The Blackhawks’ first home game in a few weeks sees the Detroit Red Wings at the United Center on Wednesday night for an Original Six matchup.
For all of the justified worries about the long-term prospects of this ongoing Blackhawks rebuild, those soothed by schadenfreude just need to look across the ice this evening for a reminder that it could certainly be worse. The Red Wings have not made the playoffs since the summer of 2016 and were so bad that they didn’t even get the participation trophy invite to the qualifying round which existed in 2020. Detroit also experienced first-round exits in each of its last three playoff appearances, which means it hasn’t won a single playoff series since Brent Seabrook sent their asses packing to the Eastern Conference back in 2013.
How’d Seabrook do that? Oh, glad you asked!
There’s nothing to suggest Detroit is close to contention, either. The top line features former Blackhawks Alex DeBrincat and Patrick Kane centered by Dylan Larkin, because having those two wings on a top line worked out so well for Chicago in the late 2010s and early 2020s — and that was before Father Time started calling for Kane’s hip. Speaking of players who were better in the 2010s, offseason signing Vladimir Tarasenko is here and on pace for a whopping 16 goals over an 82-game schedule, which would be the worst mark of his career in a non-injury-plagued season. Lucas Raymond is in the first season of his 8-year contract worth just over $8 million annually and has a team-high 11 points in 11 games, although one goal seems a bit light for him, doesn’t it? Yeah, it probably does. He’s on a second line with Andrew Copp and J.T. Compher, each of whom have just one 50-point season apiece in their careers. Not a second line that’s going to strike fear in the heart of opponents, that.
The defense has a decent enough young pairing in Moritz Seider and Simon Edvinsson but the rest of the lineup includes players who are aging veterans or career journeymen — or both! And that includes old friend Erik Gustafsson, because the Red Wings seemed intent on collecting players who were on the Blackhawks when the Blackhawks were no longer winning championships or … something. In net are the duo of Alex Lyon and Cam Talbot. Lyon was closer to average than good, which is probably part of the reason why his first long look at the NHL level didn’t come until last season, when he was already 31 years old. Talbot was good with the Kings last season but turned 37 in July and is no longer playing in front of a possession-driving team like the one in LA. All of this adds up to a team that has just as many points as the Blackhawks do right now. Yzerplan, indeed.
Here’s the expected Detroit lineup:
As for the Blackhawks, the lineup will be what it was at practice on Tuesday with Petr Mrazek in net:
Chicago enters this one on a two-game winning streak, although those victories were not necessarily built on foundations that lead to long-term success. Detroit’s scored two goals in each of its last three games and the Blackhawks’ offense isn’t exactly potent, so the first team that gets to three — if either does — would be setting themselves pretty well for two points.
There’s never a bad night to beat Detroit.
Let’s go Hawks.
Tale of the Tape
Blackhawks — Statistic — Red Wings
43.71% (32nd) — 5-on-5 Corsi For — 45.97% (28th)
42.37% (31st) — 5-on-5 Expected goals for — 45.76% (29th)
2.17 (32nd) — Goals per game — 3.35 (9th)
3.52 (29th) — Goals against per game — 3.33 (24th)
46.3% (29th) — Faceoffs — 50.7% (12th)
16.60% (28th) — Power play — 23.1% (9th)
75.76% (27th) — Penalty kill — 79.6% (14th)
(All stats from last season)
How to Watch
When: 7 p.m. CT
Where: United Center, Chicago
TV: TNT (That’s right, a Blackhawks game on a channel you can actually get!)
Webstream: MAX
Radio: WGN 720