I didn’t usually worry about the Red Wings, and I’m not going to overreact here in my antibiotic haze.
Those who are writing that Steve Yzerman should be fired on the spot after Detroit’s 4-1 loss to Los Angeles, out that Derek Lalonde will be shot into the sun by Monday morning, well…
They’re either writing for clicks, or they’re overreacting, and we’re all aware of how regularly this fan base overreacts.
I will say this, however: I’m concerned. For the first time this season, I’m genuinely concerned about the Red Wings.
I’m not concerned about their player personnel per se, nor the coaching staff (quite yet, though it’s getting close), but I am very concerned about their body language when they lose as they lost on Saturday.
Dylan Larkin of all people looked like he was ready to snap his stick after a couple of shifts, and the rest of the gents looked dejected on the bench.
When hockey players aren’t leaning forward and aren’t engaged in the action taking place on the ice, something’s wrong. And they were leaning back, frustrated or disengaged, all evening long.
I’m very concerned about the structure they didn’t display over their two losses over the course of the past 24 hours.
They’ve looked disorganized and disheveled at times in the last day’s worth of time.
And I’m very concerned about their inability or unwillingness to put forth the levels of intensity, work ethic and execution that the Ducks and Kings displayed over the course of two shortly-spaced games.
The Wings got out-hustled by Anaheim, and the Kings out-worked them by orders of magnitude.
Ultimately, the team is showing signs of strain when it should be warming to the task of competing against the rest of the Atlantic Division (which is getting its shit together before the Wings are ready to do so themselves).
I knew that the locker room losing David Perron and Shayne Gostisbehere was going to hurt as much as, if not more than, their on-ice performances. And the room and/or bench seems to be suffering.
But the fact that this team has lost 9 of its first 17 games, and struggled through most of its 7 wins, surrendering a shit-ton of shots on goal…
It all adds up to my genuine concern for the direction of a team that’s currently stuck in neutral, trying to go uphill.
The course of the season is going to get steeper and steeper in terms of degree of difficulty, and there are no “gimme” games any more, Monday’s tilt against San Jose included.
As such, the team needs to sort out its difficulties and plainly address them internally. If it cannot or will not get its game in order within the next couple of games–think the next 5-to-10-game segment–then outside help will be required.
Whether that means a coaching change or player personnel changes is up to the GM, but just because GM SY happens to be the GM for life doesn’t mean that he shouldn’t feel pressure to get things corrected in short order.
The longer the coaches and/or GM wait to make changes (if we’re having the same conversation this time in December, for example), the the magnitude of changes required will increase.
It’s time to turn the Red Wings’ ship around, and icebergs abound in the crowded shipping lanes.
Now, to take my second Amoxicillin…
