Forecasting the Red Wings

[Pop Zeus]

Last year, it was pretty easy to look at the Wings schedule and see the downfall about to happen.

How's the rest of November look
Montreal - win
Columbus - win
@ Ottawa - Loss
Toronto - Loss
New Jersey - Loss
@ Boston - Loss
Minnesota - Win
@ Rangers - Loss
Chicago - Winn

4-5-0

Right now Detroit is 5th in the division in terms of point percentage.
And ninth in the conference
4-5-0 would probably drop them to 10th in the conference

Buffalo and Ottawa have stalled out. Montreal has stalled out.

In the division
Boston has done enough to show me they're a playoff team, even if they can't sustain their start.
Tampa is surviving the loss of Vasilevsky.
Florida has survived the loss of key defense.
Toronto... well... Theyre ahead of Detroit - but barely. Sitll, I have no expectation that Detroit can beat any of the teams currently above them.

I just don't have any expectation that the Sabres/Canadiens/Senators are going to surpass Detroit.

In the Atlantic, the Rangers, Canes and Devils have showed enough.

Detroit's best hope for the playoffs is that the Islanders sink and that the Caps or Sabres don't rise.

[DocBrown]

I tuned into the NHL Network last night just before the game and Dave Reid was asked who he preferred among Detroit, Ottawa and Buffalo. He answered Detroit. Why? Veterans. They have a veteran line-up. When pressed he couldn't elaborate with anything else.....veterans. LOL.

This is a rebuilding team whose strength is age. These hosts generally try to put a positive spin on teams most times except in obvious circumstances. It was hard for Dave to do that with Detroit. I think he's riding their strong opening and is not trying to complicate his mind.

[dcz28]

Funny you give the Sens the win over the Wings because the Sens broadcasters and radio people were asking the same thing about the Sens and their next 5 games and they see the game against the Wings as a loss.

Sens beat the Leafs in Toronto tonight 6-3 scoring 3 goals in less than 4 minutes in the 3rd to break the tie. Leafs defense, goaltending and 5 on 5 play look like complete shit so far this season. If the Wings can keep them off the PP, they should be able to win.

Tampa can still score but beyond Hedman and Sergachev on defense they suck hard.

Buffalo doesn't have a decent goalie so unless they trade for one, they are not a playoff team.

Caps are just done. Shitty defense and Kuznetsov/Strome as the top 2 centers isn't good enough. A guy i work with went to the Sens vs Caps game at the start of the season and he couldn't believe how shitty Ovechkin looked. He said he looked done.

Both Carolina and Devils are only +1 in goal differential so they are both having some issues. Devils has the offense to overcome defensive/goaltending issues but i'm not sure Carolina has. I think both are playoff teams though.

Islanders feel like the main competition. They don't allow a lot of goals but they have issues scoring.

All that being said, the Wings have their own issues to deal with. They don't have enough skill to only show up for 1 or 2 periods and expect to win against decent to good teams. They need to be much better defensively and get better goaltending.

[Pop Zeus]

Funny you give the Sens the win over the Wings because the Sens broadcasters and radio people were asking the same thing about the Sens and their next 5 games and they see the game against the Wings as a loss.

Sens beat the Leafs in Toronto tonight 6-3 scoring 3 goals in less than 4 minutes in the 3rd to break the tie. Leafs defense, goaltending and 5 on 5 play look like complete shit so far this season. If the Wings can keep them off the PP, they should be able to win.

Tampa can still score but beyond Hedman and Sergachev on defense they suck hard.

Buffalo doesn't have a decent goalie so unless they trade for one, they are not a playoff team.

Caps are just done. Shitty defense and Kuznetsov/Strome as the top 2 centers isn't good enough. A guy i work with went to the Sens vs Caps game at the start of the season and he couldn't believe how shitty Ovechkin looked. He said he looked done.

Both Carolina and Devils are only +1 in goal differential so they are both having some issues. Devils has the offense to overcome defensive/goaltending issues but i'm not sure Carolina has. I think both are playoff teams though.

Islanders feel like the main competition. They don't allow a lot of goals but they have issues scoring.

All that being said, the Wings have their own issues to deal with. They don't have enough skill to only show up for 1 or 2 periods and expect to win against decent to good teams. They need to be much better defensively and get better goaltending.

Every single team ahead of Detroit right now, except the Islanders, is better than Detroit, despite whatever flaws those teams have.


Detroit is behind them despite playing over their head.
Nuff said.
They're not going to continue to shoot at 12-14 percent. Their powerplay is going to come back to earth.
So when those things level out, Detroit will be fortunate to be in 9th in the east.

[holytoledo]

I think Yzerman has seen enough from this team that he’s gonna go out and sign Kane.

[dcz28]

Funny you give the Sens the win over the Wings because the Sens broadcasters and radio people were asking the same thing about the Sens and their next 5 games and they see the game against the Wings as a loss.

Sens beat the Leafs in Toronto tonight 6-3 scoring 3 goals in less than 4 minutes in the 3rd to break the tie. Leafs defense, goaltending and 5 on 5 play look like complete shit so far this season. If the Wings can keep them off the PP, they should be able to win.

Tampa can still score but beyond Hedman and Sergachev on defense they suck hard.

Buffalo doesn't have a decent goalie so unless they trade for one, they are not a playoff team.

Caps are just done. Shitty defense and Kuznetsov/Strome as the top 2 centers isn't good enough. A guy i work with went to the Sens vs Caps game at the start of the season and he couldn't believe how shitty Ovechkin looked. He said he looked done.

Both Carolina and Devils are only +1 in goal differential so they are both having some issues. Devils has the offense to overcome defensive/goaltending issues but i'm not sure Carolina has. I think both are playoff teams though.

Islanders feel like the main competition. They don't allow a lot of goals but they have issues scoring.

All that being said, the Wings have their own issues to deal with. They don't have enough skill to only show up for 1 or 2 periods and expect to win against decent to good teams. They need to be much better defensively and get better goaltending.

Every single team ahead of Detroit right now, except the Islanders, is better than Detroit, despite whatever flaws those teams have.


Detroit is behind them despite playing over their head.
Nuff said.
They're not going to continue to shoot at 12-14 percent. Their powerplay is going to come back to earth.
So when those things level out, Detroit will be fortunate to be in 9th in the east.

They have more star players yes. Pretty much every team has big enough flaws that if they struggle a bit in areas that they should excel at, their flawed area gets worst or their star players struggle, they sink. The teams with high end offensive talent often don't have the defense and goaltending to win a cup because they can't afford to have decent depth...Oilers and Leafs come to mind. This gives teams with better depth a shot if they can play a better team game for 60 minutes.

On the Leafs broadcast they used injuries on defense as an excuse for their struggles...they are missing McCabe and Lijegren. McCabe is one fans keep saying he sucks and Lijegren isn't exactly a good defenseman but they have no depth to replace injuries to an already shitty defense.

I'm not saying the Wings are better than most teams but if they can play a strong team game for 60 minutes, they have enough to win enough games. They don't have the stars/superstars to play pond hockey and win...plus we all know that doesn't win cups in the playoffs. Vegas right now is probably the team to try and emulate. They have depth but very few stars/superstar players but play a physical team game. Boston is similar.

[DelHowLich]

I would rather see Detroit trade some of their extras and picks for a proven winger like Konecny then sign Kane.
Maybe Maata, Raz, Berggren and a 2nd for Travis.....if a 1st is required then Raz, Berggren and a 1st top 10 protected. Then please trade Maata and bring up Eddy. Then the D and the F are improved.

[DelHowLich]

"The Canucks appear to be looking to move Anthony Beauvillier instead of Garland now. Head coach Rick Tocchet likes Garland's game this season despite just one goal and three assists in 12 games. Beauvillier has two goals and five points from the bottom line, so that should tell you a fair bit about how he's seen within the organization."
Trade Fabri (retain $.75M ) for Beauviller? The Nucks save almost a $1M, and I think it would be a slight improvement because Tony is certainly more durable than Fabs. He can be dealt at the TDL as he is on an expiring contract and a GR guy could replace him.

[cska91]

I think that barring injuries, the Wings are in for a good stretch... followed by a bad stretch...

Montreal - W
Columbus - W
@ Ottawa - W
Toronto - W
New Jersey - L
@ Boston - L
Minnesota - L
@ Rangers - L
Chicago - W

I think this team will go up and down all year... they certainly solved their scoring woes and have more depth upfront, but the talent level is still too low, to compete consistently with the top teams, and the goaltending has been mediocre at best. Hopefully, one of the goalies can get hot. Otherwise, it'll be win some, lose some pretty equally all year long. And we know that's not enough to make the playoffs.

[DocBrown]

Both Ottawa and Toronto will have multiple days off before playing the Wings. If they lose it will be because of rust but both I would expect to beat the Wings. Ottawa took out the Leafs last night in a competitive game till the end. The Wings are not competitive with either IMO.