Detroit Red Wings Battle Scoring Freeze and Absences Despite Dominant Shot Share

When St. Louis winger Jimmy Snuggerud wired home a third-period tiebreaker Tuesday night to hand the Detroit Red Wings a 3-2 road defeat — just three days after a 4-0 shutout loss in Colorado — the frustration along Todd McLellan's bench required zero translation. Detroit outworked stretches of both Western matchups, yet walked out of two buildings with zero standings points to slip to 7-9 and eighth place in the Atlantic Division.

Rarely does a last-place divisional club own underlying territorial numbers as stout as Detroit's through 18 regular-season contests. Generating 28.8 shots on goal per night while holding opponents to a stingy 25.4, the Red Wings boast a plus-61 shot differential that ranks seventh across the NHL — a stark contrast to the ice-cold finishing and roster absences testing their resolve ahead of Thursday's road test in Florida.

Todd McLellan's Structured System Collides With an Early Scoring Drought

Offseason optimism in Hockeytown centered on Todd McLellan's structured forecheck and veteran goaltending finally vaulting Detroit out of the Atlantic bottleneck. Instead, 18 games into the 2026-27 slate, the Red Wings sit 7-9 (including three overtime losses and an NHL-high 15 shootout attempts across marathon extra-session battles). Defensively at even strength, McLellan's blueprint has worked: Detroit yields exactly 3.00 goals per game (tied for 11th in the NHL) while throwing its weight around for 286 blocked shots (tied for second league-wide) and 443 hits (10th).

What has betrayed Detroit is an agonizing inability to cash in prime scoring looks. Averaging just 2.61 goals per game (27th in the NHL, 47 total goals), the Red Wings have missed the net 471 times (ninth-most) while watching opposing goaltenders — like Colorado's Mackenzie Blackwood in Saturday's 27-save shutout — turn aside wave after wave of cycle pressure. In a division where Boston, Montreal, Tampa Bay, and Ottawa are banking points at a blistering clip, moral victories in tight one-goal losses offer little comfort.

Emmitt Finnie's Top-Line Trial Alongside Viktor Arvidsson and Alex DeBrincat

With captain Dylan Larkin temporarily out of the lineup, McLellan elevated young pivot Emmitt Finnie onto the top line between sniper Alex DeBrincat and veteran winger Viktor Arvidsson, whose eight goals lead the club. Finnie's north-south work ethic has kept the unit competitive on entries, while dynamic playmaker Lucas Raymond — Detroit's overall scoring leader with 12 assists and 18 points — drives the second trio alongside veteran center Andrew Copp and rookie winger Michael Brandsegg-Nygard.

Middle- and bottom-six grit comes from Marco Kasper centering Michael Rasmussen and J.T. Compher on the third unit, followed by Sheldon Dries between Mason Appleton and physical winger Keegan Kolesar on the fourth line. On defense, workhorse Moritz Seider anchors the first pairing beside young left-shot William Wallinder, veteran duo Ben Chiarot and Justin Faulk handle heavy second-pair assignments, and Andreas Englund skates with Anton Johansson on the third pair in front of starting goaltender John Gibson and backup Daniil Tarasov.

Seventh-Ranked Shot Share Buried Beneath a 97.7 PDO and Penalty-Kill Leaks

Quantitatively, Detroit owns the most extreme gap between process and results in the Eastern Conference. The Red Wings control 53.1 percent of five-on-five shot share (seventh in the NHL), coupled with 78 takeaways (eighth) and tidy puck management (280 giveaways, 12th). Yet Detroit is saddled with a 97.7 five-on-five PDO — combining a 31st-ranked 9.1 percent team shooting clip with an .886 overall team save percentage (tied for 20th, even with Tarasov posting a sparkling .919 save mark in backup appearances behind Gibson).

While five-on-five finishing is virtually guaranteed to rebound from 9.1 percent, Detroit's shorthanded breakdowns are entirely self-inflicted. A 90.6 percent Special Teams Net Index masks a respectable 21.7 percent power play (17th in the NHL, 13 goals on 60 chances) because the penalty kill has cratered to 69.0 percent — 28th in the league, surrendering 18 power-play goals across 58 times shorthanded. Winning just 48.8 percent of faceoffs (21st) and taking 11 holding minors (third-most) have repeatedly put Detroit's killers on their heels.

Captain Suspension, Blue-Line Holdout and Defensive Absences Testing Depth

Detroit's November turbulence cannot be divorced from three major absences down the spine of the roster. Captain and top-line center Dylan Larkin sits on injured reserve/non-roster status serving a suspension (eligible to return November 14), stripping McLellan of his premier transition driver, primary faceoff option, and bumper/slot catalyst. Fortunately, Larkin's mid-month eligibility means Emmitt Finnie and Andrew Copp only need to bridge the center gap briefly.

More complicated is the blue line, where restricted free agent Simon Edvinsson remains on injured reserve/holdout status amid a protracted contract dispute (eligible November 28), depriving Detroit of a rangy top-four defender who tallied nine goals and 16 assists across 72 games last season. Meanwhile, 25-year-old defenseman Albert Johansson (one assist and 12 blocks in 11 outings) has missed six games on injured reserve with an undisclosed ailment (eligible November 12), though traveling with the team signals an imminent return to bolster prospect Axel Sandin-Pellikka and depth defender Jacob Bernard-Docker.

Why Positive Regression Hinges on Larkin's Return and Penalty-Kill Discipline

Thursday night's matchup at Amerant Bank Arena against the Florida Panthers — who lead the NHL with 81 power-play opportunities — represents an immediate stress test for Detroit's 28th-ranked penalty kill. Surviving Sunrise requires staying out of the box, winning first-pass clears behind Seider and Chiarot, and trusting that 28.8 shots per game will eventually crack open the floodgates for DeBrincat, Raymond, and Arvidsson.

Once Larkin steps back over the boards following his November 14 eligibility and Johansson stabilizes the bottom four, Detroit's 53.1 percent shot share gives McLellan a legitimate platform to string together wins. Climbing out of eighth place in the Atlantic toward the 2027 Stanley Cup Playoffs remains a steep climb, especially until Edvinsson's contract impasse reaches a resolution, but this roster is playing far tougher hockey than its 7-9 mark implies.