Detroit Red Wings: How Fleeting Is our Exultation?

When it comes to winning and losing, you are either the hunted or the hunters. For a winning organization, feeling heady as predators, winning three games in a row is hardly a win streak. It is just another day at the office. But when you are the hunted, winning one game brings exultation. Winning three games might be the closest thing you get to Stanley Cup euphoria all season long for the Detroit Red Wings.

We had hoped for better this year, but after soaring briefly, things quickly took a steep nosedive. The Detroit Red Wings ended last year with a slight flourish and began this year winning three of four. We fanned the glowing embers with logic like how close teams are now in the very competitive NHL, how Stanley Cup Champion was in last place at the midpoint of last year. But that was fool’s gold.

Since early hope, fortunes fell off a cliff, losing 12 of 13 by what felt like an average score of 5-1. We played a good period, failed to sustain offensive pressure, missed defensive coverage or failed to clear net-front bodies, then gave up a goal, and our thin-rostered fragile confidence crumbled.

We were not without positives, but they were few. Filip Hronek doesn’t look like the same player he was last year at this time but in a really good way. He is playing sound defense with a snarl while developing his offensive prowess. Dylan Larkin has the motor and mettle of a true leader, even if he has been frustrated and not produced at the rate of last year.

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Tyler Bertuzzi is our most steady offensive player, baiting his opponents into dumb penalties, his exuberance nullifying his turnovers. Anthony Mantha becomes more dangerous since last year’s end but remains streaky. Honorable mention for Luke Glendening’s early-season valor and Danny DeKeyser stepping up.

The bad news ran deeper. Temporary rentals playing lots of minutes–Frans Nielsen, Valtteri Filppula, and Trevor Daley–are past prime and petering out, with two goals between them. Other invisible men include Madison Bowey, Adam Erne, Taro Hirose, and Brendon Perlini, scarcely two goals among them. Andreas Athanasiou was injured early and dithered afterward a league-worst minus 21. Our young defensemen are inexperienced and our veterans toothless. Fans fumed over why they refused to clear the slot in front of the net and let opponents chip away at our goalies.

Goaltending hasn’t exactly carried the team. Can porous Jimmy Howard reinvent himself one more time? We had hoped Jonathan Bernier would settle down after adjusting to his new team. Not so far. Their save percentage is sub-90% and their goal against average swells to a chubby three-plus.

Stick with the process, insists Jeff Blashill, whom I admire for his never-say-die-keeping-of-faith. Ken Holland dodged fan wrath by moving to a better team with a chance to win. Steve Yzerman’s sermon is about the virtue of patience. Jeff Blashill remains, having to cobble together not-ready-for-prime-time-players with those past prime while avoiding kicks and screams of impatient fans.

Then there was Robby Fabbri, Yzerman’s third in-season acquisition. With a name like a teen- matinee idol, Fabbri caused his sensation early. On his first two shots as a Red Wing, he rifled quick-release snapshots from the slot in a manner we have not seen on this lowest-scoring team in the NHL. Suddenly, the team took a deep cleansing inhale and exhale breath, as the Detroit Red Wings have played better—far from perfect–hockey without key pieces like DeKeyser and Glendening.

With deep roots, Detroit Red Wings fandom is an open desert, needing only a wet sprinkle for new colorful, landscape-altering blossoms to show. Bernier recovers his confidence. Team defense grows more cohesive. Scoring depth suddenly appears, including defense. Athanasiou chips in. A Mantha last-minute goal and a team comeback against Anaheim surfaces glee. A barren stretch yields promise.

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We hope it is not just a mirage in the desert. We hope this current landscape can sustain more life.

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