A Disturbing Trend

[SpikeDDS]

Happy New Year Red Wings and other hockey fans!

Having said that, I'm not too sure Red Wings players would have said that very easily last night after their collapse against the Penguins, their 3rd loss in a row.

What has been interesting is that the losing trend here has resulted in a drop from 1st place in the Eastern Conference to the last team in the EC above the line in 4 losses. It just shows you how tight the league is right now other than Dallas. Small drops in performance are resulting in HUGE drops in playoff position. It is amazing how far and how fast you can fall today when you stop playing.

But this has not been a small drop in performance, in my mind. We suddenly can't stop a power play. (It is hard to believe that the loss of Drew Miller has as much of an impact on the PK as this suggests he does, but it may be true!) We can't buy a PP goal. (This has been a problem for several seasons now. Perhaps the problem was NOT Renney as I was convinced it was. Is it possible that we just suck on the PP with the team that we have? Hard to believe, but the numbers don't lie.)

Is this Jeff Blashill? Certainly this is the kind of struggle one would expect a team with a new, NHL-untested coach to have around this time of year. This crisis is very predictable. Doesn't mean he's a bad coach yet, I don't think, but he certainly has to get the players focused to get beyond the way they are playing right now.

I think other teams have caught on to Larkin, and are not only focusing on him, but taking liberties as well, and we had better have a response to that. I have no doubt the kid is mentally ready to do what is necessary. It's not like he isn't playing. He is. He's just being treated like a scoring threat every time he touches the puck now instead of an untested rookie.

And even though Petr gave up 5 goals last night, it certainly does look like the goalie "controversy" is coming to an end, with Jimmy Howard's last two performances. He has such a history of turning on and turning off like this. But with the league as tight as it is, we can't afford a 4- or 5-game lapse, and unfortunately that's how he seems to roll. Sometimes that lapse is more than 4-5 games too. But if there was any question about the future of Detroit goaltending being Petr Mrazek before, there certainly shouldn't be now.

I have to say this: the drop-off in Pavel Datsyuk's offensive game is concerning. He just has not been the same player since returning. I don't know if that long recovery from injury/surgery is the problem or if this is just his age beginning to catch up with him, but he is not playing as well as he has in the past, and the question of who is gonna take his place is becoming more and more evident. Larkin may be the answer, but I think it may need to be more than one young player to replace his talent.

Once again, I'm going to say this: as far as the streak goes, at this point I almost couldn't care less about it. I think it is time to continue to give our young talent opportunities to show what they can do, and dump some of our underperforming players like Jurco. KH needs to make some decisions on who is going to be a Red Wing moving forward and who is not, and then make some moves with the ones who are not. Can't have them all follow Landon Ferraro's fate. Doing nothing is not an option. And if that means we lose the streak, I say so be it. But i appreciate them seeing what Nosek can do. They need to decide to fish or cut bait on Oullet. Mantha. Make room for these guys, and get the transition going, even if it means we might miss the playoffs. I'd rather set us up for success moving forward than sacrifice that just for the sake of the streak. If you can do both, fine, but if you can't, then forget the streak and build for success, I say.

 

[JagerMeister]

3 hours ago, SpikeDDS said:

Happy New Year Red Wings and other hockey fans!

Having said that, I'm not too sure Red Wings players would have said that very easily last night after their collapse against the Penguins, their 3rd loss in a row.

What has been interesting is that the losing trend here has resulted in a drop from 1st place in the Eastern Conference to the last team in the EC above the line in 4 losses. It just shows you how tight the league is right now other than Dallas. Small drops in performance are resulting in HUGE drops in playoff position. It is amazing how far and how fast you can fall today when you stop playing.

But this has not been a small drop in performance, in my mind. We suddenly can't stop a power play. (It is hard to believe that the loss of Drew Miller has as much of an impact on the PK as this suggests he does, but it may be true!) We can't buy a PP goal. (This has been a problem for several seasons now. Perhaps the problem was NOT Renney as I was convinced it was. Is it possible that we just suck on the PP with the team that we have? Hard to believe, but the numbers don't lie.)

Is this Jeff Blashill? Certainly this is the kind of struggle one would expect a team with a new, NHL-untested coach to have around this time of year. This crisis is very predictable. Doesn't mean he's a bad coach yet, I don't think, but he certainly has to get the players focused to get beyond the way they are playing right now.

I think other teams have caught on to Larkin, and are not only focusing on him, but taking liberties as well, and we had better have a response to that. I have no doubt the kid is mentally ready to do what is necessary. It's not like he isn't playing. He is. He's just being treated like a scoring threat every time he touches the puck now instead of an untested rookie.

And even though Petr gave up 5 goals last night, it certainly does look like the goalie "controversy" is coming to an end, with Jimmy Howard's last two performances. He has such a history of turning on and turning off like this. But with the league as tight as it is, we can't afford a 4- or 5-game lapse, and unfortunately that's how he seems to roll. Sometimes that lapse is more than 4-5 games too. But if there was any question about the future of Detroit goaltending being Petr Mrazek before, there certainly shouldn't be now.

I have to say this: the drop-off in Pavel Datsyuk's offensive game is concerning. He just has not been the same player since returning. I don't know if that long recovery from injury/surgery is the problem or if this is just his age beginning to catch up with him, but he is not playing as well as he has in the past, and the question of who is gonna take his place is becoming more and more evident. Larkin may be the answer, but I think it may need to be more than one young player to replace his talent.

Once again, I'm going to say this: as far as the streak goes, at this point I almost couldn't care less about it. I think it is time to continue to give our young talent opportunities to show what they can do, and dump some of our underperforming players like Jurco. KH needs to make some decisions on who is going to be a Red Wing moving forward and who is not, and then make some moves with the ones who are not. Can't have them all follow Landon Ferraro's fate. Doing nothing is not an option. And if that means we lose the streak, I say so be it. But i appreciate them seeing what Nosek can do. They need to decide to fish or cut bait on Oullet. Mantha. Make room for these guys, and get the transition going, even if it means we might miss the playoffs. I'd rather set us up for success moving forward than sacrifice that just for the sake of the streak. If you can do both, fine, but if you can't, then forget the streak and build for success, I say.

 

Regarding Datsyuk, I think his decreased offensive production is primarily due to the debilitating injuries he has endured. He was a PPG player last year. Ofc, even without injuries he would have imminently declined, but a combination of injuries further accelerated the process

As for who will replace him...hehe good luck with that.

 

 

[yave1964]

Pavel is showing obvious wear and tear and sadly so is Z, both are in the decline phase of their career, best suited to play middle six minutes and second power play instead of top line minutes. It happens to us all, we get old, it is just sports heroes and dogs seem to age at an accelerated rate.

  We do have other options.

 Personally I would move Dylan Larkin into the 1C position, centering Abdelkader and Nyquist, Abby to protect the kid and Nyk to give him a scoring threat on the wing.

It would allow Z, Pavel and multiple other options on the second line. I think my druthers would be Tatar.,

 That leaves Helm, Sheahan and Richards on the third line with Pulkinnen having to earn ice time when he returns and AA waiting in the wings. Quite comfortable with that mix.

[SpikeDDS]

@yave1964

It is crazy how quickly and simultaneously Pav, Z, and Kroner's games have fallen off here of late. Not that decline should be unexpected, but the dip seems rather sharp to me, particularly Pav and Kroner.

Can't deny Father Time, I guess.