The Daily: Scary Stats & Updated Detroit Red Wings Draft Position

The Detroit Red Wings hung around for some time, entertaining potential wild card playoff talk in January.

Now that seems like an era ago. Will anything change for Detroit as the season nears its finale?

It wasn’t any clearer in the Red Wings 11-2 drubbing at the hands of the Penguins yesterday. With 16 games remaining in the their season, the future takes over as the primary focus as the season plays out.

“We have to find a way to start forming an identity here down toward the end of the season and play for something,” captain Dylan Larkin said. “And for me it’s playing for next year to make sure we’re not in this position again.”

One trend that needs to change for that to happen is outscoring opponents. The staggering amount of goals Detroit has given up this season speaks to some of its more recent problems. A glance at the 9 teams they gave 7+ goals up to:

Stats taken from Hockey Reference

Since giving up eight goals to Chicago on January 26, 114 of the Red Wings’ 283 goals against have occurred. That’s over 24 games, versus the 169 given up in the first 42.

Looking at Prashanth’s tweet below, it’s been 25 years since a team has exceeded eight games with 7+ goals against in a season.

Per request, the Red Wings cumulative goal differential vs. the rest of the NHL since Jeff Blashill took over in 2015-2016 pic.twitter.com/iEGrc81qXP

— Prashanth Iyer (@iyer_prashanth) March 28, 2022

General manager Steve Yzerman will certainly be making changes.

Red Wings Draft Order Update

The blowout loss pushed the losing streak to three games, with the Red Wings sitting ninth in lottery standings. The current standings via Tankathon:

Image via Tankathon.com

In case you missed it:

• DHN’s Bob Duff believes Jeff Blashill’s time is up as the head coach of the Detroit Red Wings
• Former Detroit Red Wings defenseman Slava Fetisov finds himself on the sanctions list
• Givani Smith has been feisty on the ice and could end up leading the league in PIM.

Hot Wings

In the midst of a rough patch for the team, Jakub Vrana continues to contribute, potting his sixth goal in ten games. He also has eight points.

Cold Wings

Tyler Bertuzzi has just three goals in his last 15 games. Bertuzzi has certainly been one of the driving forces of offense this season. It goes to show just how hard of a stretch this has been for Detroit.

National Hockey Now

Philadelphia: The Flyers cough up a 3-1 lead and add another chapter to an already miserable season.

Vegas: The failed Dadonov deal continues to cause problems off the ice.

Pittsburgh: Mike Sullivan speaks on the Malkin-Russia situation.

Boston: Only 120 players have played 1200 games: Captain Patrice Bergeron joined that exclusive group on Saturday.

Florida: In a matchup of Atlantic heavyweights, the Panthers struggle to keep up.