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Are These Red Wings Better Suited For Run at Playoffs?

Lalonde likes how lineup slots together naturally

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2 months ago

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Derek Lalonde, Red Wings coach
Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde thinks this season's roster puts players in better position to succeed.

During the 1996-97 season, around the NHL All-Star break, I had a conversation with Steve Yzerman, then the captain of the Detroit Red Wings.

Following up on their record 62-win 1995-96 campaign, the Red Wings were struggling. They didn’t look anything like a Stanley Cup contender.

Yzerman begged to differ. “I think this team has a better chance to win the Cup then last year’s team,” he told me.

Of course, history shows that Yzerman’s assessment was correct. Detroit did win the 1996-97 Stanley Cup.

Why was Yzerman so confident when the rest of Hockeytown was pushing the panic button? His explanation was that the 1996-97 Red Wings were better suited for playoff hockey. They could beat you in many ways. The 1995-96 club was all about high-end skill.

Which brings us to the point of this reminisence. That would be this season’s version of the Red Wings.

Last season’s club came as close as they could to making the playoffs without getting over the hump. They lost out on a tiebreaker. So when 75 goals left via trades and free agency, naturally many of the faithful were again priming the panic button.

Again, maybe that’s premature. These Wings might not be the scoring machine that was last season’s club. But it could be that from top to bottom, they are better suited to make that run at the playoffs.

“Could be, yeah,” Detroit coach Derek Lalonde said. “You hope so.”

In reality, this notion is based much more on science than on hope. There’s more diversity in Detroit’s lineup. This team should be better defensively, more responsible, and much harder to play against. In fact, you might want to use this BetMGM Ontario registration code to get a wager down on the Red Wings making the playoffs.

Balance In Red Wings Lines

Detroit’s top six forwards should still light plenty of red lamps. Five of the six have 30-goal seasons as NHLers on their resumes and three show 40-goal campaigns.

It’s the bottom six where things are much better aligned for success. No fourth line on any team in the NHL last season was more productive than Detroit’s unit. Yet the Red Wings weren’t a playoff team.

That’s because real hockey isn’t fantasy hockey. It isn’t all about goals and assists. And Detroit’s bottom six can now bring those winning elements to the ice.

Andrew Copp, Michael Rasmussen and Christian Fischer established their credentials as a top-notch shutdown checking unit. A fourth line that could very well be comprised of Joe Veleno, Tyler Motte and Jonatan Berggren will still be capable of producing offense. But in grinders like Motte, Veleno and Fischer, there are players in that bottom six group who will also be meting out physical punishment on a consistent basis.

“We talked about maybe this lineup slotting a little more natural than our teams have looked in the past going into the season,” Lalonde said.

Detroit Upsizing On Defense

Adding Simon Edvinsson for a full season is giving the Red Wings the prototype of the modern NHL defensive corps. They are long, they are big and they are mobile.

The top four of Moritz Seider, Ben Chiarot, Edvinsson and Jeff Petry are at least six-foot-three. Each weighs over 200 pounds.

In goal, at 6-foot-4 and 200 pounds, newcomer Cam Talbot looks more like today’s NHL netminder. He’s also a workhorse, twice starting 67 or more games in an NHL season. An NHL All-Star last season, Talbot would start 52 times for the Los Angeles Kings.

“Again, we’re trying to take some steps from where we were last year,” Lalonde said. “It’s just guys understanding the roles, understanding their identity.

“I think that is successful to any team that’s trying to win hockey games. Again, it’ll be work in progress in the preseason, but I think we’re all excited to see it.”

No one is suggesting this team will emulate the 1996-97 Wings and win the Cup. But make the playoffs? Yeah, this looks like a team that’s very much capable of achieving postseason hockey.

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