Detroit Red Wings not great, but not bad either at the quarter pole

The Red Wings have seemingly taken it right on the chin through the first quarter of the season, but haven't been knocked out. For more photos from the first 21 games check out the slide show below (AP Photo, Carlos Osorio)

The Detroit Red Wings have made it to the quarter mark of their season, barely, as injuries have ravaged the lineup and this is reflected in their record.

They are 11-6-4 though 21 games, which is really a nice way of saying 11-10, and places them third in the Central Division behind Chicago and Columbus, and eighth in the Western Conference with 26 points.

Despite being on pace for a 101-point season, if the playoffs were to begin today, the Red Wings would barely qualify for the post season and have the privilege of facing the Conference leading San Jose Sharks in the first round. That's not such a bad position because the Sharks are notorious playoff underachievers.

If you are a glass half-full person, you can find many silver linings in the first quarter, and if you are a half-empty kind of person, you can use the first quarter to substantiate many of the arguments made in pre-season prognostications that the Red Wings dominance is over.

OFFENSE

Free agency departures of Marian Hossa, Mikael Samuelsson and Tomas Kopecky, the defection of Jiri Hudler and the injuries to Johan Franzen, and Valtteri Filppula have removed a combined 134 goals or 46% from last season's offense. Yet the Red Wings rank first in shots on goal and seventh in goals scored per game so far this season. Granted they have scored nearly half of their goals (31 of 65) in five games and been held to two or fewer goals in eight games, the silver lining exists that the offense hasn't dried up as some predicted, it has simply not been consistent. The expectation is that as the injured players return to the lineup, the offense will become more formidable, spread out through the lineup, and more consistent. Henrik Zetterberg has been sensational, scoring at least one point in 15 of the 21 games and had a scoring streak of five games where he scored 11 points.

SPECIAL TEAMS

The Red Wings powerplay also ranks seventh and is converting on 23.9% of their opportunities. Although not the best in the league as it was last year, it is still a weapon, and it also has been impacted by the departures and injuries. Factor in a slow start by captain Nicklas Lidstrom who remains the quarterback of the first unit and has just one goal and eight points, and the silver lining is the Red Wings have the potential to get better with the man-advantage.
The penalty killing remains an issue this year just as it was last year, stopping their opponents just 75.7% of the time and ranks 26th in the league. However this statistic, which is a lightning rod for some naysayers needs to be provided with a bit of context. The Red Wings are the third least penalized team in the league, and have given up 18 powerplay goals, tied for 14th. So while they don't do a good enough job killing penalties they do restrict the number of opportunities they allow.

DEFENSE

Defensively the Red Wings have been guilty of too many turnovers. In fact only the Montreal Canadiens (13.24) and the Edmonton Oilers (12.13) have turned the puck over more than the Red Wings (11.48) per game. The Red Wings defenseman turn the puck over an average of 5.19 times per game (third worst in the league) and Lidstrom and Brian Rafalski have combined for 44 turnovers which is equal to the number of turnovers committed by the entire defensive unit of the Phoenix Coyotes. The Red Wings preached renewed dedication to defensive play this season in light of the lost offense, however it has not translated to the ice. In addition to the high number of turnovers the team ranks 25th in win percentage when leading after two periods, having lost three times in 11 opportunities.

GOALTENDING

While Chris Osgood has not played as well as he did in the playoffs last spring, he hasn't played anywhere near as bad as he did during the regular season. He's had a few bad nights, but has lost just three games in regulation. Jimmy Howard started off shaky, but his play during a recent four game stretch (3-1-0) provided some comfort that he can backup Osgood at least in short stretches. The goaltending ranks 17th in the league in goals-against average, which based on the salary structure of the team is exactly what this team pays for, average goaltending.

NUMBER CRUNCHING

There was a time when it was a given that Lidstrom would play the most minutes every game, but that isn't the case anymore. He has led the team in ice time just 11 times so far this season, and although his production is lower than expected there is no denying that he remains the most valuable contributor to the teams winning ways. The team's record when he plays the most minutes is 8-1-2, as opposed to 3-5-2 when he doesn't.

Brad Stuart is easily the leader in hard work statistics. He leads the team with 55 hits, 35 blocked shots, and 3:23 of shorthanded ice time per game. Justin Abdelkader is second in hits with 49, Niklas Kronwall is second in blocked shots with 31, and Jonathan Ericsson is second in shorthanded ice time at 2:34.

Last season the Red Wings had 11 fighting majors for the entire season. So far this season Brad May has six fighting majors in just 12 games played. He has averaged 2:53 of playing time for every minute in the penalty box.

The Red Wings have missed 63 man games due to injury so far this season which is the equivalent of three players per game, yet they have only had to call up Doug Janik for one game to fill out the roster. That is if you don't count Abdelkader as a call up, otherwise the number of games played by a call-up shoots up to 19, and Derek Meech has played just five games. Speaks to the Red Wings depth, which will be tested even further with the injury to Kronwall suffered in game 21 against Montreal on Saturday.

MINUTES PER POINT

As a means of measuring which player is most productive in the least amount of time I have tracked the Red Wings minutes per point. It measures the amount of ice time, on average, it takes each player to record a single point.

Legend: GP- games played; TOI - total time on ice; TOI/GP- time on ice per game; P- points; TOI/P- minutes per point

Meech and Janik are the only two players who have not recorded a point so far this season and therefore do not have a minute per point statistic.

The top 10 on this list is made up of too many injured or role players, and the Red Wings need greater production out of Todd Bertuzzi and Ville Leino to justify their minutes per game. This isn't a knock against how well they've played, Bertuzzi in particular, it's a matter of production in relation to the ice time they are getting. As mentioned earlier Lidstrom is not off to a great start statistically, however, his contributions are measured in areas other than the scoresheet.

Based on the injuries to key players, and the natural transition period the roster was going to go through, I think the Red Wings have survived the first quarter. I expect that they will become stronger as the season progresses and as their injured players return.

What are your thoughts on the Red Wings through the first quarter?