The Detroit Red Wings are off ot a hot start, but one player isn’t happy with his play.
Detroit is off to a 7-3 start after a 5-2 road win over the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday. Yet, despite the hot start, Red Wings defenseman Simon Edvinsson isn’t pleased with his play.
Edvinsson was supposed to be an impact player for Detroit this season, but he believes he’s playing the worst hockey of his career.
“The last two games, I’ve probably played my worst hockey that I’ve (played) in four years, or that I can remember, at least,” Edvinsson said on Oct. 26. “So, that’s all I’ve got to say because I can’t speak of the team’s performance. I was probably one of the worst players on the ice in both of those games.”
Edvinsson is playing on the Red Wings’ top defensive pairing alongside Moritz Seider. But, despite being on the top pairing, Edvinsson isn’t happy with his play, as he believes he’s been the worst player on the ice.
The 22-year-old Swedish defenseman has skated in 10 games, recording 3 goals and 1 assist for 4 points. He did have back-to-back games of being -2, but in the past two games, he has two goals and one assist, so he could have turned a corner.
Red Wings Continue Hot Start
Detroit kicked off its five-game road trip on Tuesday with a 5-2 win over the Blues.
It was a great performance from the Red Wings, and head coach Todd McLellan was pleased with his team’s effort.
“I thought we played a pretty solid game,” McLellan said. “We played well offensively when we needed to. I thought we checked much better through the neutral zone coming into our zone and we were connected on our breakouts. All of the sudden you’ve got the puck a little bit more. When that happens, they’ve got less scoring opportunities and it tends to go your way.”
Red Wings captain, Dylan Larkin, meanwhile, is happy with the team’s effort in their first game of a five-game road trip.
“A really good start to the trip,” Larkin said. “I think a good road game out of our team. That’s something that we’ve been looking to do. The third point is a total team win. All the lines were good, all the ‘D’ pairs played really solid, and [John Gibson] was great. We had a great third period. A lot of positives and a really good way to start the trip.”
Detroit returns to the ice on Thursday against the Los Angeles Kings.
Former Detroit Defenseman Had High Praise for Edvinsson
The Red Wings drafted Edvinsson sixth overall in 2021, and the team has been waiting for him to take the next step.
While he was in the AHL, he played alongside veteran defenseman Brian Lashoff, who’s now an assistant coach for the Red Wings’ AHL team.
After getting to play with him, Lashoff expected Edvinsson to be a star player in the NHL.
“I’m obviously really proud of him, I had played with him in my last year, and then I got the chance to coach him and work with him my first year coaching, so I had a good relationship with him and try to help him with as much as possible,” Lashoff said. “You could see the talent right away, the size of him and his ability to skate, the one thing that I think he took really seriously from when he got over here and us working with him as a staff, is just his defending.”
Lashoff believes Edvinsson has gotten better every year and believes there is no ceiling for him.
“I think the sky’s the limit for him,” Lashoff concluded. “Just as a defender, for being that age and playing the minutes he did against tough competition, it’s impressive what he did, and now it’s on him to kind of pull himself to that standard as well and continue to grow and keep pushing the bar as high as he can, year after year, which he certainly has the potential to do.”
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