EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsAll the Detroit Red Wings wanted was puck drop on a new season.It was the only way.The only way to -- finally -- turn the page on a tumultuous offseason of gossipy headlines that deposited Detroit under an unwelcome (and unrelenting) spotlight. There was captain Dylan Larkin's trade request in June, Steve Yzerman abruptly stepping down as general manager in July, key restricted free agent Simon Edvinsson remaining unsigned and no new front office leader in place until the announcement of interim general manager Shawn Horcoff just two days before training camp opened in late September.The Red Wings -- fresh off missing the playoffs for a tenth straight year in 2025-26 -- limped their way into another preseason anyway. Larkin, stripped of the team's captaincy, was there but soon injured. Edvinsson, still without a contract, came to town as well (before going home to Sweden on the heels of his own trade request). It felt as though the drama was reaching a fever pitch faster than Detroit could get to that first real game, where the team's play -- and not some media machine -- could do the talking.Promise. Hope. Belief. The Red Wings had it all just hours away from their first real outing. The slate would be clean, the energy refreshed."It's us against the rest of the world," defenseman Moritz Seider said. "That's something we've learned pretty fast; with how much noise there is around this team. I think there are plenty of reasons to be anxious or nervous. But it's like, even if we didn't know who the [full-time] GM was at the start of camp, like, what changes? Nothing, really, because he's not the one who's setting the standard, who's setting the tone on the ice, and he's definitely not going to go out there and help us to win games."We have everything in place to be a good hockey team, and it just comes down to each and every one of us to be the best version of ourselves. We have really come together as a group and feel we were just more excited than anything."Seider and his teammates echoed similar allegiances of brotherhood and held tightly to them heading into player introductions before Game 1 of 84 was underway. But the assembled crowd at Little Caesars Arena didn't bring its rose-colored glasses (a plain-clothed Larkin receiving resounding boos during his pregame recognition? Foreshadowing!) because even before the team's coming display, the franchise's faithful was already despondent.Because not getting a deal done with Edvinsson and having Larkin's situation unresolved weren't their only grievances with Detroit's front office. The Red Wings' season began with Alex DeBrincat as a key pending unrestricted free agent in July, and the club had whiffed on a mid-September deadline to get DeBrincat locked in on a maximum eight-year extension before the league's new collective bargaining agreement makes seven years the longest a player can agree on. Management also didn't retain fan favorite veterans such as Patrick Kane -- who walked back to Chicago in free agency -- and then to have Larkin lingering and now even available to play, it could suddenly feel like death by a thousand cuts for the franchise.There was some good news coming. Detroit signed DeBrincat to a seven-year, $91 million deal Wednesday to help cushion the blow of its now 1-3-2 record -- but even that couldn't fully quell concerns over the Red Wings' tenuous prospects for the season.Then Detroit actually began to play. And the knife poked in a little deeper. The Red Wings were bad -- so bad that midway through the 2-0 shutout loss to New York in their home opener, choruses of "sell the team" echoed (on multiple occasions) from inside a building (established in 2017) that still hasn't hosted an NHL postseason game. And Detroit hadn't even fallen to Rangers' star goaltender Igor Shesterkin. Backup Dylan Garand shut the door.Game 2 of the year was another home loss (3-2 to Winnipeg). Detroit was 0-2 to start a season for the first time since 2015-16 (and then, at least, they'd been on the road). An injury to Marco Kasper (since placed on injured reserve with an upper-body injury) against the Jets loomed large. The Red Wings were fine at 5-on-5 but terrifically awful on special teams.Basically, it was going to be a long year in Detroit. Or so it seemed. But the Red Wings had miles to go before being truly counted out. Larkin would be back for their third game of the season. The kinship -- which had been a rallying cry for players repeatedly in the past -- was still intact. All Detroit needed was to ignore the mounting sense of crisis, clean up its early incompetence, win a few games and get on track toward what was supposed to be the year when it turned everything around against all odds.It was now or never all too soon for Detroit to put actions behind words. That remains -- like the Red Wings -- a work in progress as Detroit languishes already in the Atlantic basement with a 1-3-1 record. There will be no reprieve then for a group that has been taking it on the chin from detractors for months. The Red Wings have to show that true change is not only still possible but also probable.That has meant being realistic about what they are and aren't while uncovering an evolving identity. Whatever Detroit intends to become must be forged from less-than-ideal circumstances. The time, as ever, was nigh."I think we've done a pretty good job keeping the noise out of here," DeBrincat said. "I think we know what we can do. Maybe we deserve better in these games, a couple more bounces can go our way. But we have to work for it. It's not just going to come to us. We're not skilled enough to expect to go out there and score six goals. We have to be more crisp and bring that mentality a little bit higher. We'll be good. We're in the right spots, we're just not executing on the plays and we're not putting it in the net. We have plenty of chances to win these games."From his lips, to the hockey gods' ears.DETROIT NEEDED A VICTORY. In more ways than one.During NHL draft weekend in June, it was a shocking development when news leaked that Larkin had asked for a trade from the club that drafted him 15th overall in 2014. The team's top center, who has amassed 645 points in 811 career games with 30-plus goals in each of his last five seasons, has five years remaining on his eight-year, $69.6 million contract that includes a no-trade clause.Larkin originally said he wanted to land only in Vegas, Florida or Minnesota. However, he reportedly widened the net to include Dallas, Washington, Colorado and Tampa Bay, leaving Yzerman (and now Horcoff) with scant leverage to gain an adequate return on the team's star player. And so, Larkin remains a Red Wing -- albeit one without a letter -- and, as such, one of their best forwards. Having Larkin healthy after he suffered an upper-body injury working out in the gym was best for Detroit's prospects on the ice.Larkin was cleared to return for Detroit before the Red Wings faced Ottawa. He didn't miss a beat, scoring a goal in the first period and adding an assist on Viktor Arvidsson's power-play strike in the second period to help Detroit earn its 5-3 win that delivered a much-needed shot in the arm after its frustrating start.It meant something to have Larkin involved in a positive turn of events for the team. Granted, the cloud hanging over his unfulfilled ask isn't going to miraculously dissipate. But until it comes to fruition (or not), the Red Wings don't want to fracture internally. Larkin acknowledged during the preseason that, "I asked for a trade from the Detroit Red Wings as a captain and that has consequences" and expressed that, through his actions, he wanted to "build trust with my teammates again and with the fans."That is why he went out with the others during those poorly received player introductions before the season opener. Larkin had to expect his presence would spark some displeasure. But he went out there anyway. Coach Todd McLellan could sympathize with the heat Larkin took, knowing too it wasn't entirely undeserved or unexpected."Dylan, today, being a part of the team, he wanted to be out there for the ceremony," McLellan said after Detroit's first loss. "Dylan's explanation was, 'I don't want the rest of my teammates, the ones that aren't dressed, to not be out there,' so, we went out as a team. Obviously, he's got to live with the ramifications of asking for a trade. It's not comfortable for anybody. I feel bad for him, I do."Winning, though, is a salve. It has the power to reduce some friction. There is no doubt Detroit's lineup is strongest with Larkin in it, and his interactions with teammates (who have carefully toed the line with their own comments on his whole mess) remain characteristically jocular.It was a pleasant realization for McLellan that by the end of training camp, the Red Wings' room wasn't badly splintered after what had been said -- and not done -- all summer. Those individual bonds forged through the years seemingly remained -- and were perhaps tight enough to also see Detroit past some early-season adversity."With everything that's going on around our organization -- and there's been a lot -- just the unity of the players right now is fairly good," McLellan said ahead of the Red Wings' final preseason game. "I had some concern about that. Not that they were going to be torn apart, but just how they were going to deal with all of this stuff, and to this point, in the locker room, the practices, the intermingling that I do with the group, they're handling it fairly well, and I don't want to say that's a surprise, but that's good to see and hear. But we'll still have some rough water ahead of us, and we're going to have to deal with things."McLellan spoke with the weariness of a coach who has been there -- in the darkest depths of a freefall -- with his team. Maybe he is still a little haunted. Maybe he will be again.Detroit's bench boss saw his team squander its promise just last season, starting the campaign quite opposite this one. The Red Wings stormed off then with nine wins in their first 13 games and were primed to snap out of their playoff doldrums. When the league halted on Feb. 6 for its Olympic break, the Red Wings sat third in the Atlantic and seventh in the NHL with 72 points. But Detroit returned to the ice three weeks later and dropped straight off a cliff, cratering defensively and sputtering offensively, so that the woeful 8-12-4 record it produced through the final 24 games (good for 28th overall in that stretch) left it once again on the outside looking in.It was another lost season. Another missed opportunity. And the failure naturally played a part in Larkin -- now 30 years old and with only five postseason appearances to his credit from a long-ago rookie campaign -- antsy to move out of the Motor City. If Larkin was possibly feeling revitalized along with his teammates to secure that first victory of the season and put up a united front of sorts against the proverbial onslaught, the sentiment wouldn't last long.Detroit dropped its next game (a fourth straight home outing) to Seattle 6-3. Then the Red Wings finally got on the road to Montreal in their first back-to-back of the year, but found their luck unchanged in a 1-0 shootout loss.The Red Wings had plummeted to the Atlantic basement, sitting 29th in offense (averaging two goals per game) despite taking the third-most shots on net (32.8), and with a woeful 26th-ranked penalty kill (70%).If that weren't bad enough, Larkin was courting discord in La Belle Province as well. The game hadn't even started when fans serenaded their visitors with refrains of "we want Larkin" in a cheeky attempt to work the Canadiens onto Larkin's third draft of a trade list.This time, when asked about the Larkin circus, McLellan wasn't taking the bait."I'm sick and tired of talking about it," McLellan said after the game. "I'm not talking about it anymore, so I apologize."Larkin did his best to diffuse the situation but with a hodgepodge of comments that seemed to both welcome and reject the Bell Centre's special attention."It was interesting," Larkin said. "I never would have imagined that in this building and in my career. But they are passionate fans. In my opinion, it's the best atmosphere in hockey. They're knowledgeable and love their team. That's how I read into it...[but] I don't have any control over that tonight. I give the guys in here a lot of credit, we played hard tonight."Pressed further on whether he would want to play in Montreal, Larkin signaled his fidelity back to the Red Wings."I'm not going to go there," he said about considering other locales. "Because I'm on this team."IT WILL STAY that way until it doesn't. The problem for Detroit is that while McLellan did praise the Red Wings' "internal group" for "shielding each other and getting ready to play," it was impossible to deny that Larkin's ongoing presence wasn't doing some damage five games into the season with a 1-3-1 record."I'd be lying if I said everything going on wasn't a distraction," McLellan said. "But we have a responsibility to each other to focus on what we can control and that's what we do."There is that glaring piece of the puzzle -- the not winning bit -- that is a collective shortcoming, though. So it has to be a joint effort now too, in the present, not to let another year of potential upswing slip through their fingers too fast. There is only so much Detroit's players can manage themselves, anyway. On-ice performance is one thing. But to McLellan's point, so is cultivating the proper attitude in how they view the narrative and react to it.Seider's mission is to be on the right side of setting a positive tone in that respect."I want to be the guy who is coming to the rink with a good mood," he said. "I want to be making sure even our oldest or youngest guys feel comfortable, making sure everyone is in a good spot, everyone is heard. And then also still holding each other accountable to the highest standard possible. That's something I really want to look forward to. Be dialed in at practice, be good in the gym, and just lead by example. And if I can do that, I think I do my part to drive this team forward."Yzerman took some heat before abdicating his post as general manager for not doing more to bolster the Red Wings in free agency -- Arvidsson was the team's only major signee on a two-year, $10 million pact -- but there might be a silver lining to avoiding turnover. Arvidsson is decidedly low-maintenance, and Detroit has otherwise been able to focus on its entrenched core and rising stars, including Emmitt Finnie and rookie defenseman Anton Johansson.The latter was an unanticipated addition to the roster -- the only perk to Edvinsson's mismanagement leaving a lineup spot open -- who pushed his way onto the scene and right next to Justin Faulk on Detroit's second pairing. Detroit drafted Johansson 105th overall in 2022. McLellan had called Johansson the "surprise" of Detroit's preseason play, and Johansson made the most of his NHL debut against New York carrying the third-most minutes among Detroit's defenders (with 19:10).Johansson and Edvinsson aside, the Red Wings are running it back. That has made it easier on Detroit's incumbents to navigate the surrounding uncertainty because it's being done with actual friends. They've shared tough times together before; there is comfort in facing unfamiliarity as a unit now, too."It's really noticeable that guys were glued together this year; you could see it early on in training camp," Lucas Raymond said. "Guys were going hard. It was competitive. And I feel like that's the way you get tighter as a team. A lot of us have been in this for a long time with each other, which helps. The couple new guys that have come in have fit right in with our team too, both on and off the ice. So, it's still good vibes."And don't let it be said that Detroit has completely lost its edge. During its tilt with the Senators, it was Finnie, the talented forward coming off a 30-point rookie season and gamely transitioning from the wing to center, who recorded his first NHL fight with Ottawa defender Jordan Spence in the second period. Unfortunately, the fisticuffs took place while a few other battles were happening, and Finnie didn't get a penalty or official acknowledgement of his milestone. Still, it will be recorded on his personal fight card for posterity and reflected the mindset Finnie had about how to approach this season of unease."It's really just about knowing that, every day, you're going to war with some of your brothers," Finnie said. "It definitely makes an impact. It makes the energy stay high and good. This group feels very close, and that goes a long way for us in here."And it is possible that having already weathered their share of storms has taught the Red Wings some lessons to apply now in staying even-keeled about their current state. It just remains to be seen if Detroit's up-and-down opening to the NHL's extended slate was reflective of the upheaval having an effect, or if it was just a negative response to a shorter runway into the year from which Detroit is still capable of taking flight."It's going about our business, more than anything," DeBrincat said. "I think every year you try to block out the noise anyways, however it comes, and bond as a group early in training camp, and I feel like we did a good job of that so far. We've ignored a lot. We know what we can do. We have to stay confident, right? It's important for us to come together and stick up for each other in every way possible."THE RED WINGS ARE SAYING all the right things. About the camaraderie and the connection and apparently unshakeable union that exists within the four walls of their room.It has all been repeated before, too, when Detroit was sliding its way down the standings. The Red Wings' lack of results in a results-based business has been consistent with their pledges of ongoing fellowship.So what changes now? Setting aside the past and those decisions outside player jurisdiction, how will the Red Wings take themselves to the vaunted -- if clichd -- "next level" where we bear witness to the postseason contender they believe lurks beneath the surface of critical commentary?Well, how does one eat an elephant? With a single bite at a time."I think we just have to take it day by day," Seider said. "Honestly, as silly as it sounds, but there's such a great stretch here in the first few weeks, where we are at home a lot, where you can really grind out some big wins and hopefully get going in the right way. I think that this will be a great challenge for us, to not look too far ahead but just take it game by game and try to maximize on our advantages as much as we can."It is hard to say anything is out of reach after only a handful of games into an NHL campaign. The palpable sense of renewal coming off the Red Wings going into their season hasn't entirely worn off yet. DeBrincat was on to something. Detroit has to accept what it is and is not in order to do what Seider said, and it must capitalize on the things it can do well. Even if it is still figuring some of that out. Seider is also calling for accountability, and that's what Detroit has the power to accept now as well.Evolution is inevitable, if only the Red Wings can lean into it."Obviously everyone knows there's a lot of things that's been going on with this team and around this team," Raymond said. "But I think for us when we came in here, it was nice, when it was just the guys, coaches, everyone around our team, and you kind of just locked it down and started focusing on hockey. Which is what we all want to do. Guys have been excited. And I've got a good feeling about this year."
