The Detroit Red Wings open the 2019-20 season on Oct. 5 in Nashville. Here are five keys to their success.
Team defense
The Wings allowed an average of 3.32 goals-against per game last season, fifth-worst in the NHL. Valtteri Filppula and Patrik Nemeth were added via free agency to help ameliorate this area of concern. The Wings don’t have the offensive firepower to out-chance opponents and need to have an approach of defense-first.
Health
There were 285 man games lost last season, with top-four defensemen Mike Green (39), Trevor Daley (38), and Danny DeKeyser (30) all missing significant time.