Author: George Malik

The Detroit Red Wings may have glimpsed their future as they eyed the 9-9-and-3 Boston Bruins on Saturday night. The Bruins fired coach Jim Montgomery on Monday, and are beginning to revise their roster under coach Joe Sacco.

As the Atlantic Division continues to pull away from the Red Wings, there’s definitely urgency for the 8-9-and-2 Red Wings to sort out their difficulties internally, lest they share the Bruins’ fate.

On Saturday night, the Red Wings played a really great 40 minutes of hockey, but they lost their “oomph” in the 3rd, and that was enough to drop a 2-1 decision to the Boston Bruins.

Detroit went 0-for-3 on the PP, which did not help, but Cam Talbot stopped 27 fine saves, Raymond got a goal and Larkin got his 300th assist, and the Wings should not have been out-shot 13-4 in the third period in which they had a power play and a lengthy stretch of 6-on-4 time, in which they hit two crossbars behind Jeremy Swayman.

But there is progress here, and the Islanders await on Monday.

Tony Wolak, Devin Little and I had to “go it alone” without our host, the eloquent Evan Sabourin, but Tony did yeoman’s work and hosted the show this week:

The Detroit Red Wings attempted to rebound from an 1-2-and-1 road trip and a three-game winless streak as they hosted the 7-7-and-5 New York Islanders on Thursday evening.

As the Red Wings kicked off a stretch of 6 games to be played over the course of 11 nights, and a stretch in which they’ll play every other night until December 9th, the Wings neared the “quarter pole” of their season at 7-9-and-2, rather desperately needing to sort themselves out in order to turn their season around.

On Thursday night, the Red Wings “won ugly,” but they won, rallying in the 3rd period from a 1-0 deficit to defeat the New York Islanders 2-1. Jonatan Berggren scored at 15:14 and Lucas Raymond scored at 19:08 to give the Red Wings the victory, with Alex Lyon stopping 22 shots and Detroit taking 31 of their own.

With Boston coming in on Saturday, and the Islanders likely to be steamed on Monday in Long Island, the Wings needed this one, bad, and while some of the details were not elegant, the game counts as a win.

I’ve been battling through a heavy dose of Amoxicillin over the last couple of days, so I’m not as plugged into the Red Wings’ blogosphere, Facebook, Twitter or talk radio conversations as I’d like to be…

But I know how the story has probably gone for the criticism of the 7-9-and-2 team. Detroit sports fans are wonderfully passionate and sometimes quite thoughtful, but they’re also particularly predictable.

As such, I’m guessing that fans have already sent Derek Lalonde to the guillotine, to be replaced by, in no particular order, Sergei Fedorov (not gonna happen), Gerard Gallant, Joel Quenneville, Jim Montgomery, and a cast of dozens.

Again, I’m of the mind that the Red Wings should be patient and deliberate here, utilizing the 5-of-the-next-6-games-at-home schedule as runway with which to truly assess the team by giving the players and coaching staff enough leeway with which to determine the real course of the ship.

I also believe that the concept that a coaching change is going to fix everything is something of an overreaction.

I’m not about to suggest that y’all don’t have a point here, but I didn’t think that this team was going to do anything less than be inconsistent over the course of the early part of this season…

And I worry about what might happen if the team simply lops off the head of its coaching staff without having a serious battle plan for whatever comes next. It’s not as if the team should simply fire everyone and promote Dan Watson to coach, and it’s certainly not realistic to assume that this team is going to shoot off the launch pad like a rocket simply due to a coaching change.

This past weekend, I discussed the Red Wings’ need to turn their metaphorical ship around lest the team struggle all the way into December, when major changes will be necessary.

After watching last night’s 5-4 overtime loss to San Jose, however, I believe that the Red Wings’ coaches and management are going to look at the Wings’ 1-2-and-1 road trip (and 0-2-and-1 California swing)…

And I think the team and its management are going to “move the goalposts,” but not alter the goal of turning the team around.

With the Red Wings facing 5 of their next 6 games at home heading into December 1st vs. Vancouver, it might make more sense to hold off on, say, firing the coaching staff or making a major change to the team’s player personnel until such a time as the team shows whether it’s able to straighten out its trajectory on its own.

I’m not suggesting that the goal of making the playoffs this season should change;

And I still believe that this team can do so as-is. I still believe that the team’s coaching staff can motivate the team to succeed.

That being said, if the Wings continue to bumble into the Atlantic Division’s basement, December 1st stands as a hard deadline for sorting out the team’s problems in terms of goals against, penalty-killing, shot attempts again and relative lack of secondary scoring.

If the Wings are still a mess come December, it won’t be time for GM SY to blow the team up and start over–that’s not how you manage a 10-year rebuild–nor will it be time for the GM-for-life to be fired, but it might be time for a coaching change and/or an injection of new, difference-making player personnel.

I have a feeling that the team’s management is going to move methodically here, and as such, even after the team’s 0-2-and-1 California swing, I believe that they’re going to be given a little more rope with which to either use to lasso themselves out of trouble, or to trip and fall their way into necessary change.

Now the management team might surprise us with some decisive change between now and Thursday’s home return vs. the Islanders, but I’m doubtful that coaching or player changes will take place between now and then. Instead, I believe that the team’s going to be given a little bit more time to solve its problems on its own.

Still, and again, if the team is struggling on December 1st, meaningful and substantial changes will be necessary, and the longer that the management group waits to make changes, the more substantive changes will need to be made.

The Detroit Red Wings faced an important “barometer game” against the San Jose Sharks on Monday night.

Having dropped to 7-9-and-1 and second-to-last in the Atlantic Division, the Wings hoped to predate upon a 5-10-and-4 San Jose Sharks team in order to snap a two-game road losing streak.

On Monday night, the Red Wings kept letting the Sharks tie the game, and it cost them. Dylan Larkin’s 1-0 goal was assuaged by William Eklund’s first, Marco Kasper’s 2-1 goal was assuaged by Eklund’s 2nd, Rasmussen’s was tied by Toffoli, Luke Kunin scored the go-ahead in the 3rd, and while Alex DeBrincat tied the game late to force overtime…

Macklin Celebrini scored an OT winner to push the Wings to 1-2-and-1–1-and-3, really–on their 4-game road trip.

Talbot was excellent despite giving up 5 goals on 34 shots against, but the Red Wings played as if they were out of gas in the 2nd, 3rd, and OT, being out-shot by a total of 22-10.

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.

The Detroit Red Wings stand on the precipice of being a not-very-good team. At 7-8-and-1, the Wings have fallen behind the Bruins, Bolts, Senators and Sabres in the Atlantic Division standings, and all four of those teams are succeeding in getting their shit together after middling starts.

Last night’s loss to Anaheim left some Red Wings fans in a panic–and some just angry–and tonight, the Red Wings faced a 9-6-and-3 Los Angeles Kings team attempting to assuage a 2-game losing streak.

On Saturday night in Los Angeles, Detroit tried really hard for about 5-10 minutes of a 4-1 loss to the Kings that was nothing less than clinical for Los Angeles. Dylan Larkin, who was visibly distressed and angry during the game’s stoppages, scored a gorgeous little backhand marker in the final minute of play, spoiling David Rittich’s shutout, but other than Cam Talbot stopping 37 of 40 shots, and Patrick Kane doing some stuff with Marco Kasper and Vladimir Tarasenko on a new line, Detroit didn’t get much done.

Detroit falls to 1-and-2 on their road trip, and they’ll need to beat the Sharks and beat them decisively to quiet the talk of firing the coach, the GM, and trading everyone away.

The Detroit Red Wings began a three-game West Coast swing by visiting the Anaheim Ducks on Friday night. Anaheim had lost 5 of its previous 6 games, but its 5-8-and-2 record wasn’t that far removed from Detroit’s 7-7-and-1 mark.

As such, the Red Wings needed to at least earn a majority of the points from Anaheim, Los Angeles (on Saturday) and San Jose (on Monday night) to not head home from California looking like a struggling team.

When the rubber met the road on Friday night, the Red Wings fell on their faces, frankly, dropping a 6-4 decision to the Ducks–a team I don’t believe they respected.

Detroit raced out to a 3-1 lead on goals by Kasper, Berggren and Raymond, but Detroit surrendered 2 straight power play goals to the Ducks late in the 2nd and early in the 3rd, and Anaheim broke away after that, taking a 5-3 lead on bad goals against Lyon and bad play by a Red Wings team that was hobbled by the loss of Simon Edvinsson (knee bruise).

Ultimately, a Ducks empty-netter determined the course of the game, despite Alex DeBrincat’s late comeback marker, and the Red Wings will essentially head into their games vs. LA (tonight at 8 PM EST) and San Jose (Monday at 10:30 PM EST) needing to win both games to have a successful road trip.

This is what happens when you get out-worked and your special teams are not very good. Despite the 2 power-play goals for the Wings, their penalty-kill remains a liability, and on a night where their goaltending was “off,” they struggled.

Enjoy: