Four years ago Sunday, Henrik Zetterberg was officially named captain of the Detroit Red Wings, so what better day for the captain to issue a state of the team address?
With the Wings just past mid-season and the playoffs appearing as though they might be an event participated in only by other NHL teams, Zetterberg was quick to acknowledge that this season is proving to be his most difficult challenge as leader of the team.
“Yeah, definitely,” Zetterberg said. “I think we had some tough stretches at the end of the years but we always found a way to pull through and get to the postseason.
“Then I think the toughest thing has been one and done in the postseason and having just a quick exit in the playoffs. I think that’s been the hardest part.”
Detroit sits six points out of a playoff spot with 39 games left to play in the regular season, and the chances that the Wings will be done without getting that one opportunity to participate in the postseason, a fact of life this franchise hasn’t been forced to deal with since the 1989-90 season, become more realistic every day.
The players certainly recognize the urgency of the situation, so there’s no need for the captain to constantly remind them via any fire and brimstone speeches, though Zetterberg admitted he’s read the riot act to the team more this season than anytime in past seasons.
“Yeah, you can’t go and scream and yell every time someone does a mistake or we’re playing bad,” Zetterberg said. “You’ve got to pick your spots. I would say this year it’s been a few more spots than normal but I think we know how to play and we know what to do and we’ve just got to do it.
“That’s probably the message that all the veteran guys that’s been here for awhile try to get through. We won’t turn it around in a game but a game at a time, eventually you will get back up there. The easiest part now is that we don’t have that many games left, so you know that you have to start winning games. And if you’re decent at math, you know how many games we have to win to have a chance if you look at our previous years.”
Twice in the past three seasons, Detroit has qualified for a playoff spot with an Eastern Conference-low 93 points. Currently sitting with 42 points, based on those calculations, the Wings would need to acquire 51 of 78 points over their remaining 39 games to reach that number, a .653 winning percentage.
“It’s crunch time,” Zetterberg said. “We’ve been talking about that. We’ve had to turn this around for a long time but now we know how many games we have to win to have a chance to go through.”
The Wings are hopeful that Saturday’s 6-3 win over Pittsburgh will be the start of something big but based on their previous history of inconsistency this season, are being cautious in regards to their optimism.
“It was nice to see that we could come back from 2-0 (down),” Zetterberg said. “It was nice to see that we could score some goals, that the power play got one. But now we’ve got to do it again.
“We’ve seen the before that we’ve been playing well, and then we take two steps back the next game. Tomorrow is a huge game for us against a division team (Montreal), a good team, so we’ve just got to go out and play again. Just play the way we have to play, the way we want to play and the way we should play.
“If we do that and we lose, you can’t really do anything about that but if you go out and play the way we shouldn’t do and lose, that’s when you get mad.”
From a positive perspective, Zetterberg likes how the team is staying the course through their struggles. There’s been no back biting or criticism from within.
“The good thing is that I’ve felt we’ve all been in it together - players, coaching staff - so when you have that, when you play and you coach as a group, it’s a lot easier,” Zetterberg said.
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