The Detroit Red Wings have failed to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the past nine seasons, but veteran Cam Talbot still believes in this team. The 37-year-old goaltender explained that the offseason gives this team more time to develop around the changes they made at the trade deadline late last season.
“It’s never an easy time of the year when you don’t accomplish what you want to accomplish at the start of the season,” Talbot said, via Jonathan Mills of DetroitRedWings.com. “Definitely disappointing, the way it ended. We made some strides towards the end of the year and from Christmas on when the coaching change happened. I think that’s something we can build off heading into next year.”
Could this be the year Detroit finally turns a corner? It could make or break general manager Steve Yzerman’s tenure with the team. The Red Wings were ranked dead last this past season on the penalty kill.
With that said, the team badly needs a defenseman or two. Aaron Ekblad, of the Florida Panthers, would be the No. 1 target in free agency, followed by Ivan Provorov, and Vladislav Gavrikov, all of whom should cost within the same range. The Wings have a small window to work and a lot of cap space. All things considered, this should allow Detroit to make some risky home run swings.
Cam Talbot supports Todd McLellan
From a short-term perspective, last season was a failure for Detroit. They fired head coach Derek Lalonde, who was recently hired as assistant coach with the Toronto Maple Leafs, on December 26. In his place came Todd McLellan, who brought 17 years of NHL head coaching experience to the table, including nine playoff appearances.
In 48 games behind the bench last season, the Red Wings were 26-18-4 under the tutelage of McLellan. So sure, they didn’t make the playoffs, but the Wings went on multiple winning streaks under his watch and gave this team a chance of making the big dance.
And given what this team has been through for the last decade or so, that’s all you can ask for, and Talbot has been very receptive to McLellan’s way of coaching.
“Our systems were a little bit tighter. We were coming out of our zone a little bit, changing some breakouts and stuff like that. Communication and accountability, on and off the ice, [McLellan and assistant coach Trent Yawney] just bring so much of that. You could tell, when they came in, things started to change. I think the whole group is looking forward to starting fresh and from training camp next year,” the Red Wings goalie said, via Mills.
Building teams takes time
Professional sports is a very cutthroat business, even more so than in previous years. Everything you do is under a microscope, and the analytical side of the game is examining everything as well, to the chagrin of the old-school players.
However, to be fair, many of the old-school methods are outsmarting the analytics, which can suggest making risky trades at the expense of team chemistry. For instance, take a look at the 2001 Tampa Bay Lightning under head coach John Tortorella. Not very impressive, right? But they had an excellent foundation, a group of core players who would remain with the team when they went on to win the Stanley Cup in 2004.
Those players include Dave Andreychuk, Vincent Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis, Nikolai Khabibulin, Dan Boyle, Pavel Kubina, Stan Neckář, Frederik Modin, Jassen Cullimore, you get the point. Those players stuck around when the Lightning were awful, and they remained with the squad when they were the best in the world.
The lesson here is to have patience. AI would have suggested chopping up that Lightning team to pieces. Would they have won the Stanley Cup? It’s hard to argue that they would.
But if Talbot is right, the Wings will be a playoff team next year. They might be a little ways off from being a championship-level team, but it’s a starting point.
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