The Detroit Red Wings are a mess.
At this point, it's starting to feel bleak. When the team needed a new coach, they hired a new coach. When they needed scoring, they brought in Alex DeBrincat. When the team needed goaltending, they upgraded the goaltending. They even bought during the trade deadline. Yet, despite this, every March yields the same results. The team deflates when the lights get too bright. They cower in the spotlight.
It's not that they don't like winning.
They just don't hate losing enough.
When the going gets tough, the Red Wings don't get going
Adversity strikes every franchise. The Buffalo Sabres entered the league with the longest active playoff drought in the NHL. Now, with 98 points in 74 games, they're fifth in league standings. The Red Wings just don't seem capable of handling setbacks. When Dylan Larkin went down, the team wilted.
There's just no get-up-and-go to their game. The forward depth seems content to just let the top players handle the scoring load. The defense takes a back seat when goaltending looks strong. There's no way it isn't an abysmal experience for everyone involved. The team is deflated, disengaged and appears completely uninterested in the concept of clawing back when they're down.
Something needs to change.
The Red Wings don't have a winning culture
Think about the overall makeup of the roster. Who, besides Patrick Kane, is a Stanley Cup champion? J.T. Compher? David Perron? Ben Chiarot made a Finals appearance when he was with the Montreal Canadiens, but, other than the aforementioned players, no other player has seen or smelled the Cup.
This isn't to say that Cup wins = successful player. These players, however, know what it takes to endure the rigor of the playoffs. They know what goes into the DNA of a successful franchise. As far as this roster is concerned, there really isn't a core philosophy or culture that drives this team.
So many of these players have spent their entire careers in the pits of misery. Dylan Larkin has just five career playoff games in his career. Five! This is his 11th season! All Larkin has known in his career is the end of a playoff streak, a long rebuild and the inevitable collapse that comes in March. It cannot be stressed how demoralizing that must be for a player and culture.
Something needs to change to fix this culture. If it doesn't, the only thing the Red Wings are destined for is the same result every year.
What (or who) the Red Wings need
This isn't to say that Dylan Larkin isn't a good leader. Nor is it to say that Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond don't do their jobs. What this team needs is a guy who can't stand the thought of losing. A guy who's willing to give it his all every shift. He doesn't have to be the best player.
The Red Wings need a nucleus. A rallying cry. Someone that will stick up for the team when it matters the most and battles every shift.
Every championship team has one. The Florida Panthers have Sam Bennett. The Colorado Avalanche have Nathan MacKinnon. The Vegas Golden Knights had Jonathan Marchessault. Every team needs a guy who just won't give up. The Red Wings, as it stand, don't have that guy.
Sure, the solution could come from within. But, at this point, they need someone that can whip the team into shape when they're in a funk and rally around them when they need support.
Until this team hates to lose, they'll never take that next step.