The Detroit Red Wings’ color commentator more or less summarized my take on the month to come for the Red Wings: Mickey Redmond suggested that “the window is closing” to turn things around, and there’s a simple reason for that.
Detroit plays the next 4 of 5 on the road, and those games include away games against Boston, Ottawa and Buffalo, all divisional rivals, before a game in Philly, and a home game vs. Toronto…
Detroit plays the Flyers, Maple Leafs and Canadiens twice this month, and the Capitals and Penguins once, and all of those Eastern Conference games are opportunities with which to earn points to catch up with the 10-11-and-3 Red Wings’ divisional and Wild Card rivals.
But if they do not succeed in terms of their 7 divisional games and 11 of 13 Eastern Conference-foe games, the window may very well shut upon their playoff chances.
The path toward success is narrow, especially with the current roster, but if the Red Wings are able to battle through their penalty-killing struggles, and if they get some luck in the health department (with all due respect to Alex Lyon and Ville Husso, Cam Talbot’s been spectacularly consistent), they still have the opportunity to succeed and get back into the playoff mix at least with the current coach and players behind the bench and on the ice, respectively.
If the Wings do not embrace their opportunities, then changes will be needed, and needed urgently. And the longer that the team struggles, the greater the magnitude of the necessary changes will be.
Ultimately, if the Red Wings’ management team chooses not to act until their hands are forced, GM SY and the pro scouting department have a couple of weeks with which to tell the coaches and team to impress the management–or else changes will be inevitable.
For now, there is still hope. But the window will indeed close at the end of this month, and if nothing is done to rectify a struggling team’s situation, we will know that this team is simply not destined to satisfy the expectations thrust upon them.
There isn’t much hope. They’re playing better teams, on the road, and it’s not like they’ve shown us anything resembling reason for optimism. Squandered leads, confusingly bad defensive plays, goaltending coming back to earth, and a PK that’s currently HISTORICALLY BAD.
The PK debacle alone should already have gotten this staff fired. This season is actually more frustrating than 19-20 so far to me. There was never any doubt they’d be horrible that year; nobody with the team was talking like that this past summer.
I took my family to see them when they played in LA and am still resentful for how lousy they looked. The “Red Wing Way?” That’s a myth these days.
This team is treading water or worse and it’s simply unacceptable as a fan at this point.