The Detroit Red Wings Should Fire Derek Lalonde

I have been one of the more patient folks in this rebuild. I also feel that I have been one of the more level-headed voices in the frustration that is this seemingly endless rebuild. I say this knowing that my credibility and reasonableness will come into question for saying that Derek Lalonde should be fired. (If you’re going to call me a reactionary for this, I hope you’re willing to say that about Tony Wolak as well.) Bob Boughner should be fired as well, but we’ll get into that later. Here’s the thing: I don’t think Lalonde is a bad coach. I’ve seen genuinely bad coaching (looking at you, Pascal Vincent), and Lalonde is not a bad coach. He’s just highly mediocre. He is a solid enough tactician but one thing that I have never been impressed by is his motivation skills. He’s “realistic” seemingly to a fault, to the point he’s put down his own players to the media. It’s been one of the biggest complaints I’ve seen from the fanbase for quite a long time, and I’ve agreed with it. That said, I didn’t see it as a reason to fire him. Now, it is. His tactics are clearly not enough. He cannot motivate these players. They look unmotivated almost every single night. Motivation was an issue last season, too. Now, it’s to the point it cannot be ignored any longer.

Now, motivation is far from the only problem. The penalty kill is abysmal and the defense is held together by duct tape and a prayer. The duct tape being Moritz Seider and the prayer being Simon Edvinsson. Here is where I’ll bring in Boughner and why he should be fired. He’s the penalty kill coach and at no point while he’s been an assistant coach on this team has the penalty kill been good. It’s always been bad, but even in the past, it wasn’t quite this abysmal. The penalty kill at this point is so shockingly bad I cannot see a reason for him to not get fired. There’s literally zero excuse for it to be this terrible. I recognize that this team isn’t the strongest defensively, and even with that being said, Seider, Edvinsson, Larkin, Raymond, Copp, Compher, Rasmussen, Fischer, Motte, and Johansson are all at worst, solid, if not great, defensively. There’s just no excuse. This roster does have enough players who, at a bare minimum, are solid defensively, to not be this terrible. The penalty kill being this bad is on coaching. Now, outside the penalty kill, there are still major issues. Namely, the moment Edvinsson or Seider are injured, the even-strength defense goes from being good to being “James Hagens sweepstakes contender” levels of bad. I’m sorry, but if a rookie is injured and misses a game, the defense shouldn’t nose-dive that much. I shudder to imagine how much worse the defense would look if it was Seider who was injured instead. This is on both Lalonde and general manager Steve Yzerman. In addition to the coaches being fired, if I were Yzerman, I would be looking into getting rid of everyone in the pro scouting department, because clearly, they’re not any good at what they do. I know many fans are clamoring for this team to trade for a competent second-pairing defender, but do you really want that? Do you actually want this pro scouting department to make recommendations and push Yzerman toward a certain player? Is that really what you want? What on earth makes you confident at all that he’ll be guided by a player who is actually competent? I have none. Actually none at this point. The pro scouting staff needs to go and the North American amateur scouting department should all get the boot as well, but that’s a story for a different day.

Anyway, back on track. There’s no excuse for the defense being so fragile that a rookie, who’s not even expected or going to be your top defender, going out with injury, that it all collapses. Once again, this is on both the GM and the coach. The defense isn’t the most talented, but Ben Chiarot and Albert Johansson are both solid enough defensively, and it seems as if maybe Justin Holl is figuring it out. Even Jeff Petry has had his moments this year (he’s still mostly bad, but he’s better this year). The only player on the blue line who’s downright terrible is Erik Gustafsson. This defense should be mediocre, not downright terrible. The individual talent would indicate a better defense than what was seen against the Kings. The fact that the individual talent collapses so hard when a rookie is out is on the coaching staff. That said, the fact that this is capable of happening at all is on Steve Yzerman. I’m sorry, but there is not a single excuse to justify the defense looking like a bottom-three defense when a rookie is out six years into a rebuild. None. Absolutely none. I don’t want to hear about lottery luck or any of the excuses always made when things aren’t going well. Six years into a rebuild, no matter how unlucky, a defense should not at any point look like a bottom-three defense unless destroyed with injuries. Last I checked, there was only one injury.

Do I even need to talk about the offense? I feel like anyone who’s watched the Red Wings this year knows how bad it is. Did you know that about a week ago analytically, the Red Wings had the worst offense in the league? This is strictly on coaching. Look, I know the offense took a step back in the off-season, that being said, it shouldn’t be anywhere near as awful as it has been almost all season. At worst, it should be in the middle of the league. There’s too much talent for the offense to be this bad. Seriously, why does Lalonde keep trying to make Copp and Compher a duo? I felt it was pretty firmly established last season that they have no chemistry. But, here we are again, trying to make that duo work. It’s not going to work, Newsy. Stop it. Lucas Raymond should be driving his own line, but you can’t expect him to be a one-man line, so stop weighing him down with two players who have zero chemistry. So, put him back on the second line, but with Berggren as the other winger. Patrick Kane is too old to carry two mediocre players who have no chemistry. Look how he’s done absolutely nothing since being weighed down by being forced to try to carry those two. Stop it. Stop trying to make Copp and Compher a thing. This is every bit as outrageous as former Blue Jackets head coach Pascal Vincent trying to Patrik Laine into a center. It’s not going to work and you’re harming the team by continuing to try to make it work. Please stop.

Now, the question I know many will ask is: “Why now?” Here’s why: this team is two points out of being the worst team in the league. Points percentage-wise they’re eighth worst with .441. Fire him now while the season is salvageable. If he gets fired this week, that still gives the front office (hopefully) enough time to find a new coach and get the team back on track. If he doesn’t get fired now because they wait to see how this team looks at American Thanksgiving and they’re still close to the basement, it’s likely too late at that point. When you were a point away from playoffs last season, such a massive step back should not be acceptable nor should they wait long enough to ruin any chance of playoffs. In any other organization, coming so close to playoffs but taking a massive step back the next would result in serious consequences. I think it’s time consequences are had for this coaching staff. Do it now before the season is too far gone to be saved. Even if they miss the playoffs, but the new coach gets the most out of their players, I can live with that. It gives hope for next season.

At this point, Lalonde is doing more harm than good. This team needs a motivator. A coach who can light a fire underneath their asses. The organization has had two tactician coaches in a row. It’s time for a motivator coach, one who will get the most out of their players.

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