Red Wings' late-season slide raising uncomfortable questions

AtlanticBruinsCanadiensLightningMaple LeafsPanthersRed WingsSabresSenatorsMetropolitanBlue JacketsCapitalsDevilsFlyersHurricanesIslandersPenguinsRangersCentralAvalancheBlackhawksBluesJetsMammothPredatorsStarsWildPacificCanucksDucksFlamesGolden KnightsKingsKrakenOilersSharksScores & ScheduleStandingsPodcastsFantasyNHL OddsNHL PicksPlayoff projectionsNHL Draft rankingRed Light NewsletterNHL Regular The Red Wings again lost a must-win game against a beatable team, a trend that raises questions about their future. Bruce Bennett / Getty Images Share full article3The Detroit Red Wings’ late-season roller coaster ride continues, and nobody is having any fun. Saturday was another steep drop, with the Red Wings losing a 4-1 game to the Eastern Conference’s last-place New York Rangers. It was the type of game Detroit could not afford to lose, and the kind they have lost all too often over the last five weeks. Whether you watched or not, you can guess the nuts and bolts: not enough offense — and not enough of anything else, either — as Detroit lost any momentum gained from a victory in Philadelphia two days prior. That has been the trend for the Red Wings in so-called must-win games lately, especially following games where they have found ways to win. They’ve won consecutive games just once since Jan. 22, when they first stepped on this late-season ride that has proven to feature far more downs than ups. In that sense, maybe it’s more of a slide than a roller coaster. When a team loses five out of its last seven, and 16 out of 25 games at a crucial time of year, it usually spells doom. And in the end, it might for the Red Wings, who sure seem to be limping to the finish line both physically and mentally. But in this Eastern Conference wild-card race, where everyone was winning right up until they all started losing, Detroit remains in a tie for the final playoff spot after 76 games. The Ottawa Senators lost by an identical 4-1 score Saturday, keeping the cut line right where it was, at 88 points. The Columbus Blue Jackets will play their 77th game Saturday night, and could pull ahead in that race with a win — but that would still leave the rest of the field with a game in hand to make it right back up. That should be a fortunate state of affairs for the Red Wings. But it’s been happening for more than a week now, and they continue to fail to take advantage of it. Detroit’s late-season story has been defined by missed opportunities — both in terms of the beatable opponents the Red Wings have lost to (none worse than the Rangers) and inside of games too, as Detroit carries a league-worst 7.3 shooting percentage at five-on-five since Feb. 1. We didn’t learn that on Saturday. It’s been slowly but surely revealing itself over the final third of the season, and now it’s damn near irrefutable. The Red Wings have a problem here, whether they get into the postseason or not. The injuries the Red Wings have suffered, and in many cases continue playing through, are obviously a part of what has happened over the last month. But take a closer look at the Saturday stat sheet. Dylan Larkin, Detroit’s captain who is so visibly hobbled on the ice, led the team with seven shots on goal. David Perron, a bottom-six piece who himself came back early from injury after being acquired at the trade deadline, had five, including the team’s lone goal. Only one other Red Wing (Marco Kasper, who played just 10 minutes) had more than two. Give a pass to Alex DeBrincat, who has carried Detroit offensively down the stretch, including in Philadelphia, and perhaps to a couple of other forwards thought to be playing through pain. But the overarching question remains: where is the punch in the rest of this forward group? As of Saturday afternoon, the Red Wings’ 2.46 goals per game since Jan. 23 ranks 31st in the league, ahead of only Chicago. That speaks to a deeper roster construction problem, seven years into Steve Yzerman’s general manager tenure. And if an injured captain fighting through pain to tie his season-high in shots doesn’t spark enough pulse elsewhere on the bench, that seems to hint at a different kind of problem, too. These are offseason questions, mind you, more for the month of May than for right now. But game by game, they’re revealing themselves in real time. Whatever decisions the Red Wings make this summer, the rationale behind them will be heavily influenced by what’s playing out in this all-important stretch of hockey. And in fairness, that stretch is not over yet. The Red Wings could still get in the playoffs, avoiding taking the torch for the NHL’s longest drought from the Buffalo Sabres, who punched their ticket with Detroit’s loss Saturday. But spend a moment and consider: what would have to happen the rest of the way for management, ownership, or anyone else to “unsee” what has taken place since the Olympic break? Or even dating back to late January, when an injury to defenseman Simon Edvinsson sent the Red Wings skidding into the break. Would a 6-0 regular-season finish do it? That would give the Red Wings 100 points. Is getting into the playoffs, by any means, enough to wash away the rest of it? Perhaps it is as simple as getting in and snapping the drought. Certainly, there is some level of success that would do the trick. But right now, it’s hard to imagine Detroit actually finding that level, after it has so thoroughly eluded the Red Wings for weeks now. As a result, that slide now feels destined to spark a summer of uncomfortable questions. What exactly happened to derail a fourth-straight season in crunch time? Is it really as simple as the injuries? If not, where do the Red Wings go from here? Who should get what say in deciding that direction? It’s not the way this season once looked to be headed. And there’s still a real, albeit shrinking, chance the Red Wings can bail themselves out from the worst of it, with one final late push. But it’s getting harder to see that big push materializing. And that raises the most questions of all. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Max Bultman has covered the Red Wings for The Athletic since 2018. He previously was a general assignment writer in Detroit and is a 2017 graduate of the University of Michigan. Follow Max on Twitter @m_bultman