What is wrong with the Red Wings’ special teams play? I have never seen a powerplay as anemic as this one and the penalty kill is even worse. The Wings are clipping along at a sterling rate of 14% on the powerplay, ranking them 26th in the league. They are only killing 72.2% of their shorthanded situations also putting them 26th in the league. These stats more than any other are responsible for the lack of success the Wings are experiencing. What can be done to change this situation? Heck, I don’t know I’m not a hockey coach I just like to blast them when they mess up but I have a few ideas.
The retirements of Captain and powerplay quarterback Nicklas Lidstrom and Tomas Holmstrom are apparently bigger deals then everybody thought. Wings fans knew that there would be a drop off in powerplay efficiency with Nick and Homer gone but no one had an idea it would be this bad. The loss of the heart of the team as well as one of the best quarterbacks in NHL history would be hard for any team to deal with, if you add the best, in front of the net player, in league history it makes it nearly impossible to maintain powerplay efficiency. The Wings need to replace that body in front of the net and find a new quarterback as quickly as possible. Who can play those parts? I think the best choices to take over Holmstrom’s spot are Johan Franzen and Dan Cleary. Franzen has been playing the role so far this season with Cleary filling in on the second unit. I believe having The Mule in front of the net is a waste of talent, not to say that screening goalies and deflecting pucks doesn’t take talent , but Franzen is too good of a natural scorer to have him doing that. I know he has a big frame and is tough but I just don’t think he is suited to the job. I think Cleary is a better choice, he has a good nose for the net, the instinct to see those rebounds sitting on the doorstep and he is one tough customer who won’t shy away from the action in front of the crease. I also have a few other ideas for that spot. Todd Bertuzzi, Justin Abdelkader and Jordin Tootoo would all be great filling the Holmstrom role. Bert was a scorer early in his career but now I think he could be perfect for this role. He is the biggest and heaviest forward on the team and has shown over the last three seasons that he is willing to take whatever a defense can dish out in the quest to score a goal. Because he is so big it will be hard for defenders to move him from in front of the net and that could lead to even more penalties. I think Tootoo could be especially good at it, he knows how to take punishment, he is a little fireplug of a guy, in the model of the “Little Ball of Hate” Pat Verbeek, and he played the role occasionally for the Predators in the early part of his career. Abdelkader is also a solidly built smaller guy and I think he has the guts to stand in front of the net and be pummeled by defensemen and peppered by pucks. Another advantage to Abdelkader is his speed and his shot. He is faster than Bertuzzi, Franzen, Cleary and Tootoo and can score in a breakaway situation which was always a minus with Homer.
The powerplay quarterback role is the key to the whole thing, they don’t refer to them as quarterbacks for nothing. A good quarterback runs the powerplay and distributes the puck and can responsible for a lot of the powerplay scoring. Lidstrom was one of the best in league history and will be hard to replace but that is just what the Wings need to do. Kronwall is currently filling that role but I think he is ill-suited to do it. He is a hard hitting stay at home defensemen that makes the other team think twice about crossing the blue line. In putting him as the quarterback, Mike Babcock has taken all the fire out of Kroner’s game. This season I haven’t seen one of the highlight reel hits he has become famous for and I think that’s because of the “A” he wears on his sweater and his new role as the powerplay quarterback. He is trying to act like an alternate captain and stay out of the box and out of trouble but that is what made his game great. So who do I think should be back there on the powerplay? That is a really hard question and we might not have a choice. All of the other defensemen on the roster have scored a combined 21 powerplay goals while Kronwall has scored 22. If Kronwall is going to change his game and become the new but paler version of Lidstrom Then the Wings also need to find another rear guard to fill the role Kronwall used to play. Jonathon Ericsson could fill the roll, last season he was only a few hits behind Kronwall and he is bigger and heavier then Kroner. Rookie Brian Lashoff could also fill the role. He is playing with the big club because of injuries and when players start getting healthy he could be looking for a new role to stay in Detroit. Currently he is the leading hitter for defensemen and I think this could be his ticket to stay in the NHL.
The penalty kill is another area of great concern, with teams scoring on 27.7% of their powerplays it puts a real damper on the Wings both offensively and defensively. A bad penalty kill makes everybody play a little more careful and leads to more scoring chances for the opposition. The Wings have given up at a PP goal per game in the last seven games. The PK hasn’t been this bad since 2008/2009 season when it was 78.6% but since then it has been on the decline. In 2009 it was 83.9% in 2010 it was 82.3% and last year it was 81.8%. What could the cause of this decline be? The retirements of Lidstrom, Chris Chelios, Darren McCarty, Kris Draper and Kirk Maltby all factor into that decline. All those players are gone and they aren’t coming back so the Wings need to make it work with the players they have today. So, what needs to be done to bring the penalty kill back up to snuff? The Wings need to work harder for the pucks in the corners, do a better job of clearing out forwards from in front of the net and at the same time they need to come out and challenge the players at the points. Their passing in the defensive zone has not been very good and is leading to a lot of turn overs when the puck should be cleared. This means the PK units are staying out there longer and that causes mistakes and sloppy play. The players are aware of their lack of success on the penalty kill and that means their pressing to clear the puck. When players press they are more likely to fail and it becomes and vicious circle. The Wings just need to relax and play their system. It is a proven winner and if the players just follow the game plan then the PK will take of itself. Whatever the players and coaches decided on something needs to change fast because without solid special teams play teams will just run roughshod over the Wings. They will hack and whack with impunity because they know the Detroit powerplay can’t score and if they don’t improve the penalty kill it will restrict the freedom the players have to take chances and shutdown the opposition. If these areas do not improve then this could be the first time in 20 years the Wings don’t make the playoffs.
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