The Red Wings are Shocking EVERYONE...

The Detroit Red Wings are shocking everyone. Despite a lot of turmoil, a young star has emerged from the team. Todd McClellan has the boys playing very well, and it seems as if a new starting goaltender is emerging from all the turmoil through the offseason to the trade saga, still not even closed, and still some negotiations going on with Simon Edvinsson. This team has been able to put together a great campaign so far, and they are definitely not out of the playoff race in not just the Atlantic Division, but the entire Eastern Conference. We're going to break that all down and much more in this episode of Red Wings Digest, which, guys, very exciting time because, you know, MBN's playing so well, Daniil Tarasov. We're going to get into all of that, but before we do, a quick reminder to hit that subscribe button. We've noticed that about 85% of you guys who watch these videos are not subscribed to the channel, so if you want to stay up to date with everything that's happening with the Red Wings, Mark and I are keeping you updated every single day with daily uploads on everything that's happening. Well, let's start with MBN because he's been super impressive. And then he delivers once again against the Florida Panthers, a very Impressive win that Paul Maurice, the head coach of the Florida Panthers, came out after the game and said that they just wanted it more and that it was a very impressive showing by the Red Wings. And I love Todd McLellan, by the way. I think he's a great coach. Ever since we started the channel, I've loved the way that he's handled everything. He's been the voice when they didn't have a GM, when they didn't have a captain anymore. Todd McLellan's there in front of the media, you know, putting it so, you know, nicely. For everyone saying, hey, we're going to put our heads down. We're going to get back to work. So a very impressive game. But Mark, I want to throw it over to you. MBN has been so impressive. Check this out from last night. Seven, seven hits. Seven hits in one game. He is one of the most impressive young players that I can remember coming through this organization. And probably if you ask everyone around the league what he's doing in terms of point production and his physicality this year, one of the best players in the league. I think you said it best. MBN is not only impressing the Red Wings fans. When you're looking at the media, people are talking about this kid, and he deserves the flowers. Look at last night's game. Of course, you get on the stat sheet. He's having a great campaign when it comes to points, but this is a guy that does absolutely everything. You look at last year, and we said we needed to add more guys that were physical, that were willing to put their bodies on the line. We have that in a young kid that still has so much room to grow. This is a star potential player. I don't even care. me in the comments. This is genuinely a kid that is pushing and making an impact within this organization, and he still has so much room to grow. This is not even the peak, and we're seeing that the seven hits, the offensive production being a menace on the ice to the point that everyone is speaking about him. I cannot rave about this kid enough, and I understand there's a lot of gloom and doom around this team, but this is something. This is the ray of sunshine that we need as fans, and finally, after the past year of us saying, hey, he needs to take that next step, he's taken the leap, he's jumped. It's not just a step anymore. This guy came into the season running. Yeah, and once he puts it together more consistently, because you can see over the last couple of of games leading into last night's game. A little quieter, obviously, but over a sample size of 10 games, I think he's been very good for a rookie. He's still a rookie. And I didn't like what I saw of him at the end of last season. I don't know if he was hurt. I don't know exactly what it was, but. Again, praise from the coach on the other side. And you have a young star player that is emerging right now in front of your very eyes. He is third in the NHL in hits, right? He's putting the puck in the back of the net. By the way, very versatile offensively too. Last night, gets to the dirty areas, man. He makes a play. He gets to the front of the net. He puts the puck in the back of the net, right? He's hitting everything that moves. He has 70 hits on the season. Again, he's third in the entire National Hockey League. In that time, he is hitting everything that moves. He's creating plays and he's putting the puck in the back of the net. By the way, he's also 14th in the NHL in takeaways, right? So he's a great, he's playing so dynamic right now. He is a great, great young player. So I'm really excited to see, you know, how far exactly this can go and how long he can do this consistently, the physical aspect. I think he can take it up a notch in terms of consistency offensively, but all of that to say 15 games into this season, he has 10 points already. Literally one of their best players. And of course, you're going to have better point production from your stars that have been here for a while. Your Debrinkets, your Lucas Raymonds. And I don't want to bypass those guys. They've been really good too. Obviously, Lucas Raymond, what a great setup on NBN's goal. But he's playing really well for a rookie. That's my point. So any final thoughts on NBN? Because I think we're going to continue to be talking about him all year. He is a guy that they needed to be exactly this. And there were so many question marks coming into the summer based on what we saw at the end of last year, his small stint in the NHL and then heading into this year. And it looks like he has arrived. I mean, if you go back to those 70 hits, there's people in the NHL that are paying NHL players to step in and just be physical. This guy is being physical, putting up the points, and you don't see that out of a lot of young players that come in that have all the tools of a good defensive two-way game. A guy that can still put up points and also be physical. This is a jack-of-all-trades. We have a unicorn coming through to this team, and I'll continue saying it. Yes, he might not be the best player in the NHL at any point in his career. He might not be the best player on this Red Wings team, but this is the damn type of player you want on a team that's in the midst of trying to do something special. And listen, this is not going to slow down, and genuinely, it's just starting. Yeah, and you can see that his ice time went up over the last little while. The power play also, look, the penalty kill on this team, by the way, real problem that they're going to have to figure out. But if you're talking about the power play, it's been super dynamic as well. You know, the sky's the limit for this player right now. He can continue to get better. He's going to continue to take it to another level. And I still think we saw some of his best hockey in the world championships. We covered it here on the channel. He looked borderline dominant in that tournament. Of course, that's at the end of the season. There's not that many NHLers in that tournament. But again, he's turning it up now. And as he continues to build confidence, as he does this more consistently, he's going to be a problem for other teams. He is going to be a problem. Speaking of a problem, the Detroit Red Wings right now, Our problem in the Atlantic Division, which nobody expected, I think most Red Wings fans actually, I should say this, did actually expect them to be pretty good this year, right? Like, hey, we're not going to be that bad, we're just missing Dylan Larkin. I do want to get to a stat on that too, by the way, before we wrap up. Currently 17 points, you're tied with the Buffalo Sabres. I mean, look at this division, Mark. This is insane. Between being in a playoff spot and last place is two points. It's insane, right? Like, it's genuinely stupid. And then six points between last and first. Just ridiculous this season. Like, if you did 1-8 seeding in the, I saw this this morning, 1-8 seeding in the Eastern Conference, six teams in the playoffs right now would be from the Atlantic Division out of eight. That's crazy. So, you know, the East goes through. The Atlantic Division. But again, they're playing really, really well. And you can see they're just continuing to get better from where they started this season. They're continuing to take steps and they're winning a lot of games. I believe they won six of the last four games. So what do you make of the overall, you know, team the last little while? They seem like they're putting it together. It seems like since, you know, Dylan Larkin left, Mo Sider was talking about, they're coming together as a team. They know now with the Brinket sign that the guys in the room are the guys that are there, right? Like this is the team. Let's get after it. Let's work together. And you have a guy in Tarasov who's emerging as a real option, as a number one. I think a big underrated story around this team, as well as everyone's starting to play well. We've seen this team. They're making a proven, like you said, that this is their team. Everyone that's there wants to be a part of this team. But one thing no one is really talking about, I'm sure people have been. Is the fact that this is a team that's doing this. You're two points out of a playoff spot. But you got to think, the return that's going to come back from Dylan Larkin is not in this lineup yet. Simon Edmondson may be returning to the lineup. If not, that's more players coming back. This is a team that you're a month away, say, of getting even more reinforcements that's going to join this group. Or draft capital that's going to be traded for reinforcements. Because we know this team wants to be active. They want to be a playoff team. And I think it's underrated that you're so close to being in the playoff spot. Despite not having your former first line center and captain and a number two defenseman in the lineup, this is going to be a team that's going to make some serious noise going into the second half of the season. And I want to give a shout out to everyone within this team as well. Tarasov looks outstanding, making a question around John Gibson for sure. The young guys coming through. And DeBranca, the veterans are holding their own in some dark times. Yeah, they've been good, right? And you look at some of the line combinations too. Uh, and revolving around specifically MBN, like these are all really good numbers, right? Like 58% of the shot share, like that's really good. And then when he's playing with, uh, you know, when he was playing, uh, for a small, smaller sample size, when Larkin was in the lineup with Raymond. 65% share of the shots, right? That's crazy. So he's found a home there on his current line. Debrinket's playing well. Raymond, I thought, a great assist yesterday. It's all slowly kind of coming together. The biggest question is, you know, where do they end up landing here in the Atlantic Division by the end of the year? Because it is so competitive. I think that they can compete, right? And you're getting great performances from a lot of your top guys and guys that you're going to have to lean on. But where do they end up finishing? We want to hear from you guys in the comments below. Do they make the playoffs? Do they miss the playoffs? I think it's going to be tight. That's for sure. And I think it comes down to mid-season. If one team deals with a bunch of injuries or one team goes on a skid, that's going to start to separate things a little bit, but it looks like it's going to be a bloodbath for a long time. Until the playoffs start. And another question is, they've collapsed every single year the last couple of years in March, right? They've done really, really well until March. Could things be a little bit different? Is there something that was in that room before that was causing that, that maybe isn't there now? I think that'll be interesting to watch. But guys, let us know how you feel in the comments below. And we'll see you for another video tomorrow.