The first five games have left the Detroit Red Wings in a spot nobody in the building wanted to see this early: 1-3-1, five points, and sitting at the bottom of the division in an 84-game season that is still just getting underway.
That record tells one part of the story. The performances tell the rest.
Detroit has already run through a little bit of everything - a knock-down, drag out fight with the Ottawa Senators, then the kind of rough edge that comes with a team still sorting itself out in a 6-3 loss to the Seattle Kraken after giving up four goals in less than ten minutes. It’s early, sure, but the first week has already offered a pretty clear snapshot of the kind of team this might be over the next few months.
One of the clearest bright spots has been Emmitt Finnie. The young Canadian forward has handled his move from winger to center better than most would in such a short window, and right now he’s settled into the second line between Alex DeBrincat and Michael Brandsegg-Nygard. That trio has worked well enough that both wingers have looked better with Finnie in the middle.
Todd McLellan had already pointed to Finnie as a long-term answer at the position after Marco Kasper’s injury, and the early returns back that up. In a small sample, Finnie has produced while also seeing his ice time rise. The Alberta-born center has been used on the second power-play unit and has also become one of Detroit’s more reliable penalty-killing options.
There’s still a catch, though: if Finnie and Brandsegg-Nygard are going to stay together in the top six, both of them are going to need to start scoring more often. Even so, given the uncertainty the Red Wings have at center, Finnie’s growth in his sophomore season is exactly the kind of development that matters.
As for where this month goes from here, the bold call is that Detroit finishes October at .500. That’s hard to sell after two shutouts already, both at home and in the team’s first road game, but the underlying approach has not been passive. The Red Wings are averaging more than 32 shots per game, and the effort level has been there.
With Larkin in the lineup and everyone “in the right place” as McLellan put it, Detroit has done a solid job of shutting down 5v5 offense from opponents. The issues have come when the team has short-circuited - bad penalties, missed assignments, the kind of breakdowns that flip a game in a hurry.
The bigger question now is depth scoring. Half of Detroit’s offense so far has come from just two players, and that’s not going to be enough for long.
Still, a 6.1% shooting rate doesn’t look like a true reflection of the work or the talent on this roster. Over time, the expectation is that the puck luck and the finish will start to catch up.
In Other News...
Red Wings Suddenly Have A Goalie Question They Did Not Expect
A year after arriving from Czechia as an undrafted free agent, Michal Postava is suddenly looking like more than organizational depth for the Red Wings. Signed in June 2025 after his time with HC Kometa Brno, the 24-year-old spent the 2025-26 season backing up Sebastian Cossa in Grand Rapids, but he has opened the new season strong enough to move into the starters net for the Griffins, who sit atop the Central Division.
For Detroit, that kind of development is exactly the sort of surprise that can reshape the goalie picture quickly. Postavas rise gives the organization another young option to track closely, especially with Grand Rapids playing well and the crease becoming a more interesting part of the pipeline than it seemed just a few months ago. [Read more 🡒]
Red Wings Face A Franchise-Altering Dylan Larkin Question
The Dylan Larkin chatter around Detroit has taken on a different tone with Florida suddenly carrying more flexibility under the salary cap, and that alone has been enough to push the conversation from idle rumor to something that feels at least worth monitoring. For the Red Wings, any talk involving their captain lands differently, because it is not just about a good player changing teams - it would signal a major shift in how the organization views its timeline and its next move.
What makes the speculation especially notable is the kind of framework being discussed, with the Panthers current roster situation creating room for a bigger swing than they might otherwise consider. The names floating through the conversation are the sort that would make Detroit pause, since any deal built around Anton Lundell or Eetu Luostarinen and extra draft capital would force the Red Wings to weigh immediate leadership against future value, and that is the kind of decision that rarely comes easy. [Read more 🡒]
Red Wings May Be Stalling Two Young Players They Need Most
Detroits pipeline has looked encouraging in spots this season, with five Griffins prospects getting NHL looks and a few of them quickly finding their footing. Michael Brandsegg-Nygard, William Wallinder and Anton Johansson have each managed to turn opportunity into something more meaningful, which is exactly the kind of progress the organization wants to see as it keeps trying to build a stronger next wave of talent.
The trickier part is figuring out what to do with Axel Sandin-Pellikka and Nate Danielson, two young players the Red Wings need to become more than just depth options. Both have had a harder time carving out real NHL influence, and the development case for each could point back to Grand Rapids for more seasoning before Detroit asks them to carry more of the load. [Read more 🡒]