Stephen Weiss is off to a slow, injury-riddled start to the season.
And another frustrating regular season is here.
Apparently the Detroit Red Wings are more like the Dr. Jekyll who scuffled to reach the 2013 postseason, rather than the Mr. Hyde who took the Chicago Blackhawks to Game 7 in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. (And if you’re measuring hockey supremacy on a quality second-round exit, that’s silly.)
The fact of the matter is the Wings’ secondary scoring is virtually non-existent, they give up 30.9 shots per game (22nd in the league), Jimmy Howard cannot make the clutch save, and the power(less) play has scored once in its past 20 opportunities.
It’s a one-line team: Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk and whoever they make the employee of the week.
It’s beyond infuriating to see a top-six forward such as Gustav Nyquist stay in the minors in favor of lugs such as Dan Cleary (three points in 18 games), Drew Miller (two points, minus-9 in 18 games) and Mikael Samuelsson (1 point, minus-1 in six whopping games).
Oh, and where are all the Valtteri Filppula bashers now? He looks much better than Stephen Weiss (3 points, minus-3).
The Wings were 6-2 heading into Phoenix on Oct.19 and held a 2-0 lead with 60 seconds left in the second period. But they allowed four consecutive goals then embarrassingly watched Mike Smith become the 11th goalie in NHL history to score. That was the first game of this lovely 3-7 skid. Oh, and two of those wins are against Calgary and Edmonton, the NHL’s little-sisters-of-the-poor franchises.
Some are beginning to wonder if Brendan Smith (minus-7) will ever figure it out and it’s fair to say Kyle Quincey (minus-9) should be the odd man out when Jonathan Ericsson returns. Quincey resembles both Carlo Colaiacovo and Ian White, two defensemen Ken Holland employed last season and are both out of the NHL today.
Howard, who is having an average season at best, doesn’t get a free pass, either. Ask yourself this: Has he stolen any games? Among goalies who have played a minimum of nine games, his 2.74 GAA is ranked 20th, his .911 save percentage ranks 18th.
Howard is great at cutting off angles and challenging shooters, but sometimes his poor lateral movement costs him. It’s like his leg pads carry 25-pound weights when he fails to get off the ice. Check Ryan Malone’s goal Sunday, or the softie by Dallas’ Jamie Benn on Thursday.
Seven losses in their past 10 games. Most concerning, is three of those losses came in overtime. Not a sign of a championship team. There was an obliteration to Ottawa (6-1 loss, Howard pulled), a breakdown on the game-winner against the N.Y. Rangers and another third-period meltdown to Dallas, thanks to a bonehead penalty by Justin Abdelkader.
Yes, it’s November, and it’s awfully early. But let’s put it like this: The 2002 Cup champion Red Wings won 90.2 percent of their games when leading after two periods. Do the modern-day Wings pose the same stifling security? Doesn’t seem like it.