The Detroit Red Wings opened the season with a 6-3 loss to a so-so Pittsburgh Penguins team, but they seemed to have avenged that loss in Game 2 when they put up a near-flawless performance vs. the Nashville Predators. Unfortunately for Detroit, they stumbled against the New York Rangers in a 4-1 loss, meaning they dropped two of their first three games by six goals.
So, what went wrong for the Wings, and how can they fix this early-season marginal play? For one, they don’t need to panic, as it’s early in the year and despite averaging 2.3 goals per game, and allowing 3.3, there’s a lot of hockey left in the campaign.
We’ve also seen teams fall behind early and catch back up, like the 2023-24 Edmonton Oilers. But Edmonton is an outlier, and it’s more common to see squads struggle after slow starts, even after they’re slated to take a step forward.
If the Wings would rather resemble last season’s version of the Oilers, they need to stop giving up so many shots on goal. Through three games, that number is at 32.7, and it’s the fastest way to make life difficult for the goaltenders.
What’s currently wrong with the Red Wings so far in 2024-25?
At 5-on-5, they’re looking beyond flat offensively, with just a 7.7 shooting percentage when they give themselves opportunities to score. Their scoring chances for percentage sit at 45.2 percent, and their high-danger chances for percentage are even worse, clocking in at just 37.5 percent.
These numbers aren’t encouraging, and it tells us a lot about how badly things have gone for the Wings early, but nothing right now is worse than the power play. While the Wings are boasting strong numbers on the penalty kill, getting the best of opposing power play units 80 percent of the time out of 10 opportunities, the man advantage has given them next to nothing.
So far, the Wings have converted just one power play opportunity into a goal out of 11 attempts, and they’re one of 12 teams with a conversion percentage of 20 percent or under. Right now, although Detroit is giving up a lot of shots on goal, their offense in every facet of the game has been a hindrance.
The reason I’m emphasizing this so much is because, offensively, I expected them to be a top-10 team. Now, the bright side is that after just one week of play, this is one of those articles that can be seen as an overreaction, but it’s also a hard look at the numbers and they’re trends that directly point to the culprit of what’s hindering this team.