NHL
Red Wings veterans, like Dylan Larkin, deserve more attention for the hot start. Gregory Shamus / Getty Images
Two weeks into the 2025-26 season, the energy in Detroit could not be better.
The Red Wings have won five straight. That win streak has included four victories against Atlantic Division opponents. And the team’s young players are helping to drive that success, creating a sense of a payoff for a Detroit fan base that has long looked toward the future.
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So, are the Red Wings for real? Here’s what I think, and what I know, after these first six games.
For the better part of the last month, this has been the dominant story around the Red Wings, and for good reason.
No one, before training camp, saw 2023 seventh-round pick Emmitt Finnie making a surprise run to the Red Wings’ opening night roster — let alone to the top line, or starting with five points in his first six games. Heck, not many saw 2023 and 2024 first-round picks Axel Sandin-Pellikka or Michael Brandsegg-Nygård beginning the year in Detroit, without any seasoning in Grand Rapids.
But it’s not just that those three 20-year-olds made the Red Wings — it’s that they’re already seriously contributing.
Finnie’s five points are great, and helped propel Detroit to a win over the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday, but those points are actually more a product of all the little things he’s doing on the ice. He’s among the Red Wings’ fastest players — he might top the list — allowing him to win all kinds of races. He’s not afraid to go to the net. He has a great stick, entering Monday tied for the NHL lead in takeaways with seven. And when he wins battles down low, he almost always does something productive with the puck.
Sandin-Pellikka had a huge goal for the Red Wings in their win over the Tampa Bay Lightning, but is also averaging 20 minutes a night on the back end, including killing penalties. His profile is more as an offensive-minded defenseman, but while he’s logging time on the second power play, it’s been eye-catching how quickly Detroit is also trusting him with those key defensive minutes.
And while Brandsegg-Nygård continues looking for his first point, he’s still been a presence on the ice, often with his physicality. When Patrick Kane went down with an injury, Brandsegg-Nygård got the bump up to Detroit’s second line. And with a shot like his, it feels like only a matter of time until he breaks through for a goal — especially with how well he’s able to get to the middle of the ice.
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Detroit’s three biggest offseason needs were for a top-line left wing, a top-four defenseman and more hard offense in their lineup. These three rookies have been able to check all those boxes so far.
For all of the above reasons, it’s been so tempting to focus on the rookies early in the season. They’ve had big moments, played key roles and been great all-around stories.
But for as much as that’s all true, some of Detroit’s veteran contributions have gone under-covered as a result.
Some, like Mason Appleton stepping up to the top line during Lucas Raymond’s injury and scoring three goals, have been too big too ignore. Same with Dylan Larkin’s monster start to the season, and with Cam Talbot’s huge performances in goal.
But there have been others that haven’t gotten as much shine.
Ben Chiarot has played perhaps his best hockey as a Red Wing to begin this season. James van Riemsdyk is bringing a totally different level of patience and playmaking to Detroit’s bottom six — almost reminiscent of David Perron in his ability to hang onto the puck down low. Alex DeBrincat hasn’t scored, but he’s battled hard every night, and is quietly second on the team in points with six assists. Andrew Copp has been noticeable as well, despite not ending up on the scoresheet much to start the year.
All of these players will likely have moments in the spotlight as the year goes on, but it’s worth highlighting the subtler roles they’ve played in this early-season win streak too.
Goaltending has played a big part in Detroit’s early success. Between Talbot’s 38-save performance in Toronto, and Gibson’s stellar third-period against the Lightning, they’ve played big parts in this early hot streak.
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But after a simply disastrous defensive performance against Montreal, the Red Wings’ team defense has looked noticeably better.
On a basic level, you can look at the shot numbers they’re giving up. Just 18 to the Oilers, 21 to the Florida Panthers, and 23 in the first game against the Maple Leafs. Even against the Lightning, Tampa Bay was held to just 11 in the first two periods, before unleashing an onslaught of 19 in the third.
It’s a bit early to be getting too deep into advanced stats, but Detroit entered Monday giving up the 12th fewest expected goals per 60 minutes, and 17th fewest actual goals per 60 according to Evolving Hockey — early signs of an average (or slightly above average) defense.
And that’s to say nothing of their penalty kill, perhaps the biggest turnaround story of the young season with a 92.3 percent success rate through six games.
Again, it’s early, and we’ll see if they’re able to keep that up as the year goes on — especially as they play more road games, when they aren’t picking the matchups. But so far, the signs are promising.
As impressive as those first two periods were against the Lightning, Tampa Bay thoroughly dominated Detroit in the third. The Red Wings struggled to get the puck out cleanly, and the Lightning were all over them for the better part of 20 minutes. Were it not for Gibson’s heroics, Tampa Bay probably scores two or three goals in that period, avoiding overtime altogether.
Some of those exiting issues have popped up in spurts at other times this season, too, with what’s looked from up top like too many possessions kept alive by opponents after Detroit had the puck in the D zone. I can’t figure out whether that’s more about a relatively young blue line, forwards struggling to turn breakout passes into exits, some combination of those two, or something else entirely.
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The good news is it hasn’t really come back to bite the Red Wings yet. But it will if they give opponents too many second chances.
On paper, the Red Wings just got through a tough part of the schedule — with six straight games against playoff teams — and they went 5-1 through it. They deserve credit for that.
At the same time, they caught some of those teams at a good time, early in the season, and had five of those games at home. That doesn’t take away from the accomplishment, and it certainly doesn’t subtract any of the points they banked, but it’s worth remembering that some of the big challenges still lie ahead.
Their trip this week to Buffalo and Long Island won’t feature top opponents, but it is still a road back-to-back. They have a five-game road trip coming up at the end of the month that finishes up in Vegas. And in December, they have a six-game, 10-day swing that features a jaunt to Western Canada in the middle.
Even if the opponents there aren’t as daunting, the circumstances may be — and there’s no guarantee Detroit will be at full health for them. The Red Wings have already seen Lucas Raymond miss time (and still appear to be at less than 100 percent), and Patrick Kane is currently out with an upper-body injury as well.
While Detroit’s start has been excellent against some strong competition, this group still has a lot to prove when times get harder.
During the Red Wings’ Saturday practice, McLellan told players to either go at full intensity, or get off the ice.
This coach is well aware that winning stretches can sometimes lead to a team letting its game slip, and he’s made a point to try and avoid it.
“I remember Jacques Lemaire saying that your team is like your body,” McLellan said. “The germ gets into your body, and four or five days later — or four or five games later — it shows up, and all of the sudden your team is sick, and it’s not playing well. It’s not what happens down the road, it’s what’s happening right now. We’ve got to keep our thumb on things and make sure that we’re sharp and we’re attentive to detail and we’re prepared to work.”
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There’s probably a limit to how hard a coach can ride his team, even when things are going well. And it’s not realistic to think Detroit can go 82 games without slip-ups, even for a prolonged stretch. But McLellan is certainly trying to make sure this Red Wings group doesn’t get too comfortable as a result of their early success.
It’s up to them to hear that message in good faith, and to continue responding when the head coach challenges them.
So far, they’ve done just that.
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Max Bultman has covered the Red Wings for The Athletic since 2018. He previously was a general assignment writer in Detroit and is a 2017 graduate of the University of Michigan. Follow Max on Twitter @m_bultman
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