The Detroit Red Wings have managed to avoid what should have been a disastrous start to their season considering the offseason headlines nipping at the team’s heels. The Red Wings have for the most part been able to answer the bell, weathering the dark clouds of Dylan Larkin’s trade request and the absence of Simon Edvinsson still hanging over the franchise as October draws to a close.

Making things work

There’s been a considerable amount of change in the Red Wings lineup, due in part to those storylines, and in other cases, because the players are making their own. Emmitt Finnie and Michael Brandsegg-Nygard have been able to bring a considerable amount of youthful punch to the team’s forward corps, and look to be perhaps more important factors in the team’s future than many had considered, even with high expectations going into the year.

The Red Wings are seeing steady improvements from around the roster, and while patience for the team’s rebuild has long run out, the fruits of the Yzerplan’s labor are finally beginning to drop, even without the architect behind it pulling the strings.

Instead, the team has had to rely on itself. As the month has gone on, Detroit has seemed to find its footing despite a slow start in Hockeytown. After losing four of their first five games, the Red Wings have clawed back to a 5-4-3 record, with two games left to play in October.

“The structure that we’re playing with, we’re seeing improvements day after day. It’s becoming- less thought about and more just applied, which is good.” Said head coach Todd McLellan.

McLellan changed some of the team’s operating structures in the offseason, and it looks like his team is liking the adjustments.

Recipes

For Detroit, success is still only just being found in razor thin margins. Detroit has scored a game-tying goal in the final two minutes of regulation a league-leading three games so far this season. Three of the Red Wings’ four wins have been decided by one goal. On the flip side, three of their losses have been decided by a margin of 2+ goals.

The Red Wings have for the most part been able to keep games tight, but when things unravel, the Red Wings don’t have many answers. In games where the Red Wings are trailing after two periods, they have a record of 1-4-2 on the year, and have lost as many 1-goal games in overtime as they’ve won.

“I think obviously a couple games and you’re out of the playoffs pretty fast. A couple wins in a row and you’re right back in it,” Mo Seider said, “I think we just kind of get some traction. Obviously don’t want to be in those games all season long, those tight ones, and hopefully come up with big points.”

In a Red Wings season where the franchise seems set to lose their former captain, and, worst case, a top pairing defenseman as well, Hockeytown can use all the wins they can get.