Red Wings First Half Grades And Outlook
By Joe Chapp
The Detroit Red Wings barely squeaked into the playoffs the last two years, so many picked them to miss the playoffs for the first time since 1991.
Detroit goes into the All Star break ranked 2nd in Atlantic, 3rd in Eastern Conference and 5th in the NHL.
Offense:
Coming into 2014, the question was, what would the offense look like? I don’t think anyone expected Detroit to be 7th in the NHL, but that’s where the Detroit Red Wings rank in 2014.
Leading the Red Wings in Goals is Tomas Tatar with 21 goals, he’s been explosive and often times he’s been clutch Tatar is 2nd in the league in the NHL with game winning goals.
The Red Wings other source of offense has been captain Henrik Zetterberg, Zetterberg ranks 13th in the NFL in points and is the Wings leader in points and assists.
Defense:
The Wings defense is the most surprising the development of Danny DeKeyser has been intriguing and Ericsson and Kronwall have been top notch this year.
However the Wings badly need to explore the trade market for a right handed defenseman to help them in the playoffs.
Red Wings rank 6th in Goals against, In shots against Detroit ranks 4th and 6th in penalty kill.
Goaltending:
Detroit has been great in goaltending, the loss of Jimmy Howard seemed hard however Petr Mrazek has been doing just fine.
Howard ranked 4th in GAA, that’s outstanding considering the year he had last year.
The Wings strength is goaltending this year, they rank 6th in the NHL in goals against and it’s been a collective effort by Mrazek and Howard to be where they’re at this point.
Outlook:
Detroit’s schedule going forward in February is tough mainly with the majority of the games, Detroit will play will be on the road.
Detroit’s 2nd half is going to depend on health like with most NHL teams, Red Wings have been really healthy for the most part however they have had more secondary scoring than in most years.
The Wings have been having a lot of success this season, it’s been really surprising how well they have been doing, but don’t expect Mike Babcock to say the same.
"We’ve been good til’ this moment, however we got more games to play. A lot of season left."
The Wings biggest needs coming to the trade deadline mainly a right handed shot on defense, but Red Wings play by play’s Ken Kal doesn’t believe Detroit will be active in trades, March 2nd.
"They’re happy with where they are at this point, but if a trade comes along. Maybe."
Ken Kal is right the Red Wings are happy where they’re at right now. I think right now they’re Stanley Cup contenders they have played great to this point.
Would you break up, what’s really working?
Offensive MVP:
Henrik Zetterberg – “Z” as the fans call him has been unbelievable, he’s been the capitalist of the Red Wings offense and not to be over looked he’s a huge leader in the Red Wings locker room.
Defensive MVP:
Danny DeKeyser – It seems he’s got much better defensively and he’s starting to become more involved on offense. He’s great moving the puck and he makes all the plays you expect out of a defenseman in the NHL.