There’s a longtime hockey saying about apathetic players that is as pertinent today as ever: "If they went into the corner with eggs in their pockets, none of them would be broken.”
It describes the Red Wings perfectly. The beer leaguers at Eddie Edgar play as if they care more.
If the Red Wings were rocks instead of a hockey team, they’d be a collection of pumice floating aimlessly on the Detroit River.
Sure, it’s very early. Absolutely, the Red Wings have faced some of the NHL’s finest teams. But it’s one thing to lose, another to capitulate.
A mouse shows more fight while being devoured by a leopard on the National Geographic Channel than the Red Wings in their first four games.
Detroit has a win. It was 3-0 over Nashville, which, despite a slow start, figures to be a genuine Stanley Cup championship contender.
The Red Wings were outshot 42-22 in that game. Goalie Cam Talbot was brilliant. Problem is, he switched the famed winged wheel crest on his sweater to a picture of a spaghetti strainer. He was quickly pulled during a disgusting 5-2 surrender to the Rangers Thursday.
The Red Wings have a collective 5-on-5 Corsi of less than 43 percent. Only Montreal’s is worse. The Red Wings' penalty kill is 30th, their power play 25th. It’s not one thing, but everything.
Dylan Larkin, Lucas Raymond, Alex DeBrincat and Moritz Seider are getting big-boy money, and have played like fat cats finding endless open cans of tuna and belching.
If you have watched the Red Wings and wondered where Patrick Kane is, he actually has been playing. You just haven’t noticed because he hardly touches the puck. He has a 36.6 Corsi. How is that even possible?
You can go on and on about this. J.T. Compher, Michael Rasmussen, Joe Veleno and Andrew Copp are all being compensated nicely only to violate the faith that GM Steve Yzerman put in them. As for Jeff Petry, Ben Chariot, Ollie Maatta and Justin Holl, otherwise known as, apparently, $13.55 million thrown down the drain under the guise of garnering a “veteran” defense corps, ah, that’s on Yzerman.
Yeah. The Red Wings reacted by calling up Marco Kasper. Hopefully it will mean more than pouring a can of 5 Hour Energy in the mouth of a corpse.
Perhaps, though, it will be a reminder that the season’s here, so wake up. There are 78 games left. This will soon be forgotten if the Red Wings just win a few games.
But let’s face it. The Eastern Conference is brutally difficult and the Red Wings can’t allow this malaise to last.
Obviously coach Derek Lalonde’s seat is hotter than the downside of a Delmonico over an open fire.
But who wants to hear a bunch of players bemoaning how bad they feel when their coach is fired. Can hear it now, “We let him down…’’
How about just stop doing that, and show some pride, especially for Red Wings’ fans, who deserve so much better.