This One Main Group Of Players Are Holding The Red Wings Back
Photo credit: Detroit Free Press
The Detroit Red Wings have been plagued by problems with one main group of players on special teams, the penalty kill.
The Detroit Red Wings have an issue with the penalty kill. A special teams unit that consists of J.T. Compher, Tyler Motte, Ben Chiarot, and Moritz Seider.
While this unit alone doesn't have major star-power, the penalty kill seems like a fundamental skill players should develop through sound defensive practices.
But for the Red Wings this season, it's been a continual plague in the lineup.
The PK has given up seven power-play goals in their last games, which sounds like a structural issue in the play itself.
A structural issue that has given the Red Wings a back mark on an already questionable record this season.
The Red Wings' penalty kill percentage this season is 68.5%, only 2nd to the worst PK percentage held by the 1979-1980 Los Angeles Kings at 68.2%.
We're months removed from when Head Coach Todd McLellan told the Red Wings to:
«play f-king hockey, you've done it your whole lives.»
However, it seems that the buy-in to McLellan's system may take longer than expected.
He's turned the team around, but not well enough to put them on the path for a spot in the playoffs.
Still 6th in the Atlantic Division, with 72 points total, lapping the four teams in front of them in the East could be considered a Sisphyean endeavour at this point in the season.
The Red Wings and Head Coach Todd McLellan will have to reconfigure and find the best players for the penalty kill, because at the moment the 1st-penalty kill unit has underachieved.
How can they ever hope to achieve a legitimate playoff berth if the PK can't shut down the opposition?
| POLL | ||
MARS 28 | 154 ANSWERS This One Main Group Of Players Are Holding The Red Wings Back Do you think Head Coach Todd McLellan can improve the Detroit Red Wings' penalty kill? | ||
| Yes | 127 | 82.5 % |
| No | 27 | 17.5 % |
| List of polls | ||
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