Detroit Hockey Insider has no direct affiliation to the Detroit Red Wings, NHL or NHLPA
Red Wings' Todd McLellan's latest statement could come with concern from fans
Photo credit: NHL.com
Head Coach Todd McLellan issued a statement that should concern fans with the Detroit Red Wings' latest four-game slump.
The Original Six The Detroit Red Wings had a better idea of how their Centennial Season would begin.
Initially, as one of the hottest teams in the Atlantic Division, the mighty team has fallen into a slump, losing its last four games.
The Detroit Red Wings have an identity issue
Since then, they've found themselves in the fourth spot in their own division and struggling to regain ground lost in the past.
It might be difficult to do so, especially when Todd McLellan believes they're still searching for an identity .
Which is concerning, considering he's the one who's been tasked with building it from the start. Is he failing to hold his Red Wings group accountable? Or could it even be on Steve Yzerman for not bringing in enough personality throughout his very few offseason acquisitions?
At 4-4-2 in their last ten, something has to change. Perhaps forge a new identity, which Mortiz Seider thought they should lean into.
Head Coach McLellan isn't seeing it:
"I think we're more on the second part, still trying to look for it," McLellan said about Detroit's search for an identity. "Earlier in the year, I talked about identity and pace, and I do think we can be a quick, fast team that can get on top of people, both offensively and defensively."
"Some nights we really bring it, and some nights, we really struggle with it," he continued. "But the rest of our game will come from that. Can we defend better? Certainly we can, but we can do it faster and quicker. I think anytime a coach or media people talk about pace, they always just think on the offensive side, the attack point. We can be that defensively as well."
"Some nights we really bring it, and some nights, we really struggle with it," he continued. "But the rest of our game will come from that. Can we defend better? Certainly we can, but we can do it faster and quicker. I think anytime a coach or media people talk about pace, they always just think on the offensive side, the attack point. We can be that defensively as well."
It's obvious that the team doesn't have a legitimate blueline to take them far this postseason, with a -13 goal differential in the NHL this season.
And despite their ability to create offense, their lack of blueline support is what has been a pain point for the team. It appears McLellan's stern messages haven't worked either.
"We create a lot of chances, but we don't quite score on enough of them," he said. "But we give up enough that we're getting scored on them, and that's why we're not winning. We gotta fix it."
The team needs to be difficult to play against, and not just on paper. As it stands now, the team is giving up 3.39 goals per game, while scoring 2.88 goals per game.
There's one place to start the identity building.
TRENDING NOW
