"It's amazing what it can do," said Derek Lalonde, "when you add a couple more sticks to your lineup."
The Red Wins have added several. Not just sniper Alex DeBrincat, who has five goals in his first four games with Detroit, but forwards J.T. Compher, who has four points through four games, and Daniel Sprong, who has a pair of goals, and defensemen Shayne Gostisbehere, who has four points in his first four games, and Jeff Petry, who has a pair of assists. It also feels like they've added Andrew Copp all over again, this time for real, with Copp more than a year removed from the core muscle surgery that limited him for most of last season.
After signing a five year, $28 million deal with Detroit, Copp had three goals through his first 41 games with his new team. He has three goals through four games this season after scoring twice in the Red Wings' 6-3 win over the Penguins Wednesday night. He was also denied on a penalty shot, which he had earned by beating Kris Letang to a loose puck in the neutral zone with the Wings on the penalty kill.
"Even the play that led to the penalty shot, I think you saw some explosion and speed," said Copp. "If I tried to do that last year I would have been out six to eight weeks. It changes your whole mindset when you’re able to push and push instead of playing to survive."
The Red Wings know what that's like. They strained to keep their heads above water last season before drowning after a sell-off at the deadline. This year, they look equipped to make a move up the standings. It doesn't mean it will happen, but the Wings appear to have the pieces for the first time in a long time to legitimately push for a playoff spot. The whole might be greater than the sum of its parts.
They aren't just 3-1 through four games, with wins over playoff-caliber rivals in the Lightning and Penguins. The Red Wings, the lowest-scoring team in the NHL over their seven-year playoff drought and over Steve Yzerman's four-year tenure as GM, are the highest scoring team thus far (tied with the Hurricanes and Senators). Most notably, they're 6-for-13 on the power play, best in the NHL. They've had the NHL's worst power play over their seven-year drought.
The power play goal they scored Wednesday was a beauty, the puck moving from Moritz Seider to Gostisbehere on the half wall, back to Seider on the point, down low to DeBrincat, one-touch to Dylan Larkin in the slot for a one-timer that led to a tap-in rebound for David Perron, fast hands all over the ice. As DeBrincat said, "Just moving it quick. We have so many options, so many shooting threats that it's hard for them to cover all of them."
When was the last time we could honestly say that about the Red Wings? No, seriously. Was it the last time they made the playoffs, in 2015-16, when Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg and Mike Green were on the roster? That was also the last time the Red Wings had a power play that ranked among the top 15 teams in the NHL.
If they make moves this season, the Wings will be fueled by thier depth. They still lack the star-power of some of their Eastern Conference foes, including the one they saw Wednesday night. Detroit has nothing that compares to Crosby, Malkin, Karlsson, Letang. But it got contributions up and down the lineup, including an unexpected goal from Ben Chiarot, and some big saves from Ville Husso in the third period. Husso's ability to elevate his game -- and sustain it -- likely determines the ceiling for this team.
The Red Wings had an encouraging start to last season, thanks in large part to Husso. They faded when he began to tire under the heaviest workload of his career. They also may have fooled themselves, or at least their fans, by beating a lot of bad teams in the early going. Eight of Detroit's wins in its 11-5-4 start came against teams that would miss the playoffs, four of whom would finish among the bottom five teams in the NHL. Wins over the Lightning and Penguins -- and a strong showing against the Devils in the opener -- carry a little more weight.
"No disrespect to what we started with last year, but some of those wins early on ended up being high-draft-pick teams," said Lalonde. "Obviously this year is a little different, some of the teams we’ve played early. It's so early, but it just feels like a continuation from a really productive camp."
The Red Wings already have goals this season from 12 different players. The five for DeBrincat, who has two 40-goal seasons on his resume, you might have heard, are second most in the NHL to Auston Matthews, who has five 40-goal seasons on his resume. They've come easy so far for DeBrincat, and he's the first to admit that. Aside from a power play missile on Opening Night, he's cashed in on a couple tap-ins, a flukey bounce shot and an empty-netter. Then again, if it were so easy, everyone would score 40 goals.
DeBrincat's first one Wednesday, on a perfect back-door pass from Austin Czarnik on the rush, "seems like a simple goal," said Lalonde, "but he just gets to spots. He’s a finisher. He’s a goal-scorer. But the way he transports pucks, the way he can play on entries and on the rush has been really good. Goal-scorers are going to go through hot streaks and he’s on one right now."
So are the Wings. They still need to tighten up defensively, to avoid a crash when their scoring levels out. (They're not going to average 4.75 goals per game for the season.) And Husso will have to play more like the goalie we saw Wednesday, and then probably even better. But their reliance on depth is working so far. When the Penguins took the lead on a goal by Malkin on the first shift of the game, Copp said the Wings had a "quiet confidence" on their bench "that over the course of 60 minutes we were going to crawl ourselves back into the game and ultimately get the win."
"The top line has been scoring for us, J.T. and Rass and myself have put a few away and then you look at two of the better shooters on our team, Sprongy’s had a couple so far and DP got one on the power play," said Copp. "And the backend’s been jumping up into the play, Benny with a big goal tonight.
"It just feels like a goal could come from any line at any point and I think that gives you some confidence, even more to play the right way because (you know that) if you don’t give up much, we’re going to find our chances with the group that we have."
Copp, now a 10-year vet who's been a part of five playoff-teams, feels the Red Wings developing a "swagger." It stems from belief in themselves. They can give up an early goal to a loaded team like the Penguins, or surrender an early lead to a juggernaut like the Lightning, and look down their bench and like their odds of getting back in the game. And again, when was the last time the Red Wings could say that?
"We don’t want to say too much," said Copp. "We want to have that quiet air about us, just go in and do our business and know that at any point we can win the game. That swagger comes from when you walk into a game, all 82, saying, 'We’re going to win tonight.' You get that feeling in the room and during the game. We’re not there yet. We kind of want to keep that quiet to ourselves, because the loud ones usually end up not winning."
So allow DeBrincat to say it more quietly: "I think we have a lot of good depth here. Every line can score and you’ve seen that."