It didn’t take long for the Detroit Red Wings’ promising start to this season to derail. After winning three of their first four games, the Wings managed just three more victories over their next 15 contests.
As of Nov. 10, the Wings were struggling at both ends of the rink. They’re dead-last in goals-for per game (2.21), possess the worst penalty-killing percentage (68.3), and the second-worst goals-against per game (3.79).
It’s a far cry from the optimism that abounded following the club’s hire of their former Hall-of-Fame captain Steve Yzerman last April. Their recent slump drew comparisons to a pair of similar poor starts during the Wings’ grim years of the early-to-mid 1980s.