With the 2019-20 NHL season on hold we are going to review where each NHL team stands at this moment until the season resumes. Here we take a look at the surprises and disappointments for the Detroit Red Wings.
Robby Fabbri has had a nice bounceback in Detroit
It was just four years ago that Fabbri looked like he was on his way to becoming an outstanding top-six player for the St. Louis Blues. Then an unfortunate run of devastating injuries completely crushed the early part of his career and left him as the odd man out in St. Louis.
The Red Wings, in need of talent anywhere they can find it, took the low-risk gamble on trading for him earlier this season.
The early returns have been promising.
Fabbri has been one of the Red Wings’ most productive offensive players since arriving in Detroit earlier this season with 31 points (14 goals, 17 assists) in his 52 games with the team. That’s a 20-goal, 50-point pace over 82 games and a nice bounce-back for a once promising player whose development was sidetracked through no fault of his own.
Jimmy Howard’s tough year
Howard has been a rock in the Detroit crease for parts of 14 seasons now, and just last season was one of their few bright spots. All of that is what makes his 2019-20 season so hard to watch.
In his 27 appearances this season Howard has an .882 save percentage -- the worst mark in the NHL by a fairly significant margin -- to go with a 2-23-2 record.
Here is the complete list of goalies that appeared in at least 25 games in a single season and won two or fewer games:
- Jimmy Howard (2019-20 Red Wings)
- Jeff Hackett (1992-93 San Jose Sharks)
- Michel Dion (1983-84 Pittsburgh Penguins)
- Wilf Cude (1930-31 Philadelphia Quakers)
- Daniel Berthiaume (1992-93 Ottawa Senators)
- Michel Belhumeur (1974-75 Washington Capitals)
Howard is one of the most accomplished goalies in franchise history, sitting in the top-four of games played (third), wins (third), save percentage (third) and shutouts (fourth) but not even he was immune to the struggles the rest of the team faced this season.
Another injury for Anthony Mantha
Mantha has played like a bonafide top-line power forward the past two seasons when he’s been healthy and in the lineup. The only thing that has slowed him down are the injuries that robbed him of 43 games since the start of the 2018-19 season.
It’s so disappointing because it’s probably robbed him of a couple of 30-goal seasons.
Over the past two years he has scored at 30-goal, 65-point pace while posting outstanding possessions numbers (better than 53 percent shot-attempt share) on a team that has been completely dominated at even-strength. He is an outstanding player in the prime of his career, and one that probably does not get a lot of attention due to the circumstances around him as well as the fact he has missed so much time to injury.
The continued offensive declines of Frans Nielsen and Justin Abdelkader
Age and injuries continued to add up for two of Detroit’s biggest remaining contracts, at least when it comes to their offensive production.
Nielsen and Abdelkader count nearly $10 million against the salary cap for each of the next three seasons (while Abdelkader has a fourth year remaining on his deal) and combined for just four goals (all belonging to Nielsen) and 12 total points this season. With both players having already celebrated their 33rd birthdays there is little reason to believe those downward trends offensively will rebound in the coming seasons.
You can’t really blame the players themselves because it’s certainly not for a lack of effort and they didn’t offer themselves the contracts. They can also still contribute quite a bit defensively with both being among the Red Wings’ best performing defensive forwards. The disappointment just comes from the fact that their biggest long-term investments are with players that can not really drive their offense in a meaningful way.
More:
• Looking at the 2019-20 Detroit Red Wings
• What is the Red Wings’ long-term outlook?
—
Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.