It's been quite awhile since watching Red Wings' games has been so painful/boring. A prolonged slump (1-6-1) has taken a lot of the luster off of the way the team had been playing for much of the 2007-08 season and it's making some people get ready to reach for the panic button in terms of favoring some sort of trade as the deadline approaches.
Aside from the injury problems, which it seems like every team faces at one point or another during the season, the most concerning thing is that the team seems to have collectively lost its ability to score. Two 1-0 shutouts in the last three games? Yikes.
I'm not convinced that a trade is the right answer- but it does seem that the strategy other teams are now using against the Wings (punish/smash/hit them as hard as you can) has worked to perfection for the Wings' opponents. Collectively, the entire group seems to playing tentatively, like they are afraid to get hurt. Which of course is resulting in more injuries. Regaining your confidence is tough when you're playing scared.
Who do you get in a trade? As we saw last year with the Bertuzzi deal, these things are certainly not slam dunks. Do you risk messing things up, either now or in the future on a maybe? Or is it worth sticking with what you got and hoping that confidence can help the team pull itself out of this current funk? It'll be interesting to see what happens with Darren McCarty. Even if his skills aren't what they were, I'd guess that seeing number 25 back on the ice would fire up both the fans and many of the Wings' players.
On the bright side, the Wings are still in first place in the Central Division and maybe if they can work through this slump they'll be that much more ready for the playoffs when the type of thing they've been seeing from their opponents is status normal. Oh, and no one is talking about the Wings' setting a new standard for a regular season record anymore.
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