Detroit Red Wings Defense Key to Early Success

The 2025-26 season is the first full season for the Red Wings with McLellan as head coach. McLellan was hired by the Red Wings after Derek Lalonde was fired by the team after Christmas of 2024. Lalonde was the head coach of the Red Wings for three seasons. The Red Wings nearly made the Stanley Cup playoffs after the 2023-24 season when they were eliminated from contention on the final day of the season. What is behind the Red Wings’ improvement in the first full season under McLellan?

One reason for the improvement from the Red Wings so far this season is their penalty kill. Arguably, there was nowhere to go but up for the Red Wings’ penalty kill after the 2024-25 season. This may be due to the Red Wings’ defensemen pairings being flipped. So far this season, the Red Wings have killed off 87.2% of their penalties, versus killing off 70.1% of their penalties last season. This 87.2% ranks fifth-best penalty kill in the NHL. Two Red Wings’ defensemen who have played well as of late are Moritz Seider and Simon Edvinsson.

“I’ve noticed that all of those guys, whether it’s Simon as a young player or Benny as the senior guy back there, everybody seems to be helping Axe move on from a bad shift and get a pat from a good shift,” McLellan said. “So he has a real good support system.” The added benefit of moving veteran Ben Chiarot to the second pair with rookie Axel Sandin-Pellikka is that ASP can lean on the experience of Chiarot, who has played 13 seasons in the NHL.

Edvinsson joined the Red Wings full-time last season, playing in 78 games. The Red Wings drafted Edvinsson with the sixth overall pick in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft to be paired on the Red Wings’ blueline with Seider. Seider has echoed these sentiments in the past, saying, “I think it could be a pretty cool D pair for the Red Wings.” Edvinsson leads the Red Wings with 34 blocked shots, and Seider is second on the team in hits with 29.

The Red Wings will return home from their West Coast trip to play the New York Rangers on Friday night. The Rangers have struggled at home this season, losing to the Carolina Hurricanes by a score of 3-0. This led captain J.T. Miller to voice his displeasure. “We liked our game the first two periods,” Miller said, via SNY. “But more of the same, not scoring on our looks, then they outplay us in the third, we were whacking the puck around and didn’t execute in that third period.” The Rangers have lost five straight games at home, which is the longest home losing streak in franchise history.