At 4-6-1 through ten games, the Red Wings look like a lesser version of a team that couldn't make the playoffs last year. Is construction or coaching more responsible?
10 games into the season, the Detroit Red Wings are 4-6-1. That's not an awful record, and Detroit has had to wrangle with a number of the league's most formidable teams, including last night against the league-leading Winnipeg Jets. However, whether through the eye test or the numbers, it's hard to escape the conclusion that this year's team is a lesser facsimile of last year's outfit, which wasn't good enough to make the playoffs in the first place.
Dec 20, 2023; Winnipeg, Manitoba, CAN; Detroit Red Wings head coach Derek Lalonde gestures in the third period against the Winnipeg Jets at Canada Life CentreIn 2023-24, the Detroit Red Wings (who, as I needn't remind any hockey fan in Michigan, fell painfully short of the postseason last spring) scored 3.35 goals-per-game while conceding 3.33. Their power play converted at 23.08%, while the penalty kill succeeded 79.58% of the time. Through 10 games this year, all those numbers save the PP are worse, and there, the improvement is marginal. This year's Red Wings score 2.70 goals-per-game but concede 3.40. The power play is up to 23.3%, but that gain is more than out-done by the penalty kill's woeful 65.6% success rate.
In the featured video above, I tried to assess whether the Red Wings' woes trace back more to coaching or to roster construction. To be blunt, there is a solid case on both counts. On the latter subject, amongst the forwards, there seems to be a dissonance between a stated desire for defensive stinginess with a top six desirous of a run-and-gun attack, while the churn on the blue line suggests a deficiency in pro scouting. On the former subject, Detroit looks like a team without a five-on-five identity, and for whatever deficiencies.
In other words, when I look at the present state of the Red Wings, I see blame to be shared between architect Steve Yzerman and coach Derek Lalonde. Check out the clip above for more analysis as to why.