With all due respect to the Free Press’s Carlos Monarrez, who penned a fine subscriber-only article on Freep.com this morning, I think that this narrative needs to be slowed down a bit:
What if I told you the Detroit Red Wings look like a playoff team?
You might have laughed at me before the season started.
You probably wouldn’t have believed me after the season opener, when they blew three-goal leads twice and lost in overtime to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
But now?
After Tuesday night’s impressive 4-2 win at Little Caesars Arena over the Edmonton Oilers, one of the NHL’s best teams, no one’s laughing.
And as far as what everyone is seeing with their own eyes? Now that the Wings have played nearly 20% of their schedule, well what does that song tell us about south Detroit? “Don’t Stop Believin.'”
“We believe in each other and we have a good team,” said Vladislav Namestnikov, a fourth-line winger who scored twice. “When we roll four lines it’s hard to play against us. We want to be that team that teams come in here and say, ‘Wow, it’s hard to play against these guys.’ ”
Monarrez continues (paywall);
I’m all for optimism regarding the 7-5-and-2 Red Wings, including going into Thursday’s game vs. the Washington Capitals, but we’re 14 games into an 82-game schedule.
I think it’s time to let the team get through the rest of this 11-games-in-17-nights schedule before assessing where the Wings are at progress-wise. Let’s enjoy where the Wings are now before worrying too much about where they’re going to be at the end of the Olympic-break-included NHL schedule in May.
I agree that the Olympic Break might be a better time to talk how the Wings might look for a post season appearance.
Even then a lot of teams start a push for a playoff spot.
If there is a clinch date, I will wait until that time.