Detroit Red Wings Get Elite Bump After Being Told To 'Play F------ Hockey'

Will Todd McLellan’s Detroit Red Wings deliver playoff hockey to Little Caesars Arena for the first time ever this spring? After stringing together a seven-game winning streak over the last 15 days, that looks like a very real possibility.

In the NHL, we’re accustomed to seeing a fresh voice deliver better results after an in-season coaching change. But McLellan’s .875 points percentage in eight games with his new squad is in a class of its own.

A veteran of more than 1,150 games coached with the San Jose Sharks, Edmonton Oilers and Los Angeles Kings, McLellan seems to have sparked his team perfectly at his very first practice after the Red Wings dropped a 5-2 decision to the Toronto Maple Leafs in his debut.

“Play f—ing hockey. You've done it your whole lives,” he implored his new players. And they did. They haven’t lost since.

How They've Done It

Here’s how some of Detroit’s team stats compare before and after the coaching change:

• Record before: 13-17-4; after 7-1-0

• Goals-for per game before: 2.56; after 4.13

• Goals against per game before: 3.26; after 2.75

• Power play before: 22.5 percent; after 50.0 percent

• Penalty killing before: 68.8 percent; after 70.6 percent

• Shots per game: 25.1; after 27.0

• Shots against per game before: 30.1; after 25.5

• Faceoff percentage before: 50.4 percent; after 55.9 percent

From Natural Stat Trick:

• Expected goals share at 5-on-5 before: 45.44 percent; after 47.95 percent

• Shots per game at 5-on-5 before: 19.3; after 19.25

• Shooting percentage at 5-on-5 before: 8.22 percent; after 10.39 percent

• Team save percentage at 5-on-5 before: .921; after .906

The biggest surge is on offense, especially on the power play. At 5-on-5, Detroit is generating about the same number of shots but also scoring more due to a higher shooting percentage.

While the Red Wings' team save percentage at 5-on-5 has dropped, they’re allowing half a goal less per game, with fewer shots allowed. All that offense has been good defense, putting less of a strain on the goaltenders.

Detroit’s faceoff percentage has also spiked to the highest in the league since the Christmas break.

Related: The NHL’s Jack Adams Contenders Halfway Through the 2024-25 Season

Who Has Stepped Up?

Five skaters have produced at a point-per-game or better since McLellan took over, and all five have six points or more on the power play.

Patrick Kane and Lucas Raymond lead the way with 13 points each, followed by Dylan Larkin and Alex DeBrincat at 11 and Moritz Seider with eight.

Larkin is also leading all players who have taken more than 100 faceoffs since the Christmas break, with a win rate of 61.2 percent over 134 draws. J.T. Compher is holding his own at 50.4 percent of 121 draws, and Andrew Copp is chipping in at 57.5 percent on 73 draws.

In net, Alex Lyon had been the main man since McLellan's arrival, with a .931 save percentage and 1.64 goals-against average. But after he suffered an upper-body injury in the first period against the Ottawa Senators a week ago, Cam Talbot has carried the torch admirably.

Lyon is listed as day-to-day. Surely the team would love to have him back before testing its mettle on a tough three-in-four road stretch this weekend — facing the Florida Panthers on Thursday, the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday and the Dallas Stars on Sunday.

Related: Red Wings' Patrick Kane Has A U.S. Record On The Radar After Reaching 1,300 NHL Points

Is The New-Coach Bump Sustainable?

Detroit’s players seem to have benefited from a boost in confidence. And a player like Kane certainly has past experience riding a hot stretch. Remember the Chicago Blackhawks’ historic 24-game season-opening point streak in the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season, which they rode all the way to a Stanley Cup?

Doubters point to the fact the Red Wings have been winning through a team-friendly stretch of the schedule. Six of their eight games have been on home ice, and they've only beaten three playoff teams during the streak — Washington, Winnipeg and Columbus.

Detroit has also been pretty healthy. Other than Lyon, the only regular who has missed time is defenseman Jeff Petry, who has been sidelined for the last four games.

The Road Ahead

Although the wild card is now tantalizingly close, the standings are jammed in the East. Like last season, the race will come down to the wire, with teams like Columbus and Montreal in the mix as well as Ottawa, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and perhaps even the New York Rangers.

As usual, there will be plenty of head-to-head matchups between those teams in the second half of the season.

Even though the Red Wings have given away just one point in their last seven games, it may prove to be important. It went to the Senators in a 3-2 overtime win in the game where Lyon was injured.

Right now, the Sens are one point ahead of Detroit in the wild-card race, with the same number of games played.

Ottawa beat Detroit 2-1 in regulation on Dec. 5. They'll face each other two more times in March.

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