Red Wings "in the Work Phase" as They Prepare to Host Ottawa

DETROIT—The Red Wings entered their practice this morning having won a season-best four games on the hop, so you might presume the mood would be one of contentment or perhaps even levity.  Instead, Todd McLellan drilled his team through another intensive practice, not quite an hour long, his booming voice again ringing out with areas where he insists on improvement, even as the days have grown much brighter since his arrival.

At one point, McLellan cut a drill short and demanded a restart, expressing displeasure at wayward passes.  Later, he pointed out a lack of tipped and deflected goals, beseeching his forwards to change that.  "Keep the gates closed!" he called during one live drill, frustrated at some cavalier changes from players in between reps.

A coaching change is supposed to correspond to a bump in performance, and that's what Detroit is enjoying right now: the four-game win streak bringing new life, as captain Dylan Larkin put it after the Red Wings' latest win, 4–2 in Winnipeg Saturday evening.  However, that boost has a shelf life, and Detroit aspires for more substantial improvement, not just a dead cat bounce, in the 43 games left in the regular season.  "It's not gonna go perfect all the time. It's gonna turn back at some point, and we've got to be prepared for that," pointed out goaltender Alex Lyon after today's skate. 

McLellan himself likened the purported new coach bump to a marriage, saying, "When you get home from the honeymoon, and the real world kicks in, and it becomes work every day. We're probably in that phase now. We're in the work phase, where we have to trust that the map or the path we're laying out for the players is the right one. We have to trust that they're willing to accept some of the guidance we're giving them."

Vladimir Tarasenko offered a similar message, pointing to newfound energy following the change but also a need for further growth.  "The feeling in the locker room changed," he told The Hockey News.  "We've started playing more aggressive in the games. There's some things we need to adjust, but overall, trying to play...an aggressive style of play, always pursue the puck, play better in the D zone. We've played well lately, but there's a lot of room for improvement."

When asked about the identity of his team and the "faster, harder, smarter" mantra he has used since arriving in Detroit, McLellan re-emphasized that his team remains in the process of self-discovery.

"The short term sell to them is 'faster, harder, smarter,' but within the structure and play free and all the catch phrases I've maybe used, what is our true identity? What will be when we're done?" he asked, rhetorically.  "I think for me, I still need more time to answer that fairly. I believe there's pace in our game when we're playing properly. I think there's a skill factor that exists in our game. I think that we are a little bit, even within games, we're up-and-down, a little bit roller coaster–like. We're high, and we're low, so we're a little inconsistent with play, so we'd like to become a consistent team. But that's not our true identity. I was telling ya some of our characteristics, and I'd like to re-address that question a little later on when I know the group a bit better. For as much as what we want to dictate what the identity is, and we'll try, they'll probably dictate it with how they play and the parts of the game they really grab."

That makes for an interesting balance between short-term results and long-term overhaul.  Clearly, the early days of McLellan's tenure have brought desirable short-term results, and with that success comes new obstacles.

For most of the season, Detroit's challenge has been resilience, finding a way to bounce back from results that broke bad. As McLellan pointed out today, tomorrow night's game against the Ottawa Senators will demand something different: "The test will be 'How do we respond to some, not adversity, some feel good time now?' Are we prepared to build on it? Are we prepared just to sit on it? Are we gonna give it back? One of those three things is gonna happen, and I'd like to think the build part will show up, but until we take the test, we don't know."

With a win tomorrow night, the Red Wings can pull to within two points of a playoff spot in the jumble that is the Eastern Conference wild card race (presently five points separate nine teams vying for two playoff spots).  The number of teams to leapfrog remains the bigger impediment to Detroit's playoff aspirations than the points in the standings.  With a win tomorrow night, though, those aspirations would feel realer than they have at any point in the 2024-25 season, and that in itself would be a small victory.

Lineup Notes

Finally, McLellan provided an injury update heading into tomorrow night.  Both Justin Holl and Jeff Petry did not participate in today's practice.  Per McLellan, Petry, who also missed Saturday's game in Winnipeg, will be out Tuesday night against the Sens, and there is not yet a timetable for his return.  Holl, meanwhile, missed practice due to a personal family matter and is expected to play tomorrow night.

Here's how Detroit lined up at practice, without Petry and Holl:

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