State of the Red Wings: Putting ‘D’ Back in Detroit

The Detroit Red Wings gave up five or more goals 18 times last season and surrendered four goals in 19 other games. That means they needed a minimum of five goals to win 47.5% of their games. That’s an unreasonable expectation in the NHL.

Their Atlantic Division rival Florida Panthers, meanwhile, gave up five or more goals in eight of their 82 games. They gave up two or fewer goals 41 times.

The Panthers won the Stanley Cup and the Red Wings missed the playoffs for the eighth consecutive season.

Red Wings General Manager Steve Yzerman said he was looking to upgrade all positions. However, he was clear that the team’s top priority is cutting down on their goals-against next season. He said everyone needed to embrace the mission, including the coaching staff

“We need to be better in all aspects of keeping the puck out of our net. Not just our goalies. But with our D corps. Our forwards as well,” Yzerman said.

Reducing the Red Wings GAA

While Yzerman appreciated how hard the Red Wings worked down the stretch to stay in the playoff race with come-from-behind and dramatic wins, he also understood the team was undermined by lack of consistency in defensive coverage.

The Red Wings ranked 24th in goals-against average, and the bottom 10 teams in that category all missed the playoffs.

Yzerman wants his team’s defensive coverage to be more predictable, more dependable, more simplistic, maybe even boring. Teams that follow that script usually have a better chance of making the playoffs.

“It’s incumbent upon our coaching staff to instill or improve, continue to work on, whether it’s a different system or getting better in how we play and improving our players in the system,” Yzerman said. “It’s practice, practice, practice for me and get it over with.”

This certainly isn’t a new approach. Also teams are probably talking more about blocking shots and denying shots more in recent years.

“Goals against is a challenge around the league,” Yzerman said. “It’s more of an offensive league. You’re seeing it in the scoring totals of the top players around the league. Goals-against averages for goaltenders is (up). It’s a difficult league to defend in right now. For whatever reason it’s become more offensive, and that’s entertaining and exciting, but the best teams in the league are probably somewhere in the top in goals against and defensive play, whether it’s the traditional stats or the underlying numbers. So collectively as a team we have to get better, that’s the No. 1 thing, ”

Edvinsson Era Begins

The blue line group will be different. Six-foot-six Simon Edvinsson should play regularly, maybe in the top four. He is working on bulking up this summer in anticipation of an NHL promotion.

One surprise for fans may be that Justin Holl is still with the team and could play an expanded role this season as one of just three right-shot defensemen on the team. The Red Wings could have bought him out, but Yzerman knows Holl can play a shutdown roll. He could help.

The Red Wings couldn’t re-sign Shayne Gostisbehere, and that will undoubtedly hurt the team’s power play. Yzerman brought in Erik Gustafsson to take some of Gostisbehere’s point-man minutes. But Gostisbehere’s absence could help the Red Wings reduce their goals-against. Gostisbehere is a risk-taker and he isn’t as focused on the defensive side puck as he is when he has the puck.

Also look for rookie Albert Johansson to receive a chance to play this season. The read on Johansson is that he can be a steady performer, a player who understands that his primary mission is to prevent the other team from scoring. If he can avoid too many rookie mistakes, he could be the kind of young defenseman coach Derek Lalonde wants to see arrive at his doorstep. First, Johansson will have to beat out William Lagesson for the No. 8 spot.

To qualify the playoffs, the Red Wings, who gave up 273 goals, may have trim that total to 250. Moritz Seider’s continual improvement will be a key part of that hope.  Obviously, a big season from one of their four NHL-experienced goalies (Ville Husso, Cam Talbot, Alex Lyon and Jack Campbell) could make that mission easier.

“Maybe we’ll win some some games with lower scoring and not have these wild comebacks and we also might not have some of these wild losses where we were leading.” Yzerman said. ” I think it’s going to be different ultimately.”