As they entered the NHL All-Star break, the Detroit Red Wings odds of achieving a 26th successive NHL playoff appearance seemed extremely unlikely, and a big reason for their failures is a power play that’s proven powerless to help.
With just 18 goals on 162 man-advantage opportunities, the Wings are not only the worst power play in the NHL at 11.1 percent, they are on pace to be the worst power play in the history of the franchise.
Detroit’s 18 power-play goals through 49 games this season has the Red Wings on pace for 31 power-play goals. That would the fewest they’ve scored in the past 52 seasons, including the two lockout-shortened 48-game seasons in 1994-95 and 2012-13.
A power play that was third in the NHL at 26.6 percent and led the league with 41 power-play goals as recently as 2014-15, many of the parts of that successful equation remain with the club, which leaves coach Jeff Blashill baffled as to their continuing struggles during man-advantage situations.
“One thing that we have I think is that we have lots of guys that are power play guys, and have been on the power play and have done a good job on the power play,… Blashill said. “We’ve got probably more good power-play players than we can use, and I know that sounds weird when the power play has been bad but that’s the reality of it.
“We’ve got (Riley) Sheahan, we’ve got (Darren) Helm that were both on the unit two years ago when it was one of the best of the league. We’ve got (Tomas) Jurco who was on the unit when it was one of the best in the league, we’ve got AA (Andreas Athanasiou).
“So we’ve got other guys available to us.…
And yet, they stumble on without any hope of a light at the end of the tunnel. Dylan Larkin and Thomas Vanek share the team lead in power-play goals with three apiece, which leaves them tied for 80th overall in the NHL.
Detroit’s worst season in the last 52 was 1976-77, when they scored 37 power-play goals for a percentage of 12.59. They were an NHL-worst 16-55-9 record that season and Dennis Polonich led the Wings with six power-play goals.
The 1982-83 Wings also scored 37 power-play goals but their percentage was 13.81.
Not Fine With Fine Boston Bruins forward Brad Marchand was fined $10,000 by the NHL for his slew foot on Detroit defenseman Niklas Kronwall during Tuesday’s game but taking into account Kronwall’s chronic knee issues and Marchand’s penchant for playing within the grey areas of the game, hasn’t the league opened up a can of worms by not suspending Marchand?
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