The Red Wings are now 20 games into their season. Detroit is at the bottom of the Atlantic division sporting a 7-10-3 record and just 17 points in the standings. With the Red Wings now nearly a quarter of the way through their season, it seems like a good time for Two Truths and a Lie about the team as they bear down on the back half of November and the final month of the year.

Truth: Detroit Can’t Get Over the Hump

The Red Wings, on a micro level, are playing better than expected, so far this season. The team has one of the better GAA in the league at 3.0 GA/G, tied for 11th in the league. That’s thanks in large part to the team’s structural changes to a 1-3-1 grouping on ice that’s helped the team’s overall defense in games.

That’s helped to keep Detroit close in a lot of games so far this year.

However, the team is 3-7 over their last ten games.

The Red Wings went from just under a .500 record and two games out of the middle of the pack to dead last in the division in the span of two weeks. It’s been said over and over again that this team has a small margin of error for victory.

Unfortunately, in November the Red Wings have been finding ways to increase their errors, and haven’t been able to find ways to win games like they were to start the year.

Truth: Stalemates need to end sooner rather than later

Since this is a column not usually beholden to the rules of Associated Press, allow me to say; I am just as tired of writing about Dylan Larkin and Simon Edvinsson’s situation and the sometimes conflicting information about the lack of progress as you are of hearing about the lack of progress.

It has become clear that the Red Wings need to resolve both situations before Dec. 1. The longer both situations go on, the more difficult it makes future negotiations in Detroit as players both on the team and around the NHL watch what has become a bitter spectacle.

The Red Wings need more, on-ice, than they are getting from the roster they are fielding. Detroit’s blueline is relying on Mo Seider playing 25+ minutes a night with two rookie defenseman in the lineup, who are admittedly playing above expectations.

At this point, if the bridge is burned with Edvinsson, it is burned and is a generational mismanagement of the situation.

The Red Wings cannot, however, let him go for nothing if he does not sign before Dec. 1, and his value is not likely to rise by not playing in the NHL this year.

As for Larkin, the Red Wings are averaging 2.58 goals per game this season, and are 5-2-3 with him in the lineup, and 2-8 without him in the lineup. The Red Wings had eight total goals for the first five games of November, five of which have come from their top six.

Trading Larkin should net the Red Wings the pieces to at least hit double digits wins on the season before the end of the month.

Lie: Time to call (all) the Griffins up

While the Red Wings are off to what can at best be described as a middling start to the year, the Grand Rapids Griffins are once again top of the American Hockey League. Longtime Griffins forward and Michigan native Dominik Shine (10 assists, 8 assists) and rookie Carter Bear (5 goals, 13 assists) lead the AHL in the points race with 18 each. Finnish rookie Jesse Kiiskinen isn’t far behind with 14 points (6 goals, 8 assists) in 15 games, nor is Dylan James with 12 points (5 goals, 7 assists).

However, as much as fans would love to see those prospects in a Red Wings uniform right now, the fact of the matter is that there’s a reason they aren’t.

The Red Wings would be doing more harm than good by limiting their minutes, and opportunities with the puck by burying them in the bottom six. Look at how Michael Brandsegg-Nygård has done this year as compared to last year. Last year, Brandsegg-Nygård had one point in 14 games with the Red Wings. They sent him down to the Griffins and put him on their top line where he accumulated 44 points in 60 regular season games.

This year, the Norwegian winger has brought a physical presence to Detroit’s top six and has 10 points in 20 games, while leading the NHL’s rookies (and the Red Wings) in hits. Detroit needs to let their prospects find their game without putting the pressure of the NHL on them too early.

That does not, however, apply to Michal Postava, who the Red Wings should bring up for more opportunities in net at the top level.