Ten games into 2024-25 season, Red Wings recognize improvement areas and importance of building confidence

DETROIT -- Positives have emerged, as well as areas that need improvement, for the Detroit Red Wings early in the season. And as the calendar flips to the month of November, Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin believes confidence is the key to playing at the level they know they are capable of.

“It’s guys wanting the puck on their stick and feeling confident to make plays,” Larkin said after practice at Little Caesars Arena’s BELFOR Training Center on Friday morning. “I think we have to build that. We have guys like myself that can do it and want the puck on their stick. It’s just confidence individually, as a team and when we walk into any building on any night, we have confidence that we’re going to win that game.”

Patrick Kane agreed “100 percent” with Larkin.

“I think we’ve had stretches and periods where we’ve played fearless, and took it to some of these teams,” Kane said. “That’s the way you got to play in this league. You can’t think about making a mistake. That mistake is probably going to happen. You got to play with some swagger and fearlessness. Try to take it to some of these teams, stay on the attack and stay aggressive. I think when we do that, we’ve shown we’re a pretty good team.”

Building confidence isn’t an overnight thing, hence why Larkin and Kane both pointed to the Red Wings’ ability to maintain possession in the offensive zone as a way of taking off some pressure defensively.

Per NHL EDGE, at even strength, Detroit is spending 44.2 percent of its time in the defensive zone compared to 37.3 percent in the offensive zone and 18.5 in the neutral zone this season.

“When we get into that O-zone, we have a lot of players that can make plays, create some time and space, and capitalize on those opportunities,” Kane said. “We’ve done it throughout the season, just not consistent enough. It’s something we’re talking about every day and trying to build on.”

Entering Friday, the Red Wings (4-5-1) Buffalo Sabres (4-5-1), Montreal Canadiens (4-6-1) and Boston Bruins (4-6-1) were all tied at nine points apiece in the Atlantic Division standings. The defending Stanley Cup-champion Florida Panthers (7-3-1; 15 points) were atop the division, ahead of the Tampa Bay Lightning (7-3-0; 14 points), Toronto Maple Leafs (6-4-1; 13 points) and Ottawa Senators (5-4-0; 10 points).

“Obviously us sitting here, we’ve been a .500 team pretty much throughout the 10 games,” Detroit head coach Derek Lalonde said. “One up, one down. Two down to start. You’re worried about your team and concentrating on yourself internally, but you look around and the division hasn’t gone anywhere. The [Eastern] Conference hasn’t gone anywhere. I’m hoping and expecting some of that parity.”

Lalonde is looking for more consistency from the Red Wings, and believes better results will come because of it.

“We’d like to seek some 60-minute consistency,” Lalonde said. “Watching up top, it looks really good at times but not all the time. That’s something we’re battling through. All 12 [forwards] and six [defensemen]. The first 10 games are a tough read, probably feel what our record is, but there’s signs of it being good. I liked the practices we had this week. I think we’re trying to replicate and get some reps at those inconsistencies.”

Looking ahead to Saturday’s home game, Lalonde said he expects Vladimir Tarasenko (illness) will be available and Tyler Motte (upper body) just needs medical clearance before he’s deemed good to go against the Buffalo Sabres.

Motte has missed the last six contests, while Tarasenko did not play in Detroit’s 6-2 loss to the NHL-leading Winnipeg Jets on Wednesday.

“This could be our first [game with] 13 [forwards],” Lalonde said. “We’d love to have that decision, so we’ll get through that and go from there.”