What is driving Red Wings early season success?

The Detroit Red Wings are one of the league’s bigger surprises to start the season, as with their 12-7-1 record, they currently hold the top spot in the Atlantic Division as we reach the quarter-mark of the season. But Detroit’s had hot starts before, so what’s driving their success this season?

Steve Peters joined Daily Faceoff Live for the Film Room, where he talked about what has helped Detroit get to the top spot in the Atlantic thus far.

Steve Peters: When you look across the league, it’s the teams that have younger players that are succeeding. And with Detroit right now, it’s their veteran players. Dylan Larkin has been a guy right now that is leading this team and driving this team and willing this team to win. Debrincat’s got 21 points in 19 games. They’re that mix of young and old. With Raymond coming on, Seider coming on, this team has got that mix that they just seem to be clicking.

And let’s be honest, the Todd McClellan era has definitely begun here. In the first full season with him behind the bench, I think this team is playing with more accountability, and I think that this team is starting to play with more structure than they have in the past, and I think they’re coming. This is a team that I think was expecting to be in a playoff spot maybe a year ago. Now it’s starting to become a reality that this team has to push for a playoff spot this season.

Tyler Yaremchuk: Well, what’s interesting about them too is John Gibson hasn’t had the best start to his Red Wings career, and that’s probably putting it pretty nicely. Talbot’s been up and down, but even his save percentage is league average. The Red Wings have been getting results without getting high-end goaltending on a lot of nights. So I sit there and go: if the goaltending starts to come, they might have a legitimate case to hold on to the spot.

Steve Peters: Yeah, this is one of those teams that you look at their stat line, and you go, “they’re a little better statistically than they were a year ago.” But they’re getting wins. And you talked about their goals against right now, last year at this point, 20 games, they were at 3.33 goals against. Now they’re at 3.16. It’s virtually the same. They’re scoring a little bit more.

But this isn’t a team that’s like “hey, look at their stats”. When you look at Montreal and how much better they’re doing, Boston and how much better they’re doing than a year go. Detroit’s about the same, but they’re just getting those wins.

Again, we talk about that veteran leadership that’s helping them win those close games. This is a team that I don’t think they’re going to end up where they are now near the top of the standings in the Atlantic. But I do think this is a team that’s going to be fighting for a playoff spot in the Atlantic.

You can watch the full episode here…