In this episode of The Hockey Writers Grind Line, Detroit Red Wings writers Devin Little, Matthew Zator, and Evan Sabourin get together to discuss Ville Husso’s struggles so far this season, whether the 2023-24 Red Wings are different compared to 2022-23, gifts that keep on giving, and more.
0:00 Intro
3:18 1 Good, 1 Bad From the Past Week
8:41 Ville Husso & the Defense Continue To Struggle
19:26 Is this season’s version of the Red Wings different from last season’s?
27:22 A Gift That Has Kept On Giving This Season So Far
31:38 When will Simon Edvinsson get his first call-up?
33:10 Who should center Kane & DeBrincat, Veleno or Compher?
35:29 Should the Red Wings send Husso to the AHL?
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9 Comments
I think the announcer said that Husso has given up 3 or more goals in 14 straight home games. We need the goalie to be able to steal a game or two for us. I agree he has been left out to dry but he doesn't seem to stop any of them. It dates back to last season, it's obviously is not a new thing. I feel fear when someone is coming straight at him and ready to shoot.
In previous seasons, we had okay team defense (not great, but also not terrible). Bertuzzi was a shot-blocking machine, for instance. We also had very low goal support. Now, we're doing damn good in the scoring department, but other than a few games this year, we can't defend for crap. This isn't an issue on the blueline so much as it is a teamwide issue. After the Sweden trip, we defended against the Devils in amazing fashion. Then slowly, we regressed, as a team, defensively. Blocking less shots, doing less to keeo the pucks out of dangerous areas, etc.
Edvinsson won't solve this, and bringing him up while we're trying to solve this motivation to defend issue might hurt him more than it helps us. If there's an injury, by all means, but let's not go our of our way to call him up just because we "need a change". The change that needs to happen is one we've already seen happen this season. So let's pull back from this idea of bringing up Edvinsson, making a change f or the sake of making a change, and instead hope Larks leans back in on that "decide what kind of team we're gonna be" thing that got us to this point.
Lyon should be starting going forward until Husso stops giving up soft goals!
Mike says when he saw Husso he immediately thought the wings would lose and was happy they come up with a point. The defense is ok the facts indicate most defenseman are +, Ben Chariot is the best +. Change up the winning ways to what? Sharks are just lucky, Husso .886 is great on low shots, but everyone knows he can't stop shots from the elbow up, so don't expect him to come up with to many game saving stops. The Wings do have a bad luck skate thing going on. Against Buffalo Larkin was positioned well and the puck went off his skate and they scored (Lyon should only have given up 2 goals). Against the Sharks again on offence(power play) the puck hit Larkins skate and they ended scoring. Moe S did toe pick (That is not bad defense but bad luck) Kane should of had 2 goals, Raymond hit the cross bar, in over time the puck bounce around on Raymond (bad luck) and they got a break away. I really liked the play of Klim Kostin. Hard on the boards, good in front of the net (he scored), best stickhandler east to west. One of the younger players with the most potential. Play him on one of the 2 top lines for increase scoring and star protection. Veleno can play anywhere. Starter = Alex Lyon .947 . Bring Simon E up to play with Ben C (best + 11, 68th out of 271 in D NHL scoring, he's the toughest and takes crap all night from all teams and yes hockey writers. Trade a goalie and a defenseman for a prospect or a beach ball. Wings 8 goals and Sharks 3 goals that's the way it should of went. Alex Lyon it is your time.
We've won every game with Veleno on a line with Larkin and Raymond. That said, we put Fabbs on that line. Compher w Kane and Cat, Veleno w Perron and Ras, Christian with Kostin and Sprong, and sit Copp until he recovers from whatever injury is slowing him down….. I like Fabs on line 2 of 3 as it gives us more distributed scoring.
Good show guys.
Devin's sound has dropped in the last 3 episodes, his sound is much lower than the other 2..
Yeah, Lyon needs to take over for a bit, rest Husso a bit. Maybe SY should trade out a G or 2 and bring another back in, but there's not much out there.
The SJ game was crazy. 3 goals in 29 seconds, SJ with 2 and almost 3 shorthanded goals after that, it was one of those ridiculous, crazy games.
The habit of letting leads dissappear is very dangerous.
Tonight's game vs Ottawa is a huge test for Detroit after last year's late season thrashings, and a test for their D and G.
Q : Predict Kane's goal total at years end.
Will Cossa get an NHL game in this season?
Devin’s microphone has been REALLY quiet for the last 2-3 episodes. I can’t hear him. It’s basically a two person show because of this technical difficulty
Check out Ned’s stats both before he played with the Red Wings and now with Pittsburg. Much better than they were with the Wings. Perhaps the defence style in Detroit is hard on their goaltenders.
Im not blaming husso for all of those goals but ur goaltender has to bail the team out at least one of those 4 goals…he couldnt make just 1 clutch save??? Thats a problem. I knownthe team left him out to drive but ur goalie has to at least stop 1 of those 4 goals