Red Wings Third Pair Needs Immediate Changes

Oh boy. Fortunately, between Seider and Edvinsson playing really well on both ends and Chiarot pitching in defensively, the mistakes of the blue line were compensated for. I’m not going to focus on Sandin-Pellikka even though he had a really rough night. No, instead, I think it’s time to talk about the Red Wings third pair and just how much they’ve been struggling as of late.

Game score, Corsi for, and just about whatever other stat you can find will tell you Detroit’s third pair has seriously struggled these past few games. Tonight against the Maple Leafs, Johansson and Bernard-Docker both really struggled.

Eye Test:

Bernard-Docker had by far the worst turnover of the night to Nick Robertson in the second period. The puck was fully stripped off his stick before Robertson came down for a breakaway. But beyond that, the pair was out there against the Matthew Knies power play goal, which left Knies wide open.

Generally, there were times Bernard-Docker would miss a pass that led to an avoidable icing, and their shifts felt longer (and, correctly, felt as you’ll see later) than their contemporaries. The line is often on the ice with Detroit’s best players, Larkin and Raymond, but they still end up stuck in their own end for almost the entire shift. The eye test isn’t pretty, but the advanced stats certainly aren’t either.

Advanced Stats:

The world of advanced stats is messy and often taken out of context, but for Bernard-Docker and Johansson, almost none of them are favorable. Truthfully, after the Maple Leafs game, the stat card didn’t look terrible. But, there was still a lot to be unhappy with.

The stat card had both of them as positive this game, largely because they were on the ice for the Mason Appleton goal that tied the game in the third period. Albert Johansson even recorded an assist on the play, which made his box score look good enough to let him off the hook a little. But again, context matters, and in this game, a secondary assist doesn’t really make up for the rest of what they were doing.

Johansson and Bernard-Docker get hemmed in a lot as a third pair; their average shift time in the Toronto game was 43 and 50 seconds, respectively. That on its own isn’t too bad, but the standard deviation of their shifts were the highest on the team, 25 and 22 seconds. Meaning that their shifts fluctuated more than anyone else. As a third pair, short shifts wouldn’t be a surprise. The problem is they’re getting hemmed in, leading to that deviation growing.

It’s not like Seider used to be, though. The two of them have some of the softest deployments on the team. On the season as a whole, they’ve been struggling in fairly easy deployment. Despite facing the easiest minutes and the easiest competition, the bottom three Red Wings defencemen in Corsi for the team are Bernard-Docker, Hamonic, and then Johansson. As for goals for percentage, Johansson and Hamonic are at the bottom, and Sandin-Pellikka is the only thing separating Bernard-Docker from being at the bottom again.

What’s the Move?

Well, I don’t think it’s internal. Truthfully, all the numbers I’m critiquing Bernard-Docker for are actually worse from Hamonic. Johansson doesn’t even have a direct replacement unless you consider Gustafsson. Unless you’re comfortable trying Wallinder in that role, I think you have to see it through with these guys or make a trade. Max Bultman mentioned Justin Faulk, I think that they should look for Oleksiak but journalists seem to agree a trade is needed.

Detroit is in first in the Atlantic, but the race is tight. Getting a trade early to help the depth of this team can go a long way in giving this team some points.

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