Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen, writing a subscriber-only article, discusses 4 very important factors which may determine whether the Red Wings manage to earn a playoff spot this upcoming season. The first factor is the most obvious one–improving on defense:
It’s not difficult to quantify how bad the Red Wings were defensively. According to NaturalStatTrick.com, they gave up more High Danger Chances Against (881) than any other team. That was 318 more than the Boston Bruins gave up. Boston finished fourth in the Atlantic Division.
The importance of dangerous scoring chances is illustrated in this statistic: last season, the New York Rangers were the only team to qualify for the playoffs after finishing in the bottom 10 in HDCA.
Yzerman addressed this issue by adding four defensemen, including shutdown defenseman Ben Chiarot and defensive-minded Olli Maatta. Both of those players should give the Red Wings steadier defensive play, while Robert Hagg add to the team’s physical presence.
But changing personnel is only part of the solution. New coach Derek Lalonde is expected to instill a much stronger defensive culture than we’ve seen over the last few seasons.
The Red Wings surrendered 3.78 goals-per-game last season and need to cut that down to near three goals per game to make the playoffs. The Toronto Maple Leafs were the worst defensive team to make the playoffs last season and they were at 3.07 goals-against per game.
Continued (paywall)
