to get to pucks first, that's about all the credit he deserves. Other than that, he's back to being the ultimate cardio merchant. At least he's still decent on the penalty kill.

At this poinnt, nearly every form of criticism of J.T. Compher has already been said.

Simon Edvinsson: 2 goals, 2 assists, +2

Curious choice, right? Well, it's probably not for the reasons you're thinking. While yes, he's not scoring at a high clip, this is more an issue with his overall play than his point production. His +/- stat this month is not really indicative of how he's performed this March.

One of the hopes after returning from the Olympic break was that the players who were nursing an injury or exhaustion would come back healthy and mentally reset. Edvinsson was injured during the last week of February and didn't play the rest of the way to the Olympic break.

While it clearly helped him heal his injury, he didn't really come back as the same defensive force he was for most of the season before the break. He started taking bad penalties and making boneheaded decisions that came close to costing the team. Sometimes, they actually did.

Many of these mistakes can be chalked up to young players' growing pains, but they still cost the team. This month, especially, he has been at best 50/50 in most games and has been relying heavily on Moritz Seider for help.

While I'm not worried about Edvinsson long-term, he needs to figure things out in the final stretch of this season, as he will be a big factor in whether or not the team makes the playoffs.

Mason Appleton: 1 goal, 2 assists, 3 points in 14 games

Honestly, I could probably take what I said about Compher, copy and paste it for Appleton, and nobody would bat an eye. To make a long story short, Appleton has been a non-factor for months now. He had a really good first half of the season. While his scoring took a dip, he still did what he was brought in to do: kill penalties and grind down opposing players. That's all that was expected from Appleton, and he was doing it really well.

But ten he just stopped producing altogether. He was still good defensively, but he was producing at a rate lower than Michael Rasmussen in 2026. That's absurd.

I defended him for a long time because he was just brought in as a 3rd/4th-line guy who kills penalties and can contribute offensively from time to time. But recently, he hasn't been doing anything. No scoring, poor defense and some ridiculously stupid penalties. He's been just outright bad this month. Appleton needs to figure something out or get benched.

As it stands right now, he isn't bringing anything to the table.

The Power play: 18.2% in March

The biggest culprit of the Red Wings' issues this month is the power play. The team, astonishingly, went 8 for 44 on the power play in March. This is not a recipe for success. It isn't just the lack of scoring that's killed the power play, though: it's the fact that they can't set up or break into the zone.

When they finally do break in and get set up, the team becomes either super predictable or super safe. Shots are minimal. The team seems to always be looking for the perfect opportunity. In many cases, the best power plays are from the teams that pepper the net and tire out the opposing goaltender and defenders with relentlessness. Standing around and passing the puck is too predictable.

I've talked about what they should do with the power play in the past, but obviously, I'm not behind the bench. Whatever they do, they need to get it clicking again. The power play will be a major part in the team winning games down this last stretch of the season. If the Red Wings can't figure it out, they'll have an even rougher time winning games.