OctoPulse podcast: Wings fight to the finish, Cooper Black interview
Ted Kulfan wraps up the Red Wings' season with his final grades and 6-foot-8 goalie Cooper Black of Alpena is the podcast guest.
The Wings improved by 11 points to 91 points this year from 80 in 2022-23, but missed the playoffs for the eighth year in a row, surpassing the franchise record of seven years without playoff hockey from 1970-77.
Kulfan handed out just two A's, to leading scorer Lucas Raymond ("I've never seen him play better hockey than the last month of the year") and to captain Dylan Larkin ("Does he plateau at this level, which is more than fine as a point-per-game player?").
He said some fans took exception with his B-plus grade for Derek Lalonde and his coaching staff with Bob Boughner, Alex Tanguay and Jay Varady.
"I got the needle from quite a few fans, regarding the coaching staff," Kulfan said on the podcast. "No question, the team defense wasn't up to par, but they essentially made the playoffs with 91 points. They probably did as much as they could out of this roster.
"I give them a lot of credit. If they're going to take the next step to make the playoffs, they have to be better defensively."
On Feb. 28, the Red Wings were at a season-high 13 games over the .500 mark with six straight wins and a 33-20-6 record. They had an eight-point lead in the wild-card race but finished the season with only eight more wins (8-12-3) in the last 23 games.
The turning point came in the third period of a 4-0 loss at home against the Florida Panthers on March 2. Larkin suffered a lower-body injury in a post-whistle scuffle with Brandon Montour and missed eight games. The Wings went 2-6-0 during that stretch, including two loss to the lowly Arizona Coyotes.
"I think they kind of expected to play better," Kulfan said. "It's a good lineup. You would think with all the pros that they have, you could overcome the injury to one player. Dylan Larkin is a heck of a player but that was the most disappointing point of the season."
Here are other highlights from episode 102 of the Detroit News/Detroit Red Wings podcast:
▶ 1:10: "Exhilarating" final two weeks
▶ 2:50: Positives, negatives down the stretch
▶ 4:45: Steve Yzerman on defensive lapses
▶ 7:20: Coaching staff on notice to improve defensively
▶ 8:50: Who's coming back next year?
▶ 10:20: Cooper Black interview
▶ 24:15: Derek Lalonde on 4-11 record without Dylan Larkin
▶ 28:30: Ted Kulfan's first-round playoff predictions
Subscribe to Detroit News podcasts
▶ Itunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tigers-today/id1739432190
▶ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3GpFGEjKATB6QCWghdRWCs
Previous OctoPulse podcasts
▶ Red Wings on red alert, Craig Laughlin interview
▶ Wings-Caps' battle looms, Kirsten Simms interview
▶ Trade deadline recap, Ted Nolan interview
▶ Mickey Redmond's bold prediction, Madison Packer interview
OctoPulse guests in alphabetical order
▶ A: Trey Augustine, Dave Andrews
▶ B: Riley Brengman, John Bacon, Red Berenson, Matt Beniers, Scotty Bowman, Joe Bowen, Cooper Black
▶ C: Steve Coates, Leo Carlsson, Mike Cammalleri, Logan Cooley, Caley Chelios, Cole Caufield
▶ D: Nate Danielson, Dave Drinkill, Jamie Drysdale, Ken Dryden
▶ E: Cole Eiserman, Simon Edvinsson, Mike Emrick
▶ F: Jordan Forgione, Everett Fitzhugh
▶ G: Cutter Gauthier, Dylan Guenther, Jerry Green, Stu Grimson, Gerard Gallant
▶ H: William Horcoff, Mark Howe, Cross Hanas, Luke Hughes, Murray Howe, Milan Hejduk
▶ I: Greg Innis
▶ J: Kent Johnson
▶ K: Joakim Kemell, Mark Kirton, Megan Keller, John Kelly
▶ L: Ryan Leonard, Nick Libett, Chaz Lucius, Brian Lawton, Pat Lafontaine, Nicklas Lidstrom, Craig Laughlin
▶ M: Doug MacLean, Al Montoya, Tim Mayer, Wes McCauley, Dan Milstein, Max Namestnikov, Ken Morrow
▶ N: Ted Nolan, Frank Nazar, Dwayne Norris, Pat Nagle
▶ O: Mark O'Brien
▶ P: Madison Packer, Dave Poulin, Gabe Perreault, Jakub Petr, Doug Plagens, Cole Perfetti, Darren Pang
▶ R: Abby Roque, Jason Ross, Manon Rheaume, Lucas Raymond, Marco Rossi, Luc Robitaille, Marcus Ragnarsson
▶ S: Riley Sawchuk, Bob Stauffer, Will Smith, John Shannon, Paul Stewart, Moritz Seider, Tim Stutzle, Jake Sanderson, Craig Simpson, Kirsten Simms
▶ T: Tripp Tracy, Bryan Trottier, Tim Taylor
▶ V: Rick Vaive
▶ W: Paul Woods, Shane Wright
▶ Z: Rick Zombo, Trevor Zegras