The Detroit Red Wings will be looking for a bounce-back season from forward J.T. Compher, who wasn't able to replicate his successful first campaign with the Red Wings in 2023-24 that saw him come within four points of equaling his previous career high.
Compher's production fell off in 2024-25 by 16 points, a considerable drop-off that the Red Wings could have used during what was ultimately another season of falling just short of earning a postseason berth.
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Head coach Todd McLellan issued a direct challenge to Compher following practice on Tuesday morning before the Red Wings opened their pre-season schedule by hosting the Chicago Blackhawks.
"J.T. is leading on the ice, leading the charges rather than blending into them, or coming from behind," he responded when asked what he wants to see from Compher this season. "He'll know exactly what that means. If he's sometimes first on the forecheck or he's aggressive and leading the zone and joining the rush, he can't let everything go by him and then join."
"I call that just playing in the middle of the rink all the time, and you're generally safe there, but we need him to be assertive."
Compher scored only 11 goals with 21 assists in his second season with the Red Wings, four of which came in the final 12 games of the campaign.
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During Training Camp, McLellan spoke about the need of his players to avoid "riding the brake", something that he felt Compher was doing - but acknowledged that as the season began to wind down, he saw more of what he wanted from Compher.
"I thought later in the year, he started to do those things," McLellan said. "Cant ride the brake all the time, and J.T., when he got on the gas, he was a pretty good player."
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