Yesterday and overnight, the Red Wings’ beat writers dissected the Red Wings’ 5-1 loss to Montreal and back-to-back losses to the Habs as part of an incredibly disappointing first 33-game start for Detroit’s NHL team.
MLive’s Ansar Khan noted comments made by Moritz Seider after the Wings’ loss, and ahead of tonight’s clash with the St. Louis Blues (7 PM EST start on FanDuel Sportsnet Detroit/FanDuel Sportsnet Midwest/97.1 FM):
“We just got outcompeted, outworked and that’s a very frustrated feeling,” Moritz Seider told media at the game. “Just have to turn the page and regroup and find a way to win hockey games and especially find a good reason to get to the locker room in the next couple of days with a little bit of different energy.”
The Red Wings (13-16-4) are eight points out of the final playoff spot, which seems like a pipedream at this point, especially with six clubs between them and that position. They’d be in the Eastern Conference cellar had the Buffalo Sabres not apparently quit on the season, losers of 13 in a row (0-10-3).
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Seider said intensity over 60 minutes is missing.
“It’s hard to win if you have little dips and lags in your game,” he said. “Obviously, you’re not going to be perfect every time, but we always have to aim for perfection. We’re just not good enough right now. I think we can all agree we’re not filling the expectations we’re all hoping for.”
The Free Press’s Helene St. James also noted Seider’s remarks, as well as those of Joe Veleno and Patrick Kane, as context for the importance of winning tonight’s game vs. St. Louis:
“You have to avoid the standings as much as possible,” Moritz Seider said after Saturday’s 5-1 loss to the Montreal Canadiens. “You have to concentrate on the daily work and doing the little things right. But there’s always a big picture and we can all agree we’re not fulfilling the expectations right now that we are hoping for.”
Sunday was a scheduled day off; when they regroup Monday, there should be news on defenseman Simon Edvinsson, who has missed the last two games with an upper-body injury, as well as defenseman Ben Chiarot, who left Saturday’s game with an upper-body injury. Those are two big workhorse blueliners whose absences the Wings haven’t handled well.
Realistically, from the start this season looked like it would be a struggle to build on last April’s thrilling playoff chase, which lasted all the way to game 82. Other than goaltender Cam Talbot, none of the offseason additions were upgrades. The team lacks talent. But still, a 13-16-4 record, as well as just four win streaks (and only one of at least three consecutive wins) — that’s an indictment beyond talent.
“We have to start by realizing what kind of team do we want to be this year,” forward Joe Veleno said. “We’re winning, we’re losing, we’re winning, we’re losing. We just have to really put our right foot down and really look at what team we want to be and how we want to play. We still have to figure that out.”
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Veteran Patrick Kane pointed to what has been the Wings’ biggest weakness this season. “Consistency isn’t there,” he said. “It seems like we have nights where we are really good with the puck and then nights where we seem to struggle with it. No matter how good your structure is or how hard you want to play, if you’re not good with the puck, it’s tough to make plays in this league.
“(Friday), we have a 3-2 lead in the third and we’d won a couple games before, and then all of a sudden, you can lose momentum really quick in this league. And it’s the same thing with gaining momentum, you can get it back really quick. We have one more before the break and it would be nice to get that one and feel good going into the break.”
Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff also posted an opinion piece which suggests that the Red Wings are in for tough times both this season and next season (and it’s an opinion that I don’t share)…
Assuming making the playoffs this season is a pipe dream – not really a stretch at this point – how do they make it better for next season?
Yeah, good luck with that one.
The players that fans would most like to see gone – defensemen Ben Chiarot, Justin Holl and Gustafsson and forwards Tarasenko, Andrew Copp and JT Compher – are all on multi-year deals with term extending beyond this season. No team is going to be trading for them.
Among the players on expiring contracts, such as goalie Alex Lyon, defenseman Jeff Petry and forwards Patrick Kane, Jonatan Berggren and Christian Fischer, only Kane and Berggren would figure to be bringing any interest from other teams. And it’s unlikely that the Red Wings will be looking to move on from Berggren after one full NHL season.
As for top prospects, don’t expect to see forwards Michael Brandsegg-Nygard or Nate Danielson, or defenseman Axel Sandin Pellikka in Detroit at the start of next season.
Yes, it’s already been a long season in Hockeytown. And next season isn’t projecting to be that much better.
DHN’s Kevin Allen summarized the Wings’ struggles this way…
The Red Wings desperately need a win Monday when they play the St. Louis Blues at Little Caesars Arena. Back-to-back losses to Montreal has created frustration for players and fans. Goalie Alex Lyon still looks rusty. The power play has lost its mojo. Inconsistency has been the team’s biggest problem. The Red Wings can’t seem to gain any traction.
The Hockey News’s Sam Stockton offered these takes…
When asked about the sense of disappointment following the result, defenseman Moritz Seider said to reporters, “Can’t really find the words for that. Obviously, we just got out-competed, out-worked, and that’s a very frustrating feeling.”
Coach Derek Lalonde would add, “It’s unfortunate because we had a really good start—not only the goal, but we had some pace, we had some zone time, and then we let it get away from us there in the first. But I still thought we were gonna be okay if we could build something in the second. It’s a team that does give you looks. It does give you chances, and we just spent too much time in our zone, couldn’t get stops…The momentum they built off zone time was the difference. It’s been an unfortunate 70 minutes here: [We] have a 3–2 lead last night with 10 minutes remaining and to find ourselves here in this position is unfortunate.”
Finally, Fox 2 News’s Sportsworks included a round-table discussion of the Wings’ struggles from the Detroit News’s John Niyo, 97.1 the Ticket’s Pat Caputo and Fox 2’s Woody Woodrife. Fast forward to the 8:13 mark for Wings talk:
