Do Red Wings Have Right Personnel to Fit Their System?

It’s clearly evident how coach Derek Lalonde wants the Detroit Red Wings to be playing hockey. He’s seeking a defense-first mindset, with tight checking and responsible management of the puck.

It’s equally evident that so far this season, his team is proving wholly incapable of delivering that type of game over a 60-minute span.

Inconsistent and erratic are the adjectives best describing the product the Red Wings have been bringing to the ice over the first 10 games of the NHL season.

The Red Wings have played a brutal schedule to open the year; but it’s been a discouraging start. Team has the flu. Injuries. Bad defense leading to wide open nets. Missing open nets. Lack of shots and chances. Outside of a few great periods; this team is misfiring #LGRW

— CarolinaSpartan (@SCSparty) October 31, 2024

So, the question that must be asked is this – who is at fault?

Do you lay the blame on the players not being willing, or perhaps capable of buying into what Lalonde is selling? Or is it more a situation of the club simply not suiting up the right kind of personnel to play the brand of hockey that their coach desires from them?

Is Lalonde in a situation where he’s trying to fit square pegs into round holes?

In certain instances, that would seem to be the case. Even he seems willing to admit that fact.

“It’s tough to get things off the rush and we have guys that want to get off the rush,” Lalonde said. “If it’s there, we’ll take it off the rush.

“It’s the other, the grind stuff, we just need more of that.”

Certainly, players like Alex DeBrincat and Patrick Kane are more at home playing off the rush. They are players whose DNA demands that they create, attack and seek to finish off plays.

Are Red Wings Playing Too Much Defense?

Is it likely, or even wise for that matter, to be asking these types of players to abandon the game that was turning them into elite NHLers?

Kane seems to be concerned by the notion. He’s of the opinion that the club leans too far into the defense side of the gameplan.

“Yeah, I mean I think guys are trying to be responsible, right?” Kane said. “They’re trying to play smart defensively, but there’s still ways to make it tough on them by playing the offensive zone, not giving them easy pucks back or easy possession, holding on to it, keeping it below the goal line.

“So that’s just something we need to develop in our team.”

There’s something about forcing the other team to be playing defense that is sound strategy for winning games, too. Odds are that if you’re keeping the puck 150 feet away from your own net, it’s less likely that the puck will end up in your net.

Nino Niederreiter – Winnipeg Jets (5) pic.twitter.com/7wPdhexULp

— NHL Goal Videos (@NHLGoalVideos) October 31, 2024

However, when spending as much time in their own zone as the Wings have this season, pucks have a habit of finding odd methods of winding up in the back of your net. Like banking in off your own players. That’s happened to Detroit in three successive games.

Does Detroit Have The Wrong Players?

The great coaches are known for adapting their system to fit their personnel. Lalonde appears to be seeking to adapt some of the players to fit his system. Which in turn, raises another question? Is GM Steve Yzerman bringing in players who don’t gel with what Lalonde is selling?

What is known for certain is this. What the Red Wings are putting on the ice this season too often is looking discombobulated.

Is it dysfunctional? It’s too early in the campaign to suggest that. But if this up and down pattern continues, something, or someone is going to have to give.