The spring and summer time of 2022 was a big one for the Detroit Purple Wings. Not solely was that the primary offseason the place common supervisor (GM) Steve Yzerman invested important cash into bettering the Purple Wings in a significant method, nevertheless it was additionally the primary time since 2014 that the group employed a brand new head coach. Out went longtime head coach Jeff Blashill and in got here Derek Lalonde, an assistant coach with the Tampa Bay Lightning who was initially employed by Yzerman throughout his time as GM of the Lightning.
Since then, Lalonde, affectionately often known as “Newsy” among the many fanbase, has discovered his method as a head coach within the NHL. The Purple Wings are his first NHL head teaching gig, and the workforce has loved improved leads to each of his seasons behind the bench. Now set to embark on his third season because the bench boss in Detroit, the demand to enhance on final season has by no means been higher.
Lalonde Employed to Enhance Protection
After final season’s offensive fireworks, you could be forgiven should you forgot that Lalonde was initially delivered to Detroit with a mandate to wash up the workforce’s defensive play. The Purple Wings’ protection folded like an previous jersey in Blashill’s closing season as blowout losses occurred too incessantly for anybody’s liking. That’s why, together with bringing in Lalonde, Yzerman spent a big sum of cash within the 2022 offseason to usher in competent, veteran gamers, most of which had a historical past of being efficient in their very own zone.
Associated: Are the Purple Wings a Playoff Workforce?
In Lalonde’s first season, the Purple Wings allowed 33 objectives lower than the season prior. The completed seventh within the Atlantic Division and had a dropping report of 35-37-10, however the enchancment was clear as day. If the Purple Wings had just a little further firepower that season, they in all probability may have made issues actually fascinating down the stretch.
You’d then be forgiven should you thought that the Purple Wings have been set to take the following step final season. Yzerman deciding to attempt to capitalize on his workforce’s defensive strides by including some firepower within the 2023 offseason, culminating within the addition of Patrick Kane a month into the season. They scored 38 extra objectives than the earlier season, and so they even completed with a profitable report of 41-32-9. Although they allowed 5 fewer objectives, workforce protection was a weak point that was exacerbated by average-to-poor goaltending.
Heading into the 2024-25 season, the Purple Wings’ roster seems to be to be extra well-rounded with a skillful prime six matched by a defensively-savvy backside six. Lalonde’s problem is to place all of it collectively and match the stout protection of the 2022-23 workforce with the offensive explosiveness of the 2023-24 workforce.
Lalonde’s Worst Habits
Whether or not it’s his time as an assistant in Tampa Bay or the top coach in Detroit, Lalonde has usually produced optimistic leads to the NHL. It’s why Yzerman handpicked Lalonde as Blashill’s successor in 2022, and it’s why the GM caught along with his man this offseason amidst cries for a change after the Purple Wings let a playoff spot slip by way of their fingers final season.
However like each coach, Lalonde is much from good. He’s nonetheless thought-about inexperienced in comparison with most of his friends, and that reality is clear in a couple of totally different areas.
First, in the identical method that Blashill was recognized for mixing up his traces too usually, Lalonde has already developed a status of sticking along with his traces and pairings for much too lengthy. In 2022-23, he caught with a prime pairing of Ben Chiarot and Moritz Seider for months regardless of the pairing’s defensive struggles. When Lalonde finally changed Chiarot with Jake Walman, Seider’s efficiency vastly improved, and the Purple Wings received much more video games due to it. One other instance was Lalonde’s unwillingness to make use of goaltender Alex Lyon by way of the primary month of the season regardless of receiving poor outcomes from Ville Husso and James Reimer.
Second and doubtless most damning, the Purple Wings don’t appear to reply to him when issues aren’t going effectively. Think about the stretch from Feb. 29 to Mar. 17 final season the place Detroit misplaced eight out of 9 video games, together with two video games the place they allowed seven objectives towards. Whereas it is very important observe that Dylan Larkin was out of fee for seven of these 9 video games, it can’t be overstated simply how out of kinds the Purple Wings appeared throughout a stretch that finally doomed their playoff push. Detroit wanted to play with playoff desperation throughout that time period, however they might barely muster up a whimper till the second half of March.
When the Purple Wings did flip it on late within the season, it felt like they have been enjoying for one another slightly than for the teaching employees. Whilst you do need the gamers in your workforce to play for one another, there was much more chaos in these closing video games than an skilled coach could be comfy with.
From the surface trying in, it looks like Lalonde doesn’t at all times have learn on his workforce. Whether or not it’s lineup selections or the required method to coax factors and wins out of his workforce, the query of whether or not or not he places his workforce in the perfect place to win on a nightly foundation has come up far too usually.
Benchmarks for Success
It’s no secret that Purple Wing followers are starved for playoff hockey. At a time the place the Detroit Lions are Tremendous Bowl favorites and the Detroit Tigers are enjoying significant video games in September, the Purple Wings – whose 2008 championship nonetheless stands as the town’s most up-to-date – are on the precipice of reminding everybody why Detroit is often known as “Hockeytown”.
The Purple Wings have seen their season level complete improve in annually of Yzerman’s tenure as GM. After ending with 91 factors final season, nonetheless, the main focus now shifts from stats like factors and goals-against to the workforce’s total potential to play high quality hockey on a nightly foundation. In any case, whereas the numbers say that the Purple Wings have been a lot improved final season, inconsistencies at each ends of the ice finally doomed them simply as they did through the Blashill period.
Lalonde arrived in Detroit with championship pedigree. His title is on the Stanley Cup twice due to his time on the Lightning’s bench, and he’s credited with establishing the Toledo Walleye’s ongoing run of excellence within the ECHL. In his third season because the Purple Wings’ bench boss, he’s now tasked with molding the workforce right into a official playoff contender by making use of the teachings he discovered by way of his first two seasons.
Honest or not, Lalonde has little or no wiggle room to work with. After narrowly lacking the playoffs final season, the pure subsequent step is to make the playoffs. Naked minimal, the Purple Wings want to seek out themselves in the identical spot they have been in final season the place all 82 video games have been vital – and that’s whereas most individuals anticipate some regression as Detroit is ready to incorporate extra youth into their lineup over the course of the season.
Whereas Lalonde was introduced in to wash up the Purple Wings’ defensive play, he was finally employed to show them good habits which then result in a playoff model of hockey. If the workforce’s worst habits persist and start to derail the season, Yzerman could also be compelled to do one thing he hasn’t achieved because the 2012-13 season: fireplace and rent a coach in the course of a season. Oh, and by the way in which, Lalonde can also be within the closing yr of the three-year contract he signed to teach the Purple Wings.
In different phrases, it’s time for Lalonde to make a reputation for himself as an NHL head coach.
