With a record of 27-21-5, the Detroit Red Wings are currently in the first wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. This came after the Red Wings defeated the Vancouver Canucks in overtime by a score of 3-2. Prior to this game, the Red Wings were outside of a wild-card spot behind the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Boston Bruins. That the Red Wings defeated the Canucks when they were not playing the best is a positive sign for the team.
With 29 games remaining in the 2024-25 season, the Red Wings are in a playoff spot. Despite being in a playoff spot on the final day of the 2023-24 NHL season, it has been eight seasons since the Red Wings have made the playoffs. The lack of playoff success has called into question the job security of general manager Steve Yzerman. Yzerman was named general manager of the Red Wings in April of 2019. In that time, he has proven that he is willing to do whatever it takes to improve the team’s roster.
Lucas Raymond and Alex DeBrincat are two of the top three-point getters on the Red Wings right now with 57 and 42 points, respectively, along with captain Dylan Larkin, who has 49 points in 53 games played. DeBrincat signed an extension with the Red Wings prior to last season to take the scoring load off Larkin. That Raymond is playing like a superstar as of late is a bonus for the Red Wings.
This would have been unthinkable just two over one month ago when they fired their former head coach, Derek Lalonde, and replaced him with veteran head coach, Todd McLellan. McLellan’s message was clear from the beginning of his Red Wings tenure, “play f—king hockey.” With a record of 14-4-1, McLellan has now won more games than Lalonde did to begin the 2024-25 NHL season. One thing is certain and that is that there is talent on the Red Wings’ roster.
The Red Wings have won three of the four games on their current road trip. The Red Wings have the toughest strength of schedule remaining of any team in the NHL. This has not caused the Red Wings to panic, though. The team has now won six games in a row. This is the second time the Red Wings have won six consecutive games under McLellan. Two of the other five coaches to accomplish this feat also won the Stanley Cup the same year.
The Red Wings are 19-1-1 when leading after 40 minutes and 7-1-0 when doing so on the road. The confidence that the Red Wings are playing with Under McLellan is one of the reasons for this road record. Larkin recently said that he liked where the team’s confidence is at. “From the 2nd and 3rd on, we played a pretty solid road hockey game,” Larkin said about the Red Wings’ game in Edmonton.
Red Wings goaltending has been a strength as of late. Cam Talbot has a .966 save percentage. Alex Lyon, .946. These two goalies are on the team as a stopgap until prized prospect Sebastian Cossa makes his way to the Red Wings. Cossa was drafted by the Red Wings with the 15th overall pick in the 2021 NHL entry draft.
“We’ve been gutting out a lot of wins lately,” Talbot said. “It’s nice to see that we can win in a lot of different ways. Sometimes, you pull it out when you don’t have your best. Give them a lot of credit. They came out hard, and we knew that they were going to. This is a tough building, and they just made that trade, so you knew those new guys were going to come out here flying. Give our guys credit. We weathered the storm there at the beginning, got a couple of big goals, and locked it down from there.”
ITR 36: Coaching Carousel – Inside The Rink
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