3 Red Wings Catching Fire With New Coach

Change doesn’t always have to be bad.

Often, the change is better for everyone involved—case in point, the Detroit Red Wings.

Since Todd McLellan took over as head coach, things have changed. The Red Wings have the fifth-best record since Christmas for a few good reasons.

The biggest reason is the offense waking up. Since the coaching change, the Red Wings have averaged 3.8 goals per game, which is third-best in the NHL behind the Washington Capitals and St. Louis Blues.

Three players have led the charge in this area, propelling the offense in a way that hasn’t been seen in Detroit for a while. These are the three players who are catching fire with the new coach.

Patrick Kane

Things weren’t looking terribly good for Patrick Kane. For a while, it was beginning to look like he had lost too much of his step.

But now a new coach has revitalized him.

Kane has scored seven points in the five games since the change, four of them on the power play. He has averaged 16:48 per game and fired 13 shots on goal.

Additionally, he had six shot attempts blocked, while three attempts missed the net entirely. With his point totals for the year up to 21 in 34 total games, he’s on pace for a respectable 51 points.

Moritz Seider

Moritz Seider is an absolute force for the Red Wings. He is a monster on the defensive side of the puck and became notorious for his reverse hits during his rookie season. His complete game is rounding into form.

Offensively, he’s kicked it up a notch under McLellan. He has six points in five games, four of which have come with the man advantage. Seider has accumulated 14 blocked shots and thrown 12 hits.

The young German defender has played 24:50 per game since Christmas. He’s also been a major factor on special teams. Seider has averaged 3:25 on the powerplay and 2:31 on the penalty kill.

He’s done this while being a hair short of 19 even-strength minutes per game.

The Red Wings’ star defender is on pace to match his rookie point totals while averaging two more minutes per game than he did then.

Dylan Larkin

Dylan Larkin looks like a whole new player out there. He’s been on fire with seven points in five games.

Yes, four of those points have come while on the powerplay, but Larkin has thrown caution to the wind. He’s firing everything at the net, including the kitchen sink.

In the Red Wings’ first 34 games of the season, Larkin averaged 2.44 shots on goal per game. Since the coaching change, he’s been averaging 5.00 shots on goal.

He’s had eight shot attempts blocked and has had seven missed shots.

Despite picking up the slack, Larkin has more work to do. He has 33 points in 39 games this year, putting him on pace for 69 points. This would be wonderful for most of the team to accomplish. But this would be a disappointment after three consecutive seasons of 30+ goals and at (or around) a point-per-game pace.

Whether this is just the new coach bump or a real change is yet to be determined. But, clearly, this change in the organization has benefitted the team immensely.

These three players are living proof.

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