The Detroit Red Wings are 54 games into their 82-game regular season schedule, having gone 13–17–4 under coach Derek Lalonde, and 15-4-and-1 under coach Todd McLellan.
The Wings have one game remaining before the Four Nations Face-Off break–on Saturday against the Tampa Bay Lightning–and so they’ll play games 56 to 82 after a nearly two-week-long break due to the NHL’s tournament between teams representing Finland, Sweden, Canada and the United States.
As far as I’m concerned, given that the Wings had a very rough 34 games under coach Lalonde, and then a 20-game surge under coach McLellan, now is a very good time to give the team a mental and physical break before the “stretch run” begins. In my book, the Wings are still playing energetic, enthusiastic hockey…
But it’s also February, and they look like they’re a bit mentally and emotionally “gassed,” so I figure that now’s a good a time as any to recharge the team’s batteries.
In writing their “Super 16,” the NHL.com version of Power Rankings, NHL.com’s writers suggest that 1. the Red Wings belong in the “Super 16” for the first time in months and 2. that it’s a very bad time for the Wings to take a break from a winning streak:
14. Detroit Red Wings (28-21-5)
Total points: 51
Last week: NR
“Frankly, the 4 Nations break comes at a terrible time for the Red Wings. They’re red hot. They’ve won seven straight after sweeping a road trip through Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver and Seattle. They’re 15-4-1 under coach Todd McLellan and have the best record in the NHL (.775 points percentage) since his hiring Dec. 26. Not only have they climbed back into a playoff spot, they’re in contention for a top-three spot in the Atlantic Division. When you have momentum, you want to keep rolling. The good news is that they have a big event coming out of the break, the 2025 Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Ohio Stadium on March 1. Should be a fun stretch run.” — Nicholas J. Cotsonika, columnist
Continued; again, to me, it’s far better to go into a break on a hot streak, looking to continue the momentum when the Wings wrap up February with matinees against the Minnesota Wild on the 22nd, the Anaheim Ducks on the 23rd, then a road game against Minnesota on the 24tth and warm-up against Columbus on the 27th instead of having to build from nothing.
I’d rather play, “Know when to hold ’em and know when to fold ’em” hockey than stringing out this winning streak to the point that it leaves the Red Wings’ players and coaches strung out.
We all know that Dylan Larkin and Lucas Raymond won’t get a break, playing for the U.S. and Sweden (respectively) at the Four Nations tournament, but I really do believe that the rest of the team deserves a to put the season on “pause” before those final 26 regular season games begin.
The Wings’ schedule is still going to be the most difficult in the NHL in terms of quality of remaining competition, and there are oodles of games remaining against division rivals, so the “4-point games” remain in earnest.
If I may be blunt, there is no “best time” to take a break in the middle of an NHL season and restart two weeks later, but if the Wings have to and need to get away from it all for a bit, I truly believe that this is the time to do so.
Get the brains and bodies recharged, let the injuries heal a bit (and by this time in the regular season, everyone is not at 100% physically), go to somewhere warm for a week and come back on the 18th and hold a mini-training camp.
Besides, coach and Mrs. McLellan have earned the right to stop living in a long-term-stay hotel and move into a home, and after the job “The Toddfather” has done over his first 20 games…I can’t wait to see what happens in the next 26.
But I’m willing to wait for the team’s sake.
