The title is the million dollar question right now, isn't it?
The Detroit Red Wings entered the 2024-25 season with playoff aspirations but currently sit in second last place in the Atlantic Division with 30 points (13-17-4). That's a mere four points better (at the time of this writing) ahead of the Buffalo Sabres, who are currently amid a 13-game winless stretch. Detroit is ten points behind the Bruins, who currently control the third position in the division. That doesn't seem like an impossible deficit to overcome. Still, a five-game lead in late December with three other teams in between is starting to feel too challenging to overcome, especially considering how inconsistent and inadequate the Red Wings have played this season.
Now, the injury bug is continuing to hamper the Detroit Red Wings. Like last season, the Red Wings netminders have struggled to remain healthy this season, leaving Detroit forced to rely on Ville Husso more than anyone would have liked, especially as the lug nuts on the wheels of Detroit's season started to loosen. In fairness, Husso exceeded my expectations during a two-week stretch in early December with both Alex Lyon and Cam Talbot sidelined. More recently, the Red Wings are without two of their top-four defenders, and it's a backend that's less than efficient overall when fully healthy. Simon Edvinsson was recently placed on Injured Reserve with an upper-body injury. Detroit was also without Ben Chiarot on Monday evening, forcing head coach Derek Lalonde to pair Justin Holl with Moritz Seider. Need I say more? Yikes.
That brings me to my next point. General manager Steve Yzerman deserves to shoulder much of the blame for the Red Wings being stuck in quicksand. Roster construction is a serious problem right now in Detroit, and that falls on Yzerman. There are a plethora of veteran players underperforming, a lot of which are under contract for far too long.
For example, J.T. Compher has scored four goals in 33 games this season. When you dissect the analytics, Compher grades out as Detroit's worst forward this season despite being paid $5.1 million annually this season and three more. Andrew Copp earns $5.6 million through the 2026-27 season, scoring seven times this season. Vladimir Tarasenko was brought in this past summer to help stabilize Detroit's group of op-nine forwards; he's recorded four goals and 12 points over 33 games this season. The Russian-born winger signed a two-year deal worth $9.5 million this past summer. The deal also includes a no-trade clause in year one, which moves to a modified eight-team trade list in year two. I haven't even mentioned the plethora of depth forwards with limited offensive ability, like Michael Rasmussen, Joe Veleno, Christian Fischer, and Tyler Motte. Then you've got Ben Chiarot, Jeff Petry, Justin Holl, and Erik Gustafsson, plus Detroit's trying to break in Albert Johansson slowly, which has been a bit of an adventure, to say the least.
The Detroit Red Wings are a sinking ship, and Steve Yzerman needs to grow a spine and make a change.
What are we waiting for? The Detroit Red Wings need a change. I've talked about the roster construction and how that's on Yzerman and his scouting department. That group is employed by Yzerman, and he's got the final say; he needs to shoulder that blame. The second part of this is Detroit's coaching staff. That is also in Yzerman's control. Many of us (Red Wings fans) have no idea how Derek Lalonde is still employed by Detroit.
Although Lalonde doesn't have a ton to work with, he isn't finding a way to motivate the group or make adjustments to favor the talent on his roster. Far too often, Detroit is caught hemmed in the defensive zone chasing and puck-watching. When the Red Wings find a way out of their own zone, it's a lot of dump and chase, or like I say, dump and change after fighting to survive so long defending. By the time Detroit reaches the neutral zone, they need a line change. The whole 'poke and pray' method isn't working and won't be sustainable in today's NHL as a main offensive philosophy. Watching these Red Wings games, I can't help but picture that Spider-Man meme of the two Spider-Man characters pointing at each other and picture it as Derek Lalonde and Jeff Blashill.
Again, I don't think Lalonde is a bad guy, but he isn't getting enough out of this team. This is a 'what have you done for me lately' business, and regressing from last season isn't acceptable. Lalonde is in the final year of his current deal, which suggests Yzerman is simply waiting to make a change following the season, but a change now in hopes of saving the season is necessary. Plenty of new voices are currently available, particularly Joel Quenneville, Jay Woodcroft or Gerard Gallant. If you recall, I hoped Yzerman had an interest in Craig Berube, feeling he'd demand the best out of this group, but he was quickly scooped up by the Toronto Maple Leafs this past spring.
I consider Yzerman to be a shrewd general manager, so I can't fathom Lalonde being 'safe' as the team continues to sink. Two wrongs (roster construction/coaching inconsistency) don't make a right. Again, I have no idea why the Red Wings still employ Lalonde. Is Yzerman simply waiting until the holidays conclude? I can't imagine the holidays are a factor, to be honest, but I am trying to make any sense of this. The Red Wings are coming off back-to-back losses to a bad, rebuilding Montreal team, the second of which Detroit was blown right out. They'd follow that up with an uninspiring home shellacking at the hands of the St. Louis Blues on Monday night, the same Blues organization that made a bold in-season coaching change, hiring Jim Montgomery minutes after the Boston Bruins (also making an in-season change) turned to Joe Sacco—just saying.