The Detroit Red Wings’ season opener couldn’t have gone much worse. They’ll look for a better result and more fan support when they host the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday afternoon.
Detroit endured a tumultuous offseason in which former captain Dylan Larkin requested a trade and former top executive and franchise legend Steve Yzerman was reassigned to an advisory role.
Team owner Chris Ilitch still hasn’t hired a permanent replacement for Yzerman, as in-house candidate Shawn Horcoff was named interim general manager prior to training camp. Restricted free agent Simon Edvinsson, one of the team’s top defensemen, remains unsigned and returned to his native Sweden earlier in the week as negotiations stalled.
Larkin remains on the roster but missed Friday’s opener against the New York Rangers with an upper-body injury and won’t play on Sunday. He was heavily booed during pregame introductions and chants of “Sell the team,” directed at Ilitch, cascaded from the stands at times during Detroit’s 2-0 loss.
“Obviously he has to live with the ramifications of asking for a trade,” coach Todd McLellan said of Larkin. “It’s not comfortable for anybody and I feel bad for him, I do.”
The rest of the players also had to deal with the vitriol from disenchanted fans.
“Everyone has a right to express their feelings and we just have to deal with it,” defenseman Moritz Seider said after Friday’s loss. “We handled it pretty well. Everyone gave it their best shot, and that’s what we’ll continue to do. You should be professional enough. We get paid to do our job. We have a great opportunity in front of us, to get back to work (Saturday) and prepare ourselves for hopefully our first win in two days.”
The Red Wings’ defense played well without Edvinsson but the offense was punchless without Larkin.
“We’re going to have to score goals to win games,” McLellan said. “The players that we have here, they have to understand and expect it from themselves and their teammates. You just can’t rely on three or four guys.”
The Jets opened their season on Friday with a 4-3 overtime loss to Boston. Winnipeg failed to protect a late 3-2 lead.
“I like a lot of what we did. There’s mistakes, but we came out strong,” said Kyle Connor, who extended his NHL record by scoring in a ninth straight season opener. “We had a little bit of a dip there, and obviously they got one to tie it up. But overall, I thought we played pretty quick.”
The Jets have a major controversy of their own involving one of their top players. Star goaltender Connor Hellebuyck wants to be traded and didn’t report to camp, prompting a suspension. Hellebuyck, like Larkin, is a Michigan native.
Stuart Skinner was the starting goaltender on Friday, making 26 saves. Skinner was signed to a two-year deal in July.
“I think we were ready. You saw us in the first ten minutes. I think the shots were like eight to one. We were ready to rock and roll. That’s just kind of how the game works. There’s ebbs and flows of the game,” Skinner said. “You know, Boston’s definitely going to have their push. We knew that was going to happen. But all in all, I thought we did a really good job and just got to tighten up a few things.”
