This morning, Free Press’s Helene St. James discusses “what 6 weeks have taught Todd McLellan” about helming his new team, in the wake of Saturday afternoon’s 6-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning:
“The good thing about where we’re at now is we can take some time to breathe and we’ll review as a staff kind of where we’ve been, where we’ve come,” McLellan said, bothered by a cough he has had for the past week.
Where they were entering the Christmas break was second from bottom in the Eastern Conference, worn down by a three-game losing streak that had dropped them to 13-17-4 and convinced Yzerman a change was needed.
Where they are entering this break is 28-22-5 and bumping around the wild-card spots, enmeshed in a tight race with a handful of other teams.
…
McLellan has, as Moritz Seider put it last week, “brought us back to life,” ever since their first practice together, when he urged the Wings to “play (expletive) hockey. You’ve done it your whole lives.” There’s a sense of joy and fun in the locker room that had completely ebbed at Christmas.
“It’s a lot better, a lot better,” captain Dylan Larkin said. He’s in his 10th season, and these past few weeks have been his first taste of what it’s like to win seven games in a row. “The way the guys have responded post-Christmas and the way things have been going, you almost don’t want it to stop when you get on a roll like this. I think the break will be good for guys, but when you’re playing this well, you want to keep it going and keep playing.”
The Wings chased a playoff spot all the way till Game 82 last season, but look in much better shape to actually cross the finish line this spring. The loss to the Lightning show there’s work to be done, but they’re 15-5-1 since McLellan’s arrival, and that’s not a mirage. They’re scoring more, defending better, doing better on special teams, and getting contributions from veterans and those at the other end of the spectrum.
“The youth has invigorated the older players, I think, and the older players have embraced the youth,” McLellan said. “That doesn’t always happen on teams. They can be really divided some times. But as long as that youthful group continues to provide what they have, it keeps the older ones honest. It’s a really good mix right now.”
Continued; in addition to attempting to finalize his move from Los Angeles to Detroit, St. James reports that coach McLellan will hold a set of meetings with his coaching staff before holding a “mini training camp” with the Wings’ roster between Tuesday, February 18th and Friday the 21st.
Detroit reopens its 2024-2025 schedule when they host the Minnesota Wild on February 22nd…
And the schedule really gets interesting after the Stadium Series on March 1st. Detroit will play 13 times between March 4th and March 29th, including 2 sets of back-to-back games…
Before April brings 9 games to be played over the course of 17 nights, including 2 more sets of back-to-backs:
