The habits the Detroit Red Wings begin embracing this week will pave the way to the regular season, which begins as the last seven have: With the hope of making it back to the playoffs.
It's been eight years since the club advanced, and as challenging as the rebuild has been, the 2024-25 squad embarks on training camp in Traverse City against the expectations created when the 2023-24 squad chased a playoff spot all the way till Game 82.
"I want to see progress," general manager Steve Yzerman said this week. "I want to see progress in our team as a whole and progress in all the areas we’ve always talked about. And progress individually from our younger players. As long as we’re moving in the right direction, I think it’s positive.
"Making the playoffs would be another positive step. I’ll worry about that as the season goes along and we’ll see how much progress we’re making."
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There'll be a renewed emphasis on being harder to play against – last season, the Wings were in the top 10 in goals-per-game at 3.35, but were in the bottom 10 in goals-allowed per game, at 3.33 (they allowed 32.4 shots per game, also in the bottom 10).
"We need to be a better defensive hockey club, top to bottom," Yzerman said. "Our special teams have to be good. Our special teams both improved last season and we scored more goals. We gave up too many to make the playoffs. But you have to be solid in those areas. You can get by maybe not having the best power play, but you better be solid in all the other areas. You can get by not having the best penalty killing unit, but you better be solid in other areas."
The Wings don't project to be as big of a scoring threat, not with the off-season departures of David Perron (17 goals), Daniel Sprong and Robby Fabbri (18 goals each), and Shayne Gostisbehere (team-leading 29 power play points). But former 40-goal scorer Vladimir Tarasenko joins the lineup, and Patrick Kane will be in from the start, and Jonatan Berggren is the candidate most likely to audition for Sprong's old role on the fourth line/power play.
But even if they can make up for the scoring lost, last season showed it's not enough when the play lacks in their own end.
"The key is ultimately I think for long term success to be a good defensive hockey team," Yzerman said. "We are going to need to score goals - we’ve lost David Perron, Daniel Sprong and Robby Fabbri, simply couldn’t afford to keep all three of them. We like to think Vlad Tarasenko offsets one of those losses. We think Jonatan Berggren can offset another of those losses. Are those goals made up by potentially one of our young players making the team, or Patrick Kane for an entire season? Improved play from Lucas [Raymond]? Dylan Larkin hopefully healthy for 82 games - what not. Collectively if the goals we lost, if we can make up for them as a group.
"But being solid in all areas, that makes you a pretty good team."
Contact Helene St. James at hstjames@freepress.com . Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames . Read more on the Detroit Red Wings and sign up for our Red Wings newsletter . Her latest book, “The Franchise: Detroit Red Wings : A Curated History of the Red Wings,” will be available October 2024. Her books, “On the Clock: Behind the Scenes with the Detroit Red Wings at the NHL Draft,” and “The Big 50: The Men and Moments that made the Detroit Red Wings” are available from Amazon , Barnes & Noble and Triumph Books. Personalized copies available via her e-mail.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Steve Yzerman on Detroit Red Wings: Making playoffs would be another positive step
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