Hockeytown is hurting.
The Detroit Red Wings have been moribund at home. They are listless offensively. The Arizona Coyotes came into the Joe Louis Arena and pummeled them 4-1. Playoff hopes are precarious. And their power play is more of an advantage to their opponent.
The mainstream media has taken note, as Sportsnet’s Dimtri Filipovic has a lengthy write up on how the Red Wings’ inevitable downfall in a parity based league was coming. 25 straight years of making the playoffs, including 11 of those seasons being in a salary cap era is unbelievably impressive. But over the last five seasons, the Red Wings have only made it out of the first round once, losing by an eyelash to the eventual champion Chicago Blackhawks in seven games–after blowing a 3-1 series lead.
Already through the midway point of December, the Red Wings hardly appear to be a playoff bound team. Should their current streak of poor play continue, it has to be a message to general Ken Holland and company that a true rebuild must be embraced. The “rebuild on the fly” strategy Holland has embraced no longer looks feasible.
Reading the tea leaves, however, the Wings don’t act like a team looking to change strategies. The fear in Detroit by many is that the Wings could hang around and make another puzzling trade for a washed up veteran to try and get them over the hump. Deals for David Legwand and Erik Cole were damaging since they lost prospects and neither had any impact on the playoff push. Damien Cox wrote at length about this as well, wondering why the brass is so hesitant to build a stronger future when right now, the team is a few matches short of a tire fire.