It’s safe to say that overall, the Detroit Red Wings are performing very well at the one-quarter mark of the regular season. It wouldn’t be out of the question to say this group is exceeding expectations to this point, but let’s not forget there is a lot of hockey left to be played.
Of course, this is a different team, a different head coach, and a different year. If you recall, a season ago, with Jeff Blashill behind the bench, Detroit endured a plethora of injuries early on in the season and performed reasonably well until December. December is when the wheels fell off.
The Detroit Red Wings currently sit with an overall record of 11-6-5 through the first 22 games of the season, good for fourth in the Atlantic Division. General Manager Steve Yzerman spend the summer crafting the perfect combination of youth, prospects, and veteran free-agent additions to advance the team’s lengthy rebuild in the right direction. This is the first year Detroit made a real effort to improve the on-ice product through free agency and trade.
Brian Sevald-USA TODAY Sports
The theory this offseason was that if Yzerman could add a few proven pieces to the group that remained intact, the offense and power-play would improve, and the existing players, such as Dylan Larkin, Tyler Bertuzzi, Jakub Vrana, Michael Rasmussen, and Lucas Raymond, would also improve.
The lack of secondary scoring had been the Achilles heel of this franchise over the past few seasons. The additions of David Perron, Andrew Copp, and Dominik Kubalik have solved the issue. Remember, some of these players we all expected to perform very well this year; others are performing better than expected.