New York Islanders Low In Eastern Conference Power Ranking

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NEW YORK, NY – DECEMBER 19: The Detroit Red Wings celebrate a goal by Trevor Daley #83 at 10:03 of the third period against the New York Islanders at the Barclays Center on December 19, 2017 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /

Detroit Red Wings

We’re going to see a common theme with the Detroit Red Wings here. They have a negative goal differential. All these teams who are towards the bottom of the conference have a negative goal differential.

The Red Wings have the third fewest goals in the conference with just 169 goals. They only have one player with 20 or more goals on the year, and that’s Anthony Mantha.

Their center depth is almost nonexistent. Frans Nielsen is the leading scorer for centers with 27 points (13 goals, 14 assists). Dylan Larkin and Henrik Zetterberg only have nine goals a pop as the second and first line centers respectively.

Detroit also hasn’t gotten very good play in net either. Jimmy Howard has a .912 save percentage and a 2.79 goals against average. Although the save percentage is just a touch off his career average the goals against average isn’t anything nice to look at.

He still has a .543 QS% which is below his career average and has had 6 really bad starts which is two more than he had last year.

The Red Wings are on the verge of missing the playoffs in back to back years for the first time since the 1981-1982 and 1982-1983 seasons.

They’ve had an incredible run of success but are likely in need of a complete overall. They lack a lot of depth and right now they’re in the mediocre land of the NHL.