McLellan: Red Wings Must Show Us Who They Are

Detroit Red Wings coach Todd McLellan believes his team will reveal its true identity over the next eight weeks.

The mask will come off.

“Are we October to December or are we December to February?,” McLellan said Wednesday as the team prepares to resume the regular-season Saturday with a 12:30 game (ABC).

Another way to ask the same question: Are the Red Wings  the inconsistent 13-17-4 Derek Lalonde team or McLellan’s 15-5-1 confident bunch? It’s a fair question because all of the momentum the Red Wings had under McLellan has probably been lost from the 4 Nations Face-off break.

“It’s not going to be easy, it’s not going to be perfect,” McLellan said. “Are we a playoff team? Close to a playoff team? Are we distant? We have got to figure all this out.”

Odds Against Red Wings

According to tankathon.com, the Red Wings have the most difficult remaining schedule. Their opponents have a collective .587 points percentage.

One key moving forward is whether the team can lock down its defensive play. Since McLellan took over, Detroit has netted three or more goals 15 times (71.4%). The Red Wings have given up two or fewer goals in 13 of 21 games (61.9%) under McLellan

Detroit gave up two or fewer goals for seven games, and then surrendered 10 total over their final two games before the break.

Detroit does have first-line players Dylan Larkin and Lucas Raymond coming off strong performances in the international tournament. Raymond is expected to practice with the team Friday, but Larkin won’t practice before Saturday’s game.

This week’s practices are being used like the team is having a mini-training camp. That’s important because McLellan took over the team the day after Christmas  and hasn’t had enough practices to implement his full program.

“Part of that is trying to develop an identity and playing towards it,” McLellan said. “If they’re saying things, they’re grabbing messages, that’s a good thing. It doesn’t guarantee us anything moving forward, just that at this moment they’re buying in.”

The Red Wings believe they can earn a playoff spot, even though odds still seem against them.

“That’s going to be answered in the next 27 games,” McLellan said.