Derek Lalonde arrived in Detroit with a simple aim for the Red Wings, and a 'simple ask' of his players: defend as a group. He's pleased with their progress toward the end of his first season as head coach.
"We’re a much better team," Lalonde said before Tuesday's game in Montreal. Indeed, they surpassed last season's point total with eight games still to play. "I think we’re a better team defensively."
For the most part, the numbers bear out his point. Lalonde pointed himself to shots against, goals against and goal differential, three areas where the Wings have made a jump from last season. They've gone from 28th in the NHL in shots against per game to 11th (30.6), from 31st in goals against per game to 21st (3.28) and from 29th in goal differential to 24th (negative-26).
Part of that owes to a better roster, for sure. Steve Yzerman brought in several veterans in free agency last summer, including top-four defensemen in Olli Maatta and Ben Chiarot. Improvement was expected. It also owes to internal growth on the part of players like Dylan Larkin, who's having a career season. But Lalonde and his staff deserve some credit for instilling in the Red Wings a commitment, as coaches like to say, to "playing the right way."
As a young team continues to grow, that should pay dividends in seasons to come.
"If you watch us of late, and for the most part throughout the year, I think we do a good job of not turning pucks over, of staying above (the play), take a lot of pride in not giving up easy offense, those type of odd-man (rushes)," said Lalonde. "Those are habits, no matter what your team looks like, that you can build on. It's still a work in progress. We’ve shown holes throughout our team game. But for the most part, we’ve had some good buy-in in those areas."
The Red Wings have also been much better on special teams this season. Which, again, was expected based on the upgrades that arrived last summer.
Their power play has gone from 26th in the NHL to 17th (21.2 percent), and their penalty kill has jumped from last to 18th (78.5 percent.) That's probably the biggest reason for their overall improvement, because at even strength, the numbers say the Wings are the same team they were last season.
They rank 26th in five-on-five expected goals share at 46 percent, compared to 27th last year at 46.3 percent. And they rank 28th in their share of five-on-five scoring chances at 44.2 percent, compared to 30th last year at 44.9 percent.
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It's been a challenging season personally for Lalonde, who was put in charge of a rebuilding team after chasing (and winning) Stanley Cups for five seasons with the Lightning. He briefly had the Wings pursuing an improbable playoff spot, before a stumble ahead of the trade deadline led to another sell-off that saw the departures of Tyler Bertuzzi and Filip Hronek, among others.
"I have no problem admitting that this has been extremely difficult," Lalonde said. "We didn’t expect not to be here, but the way we were trending pre-deadline, we had won seven of eight, we were above the playoff line and we had games in hand. I mean, we were in such a good position."
It all came crashing down over two games in Ottawa, and then reality hit home at the deadline. Lalonde has spent most of the past month coaching in low-stakes NHL games for the first time in his career, which he said has "been very difficult because as a coach, we want it now." But he's also proud of the way his team has responded with recent wins over the Penguins, Maple Leafs and Hurricanes, all playoff teams in the East.
The Red Wings will miss the playoffs for the seventh straight season, tying a franchise-worst drought. Whether they can snap that skid next season is hard to say. They're in a loaded division that's only getting deeper. As Yzerman said at the deadline and Lalonde echoed on Tuesday, the Wings' competition isn't so much the Lightning, Bruins and Maple Leafs, but the Sabres, Senators and Canadiens. And Buffalo and Ottawa, Yzerman admitted, are ahead of Detroit.
Asked where he sees the Red Wings next season, Lalonde said, "It’s going to be a fresh start."
"Our goalie coach said it perfectly the other day: this year we started on the goal line on day 1, next year I think we’ll be at the 50-yard line. For me, it made sense," said Lalonde, a big football fan. "Again, I think we’re a long ways to go. We’re still a product of our division. It’s one thing to have Boston, Toronto and Tampa in your division, but what Buffalo, Ottawa, even Montreal are doing in their rebuilds and where their talent is, it’s just teams that have drafted higher and more than us of late. We have work to do."
The Sabres made top-10 picks in 10 straight drafts from 2013-22, and twice picked first overall. They have cornerstones in Rasmus Dahlin, Dylan Cozens and Owen Power and a superstar in Tage Thompson, acquired via trade. The Senators made three top-five picks from 2018-20, netting franchise players in Brady Tkachuk, Tim Stutzle and Jake Sanderson. They also traded for a star last offseason in Alex DeBrincat.
The Red Wings, thanks to a lack of lottery luck, have the most losses in the NHL over the last seven seasons and not a single top-three draft pick to show for it. Their average top pick over this span has come outside the top six.
But that's not for Lalonde to worry about. His charge is coaching the players he's given and improving the team he's got, one game, one month, one season at a time. If that continues, the Red Wings will eventually like where they stand.
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