The 5 Biggest Surprises Halfway Through the Detroit Red Wings' 2013-14 Season

The Detroit Red Wings’ season is just about halfway over, or, to put it another way, the Detroit Red Wings still have half a season to play.

Which perspective one chooses to take likely depends on how one views a glass with 50 percent of its volume occupied.

For those fans who reflect on the past 40 games and see a smattering of squandered leads, lengthy winless streaks and powerless offense spread across them, the season-to-date has likely been a letdown.

Still, one might see a team that is poised to improve upon their position in the standings as several key players return to the lineup. As such, the second half of the season provides a prime opportunity for Detroit to steady itself en route to a strong finish.

Which way the winds in Detroit are actually blowing is still anyone’s guess. However, there have been plenty of surprises that have popped up over the first half of the season that are worthy of discussion.

Here’s a look at five of the biggest surprises Detroit’s offered up through the 2013-14 season so far.

Honorable Mention: Detroit’s 6th-Place Position in the Eastern Conference

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The Red Wings’ first season in the Eastern Conference was supposed to be easier for them and harder for everyone else.

A cushy travel schedule and “weaker” divisional opponents such as the Florida Panthers was supposed to make the Red Wings a force to be reckoned with in the East.

At the halfway mark, the Wings find themselves in sixth place in the conference, fourth in the Atlantic Division and have been beaten two out of three times by the Panthers.

As far as splashes go, the one the Red Wings have made since diving into the Eastern Conference has been considerably smaller than many had expected.

5. Dan Cleary’s Near Invisibility

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Imagine you’re a GM and you are faced with this scenario: You’re about to start training camp, you’re up against the cap, but you’ve got one player who desperately wants to be on the team. He’s been one of your most versatile players for the past eight seasons, helped you win a Stanley Cup, just finished the playoffs as your second-highest scorer, provides veteran leadership in the locker room and is willing to take nearly half of what he was paid the year before and that for just a single year.

Do you make that deal? Better yet, what NHL GM would not make that deal given this scenario?

Clearly, this was the situation Red Wings general manager Ken Holland faced in September, and he opted to make room for Dan Cleary.

It was a safe, smart, low-risk move—at least, that’s how it appeared at the time.

After 39 games this season, Cleary has repaid Holland and his team with three goals, three assists and a minus-six rating.

Cleary is on pace for the worst season of his Red Wings career.

While no one expected him to be leading the team in scoring, providing such paltry offensive numbers is certainly not what was expected of Cleary given his strong playoff performance and tenure with the team.

Other players have been equal non-factors, but, given that Cleary should be a leader among role players and youngsters in Detroit, his near invisibility night after night has been quite an unwelcome surprise thus far.

4. Jimmy Howard’s Forgettable Performance to Date

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At season’s start, Detroit’s goaltending was perhaps the one element of its roster of which there was virtually no concern.

Jimmy Howard had long since established himself as the starter in goal, and his consistency in that role over the previous three seasons had earned Howard a six-year, $31.75 million contract just prior to the start of the 2013 playoffs.

Howard was Detroit’s undisputed go-to guy in net, and what’s more, he deserved to be.

In spite of, or perhaps because of Howard’s lucrative long-term deal, his performance this season has dipped considerably putting him on pace for the worst of his NHL career.

Howard has just six wins in 21 games played this season, and his 2.66 goals-against average and .910 save-percentage are pedestrian, at best.

Considering that Howard has made 35-plus win seasons habitual over the past three seasons and has firmly secured his value in Detroit, his 6-8-7 record this season isn’t at all what was expected from him.

3. Jonas Gustavsson’s Memorable Performance to Date

Gustavsson’s 2012-13 season, his first in Detroit, was utterly forgettable as a groin injury limited him to just seven appearances, none of which were memorable. Heading into this season, no one expected Gustavsson to make much hay, with starter Jimmy Howard slotted to shoulder the bulk of the load in net.

Thank God for pleasant surprises.

As disappointing as Howard has been this season, Gustavsson has been equally impressive as he’s secured 11 of Detroit’s 18 wins so far this season.

While his individual stats aren’t exactly eye-popping (2.39 goals-against average, .914 save-percentage), Gustavsson’s compete level and penchant for making highlight-reel saves has buoyed his confidence in net as well as the performance of his team.

Gustavsson has been one of the most important elements of Detroit’s success (when they’ve had it) so far this season, and that’s been a bigger and decidedly more pleasant surprise then Howard’s prolonged slump.

2. The Team’s Away Record

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Sure, the Detroit Red Wings' move to the Eastern Conference yielding easier travel was supposed to help them this season but a 12-3-3 road record—who expected that?

The Red Wings own the best road record in the Atlantic Division, and their .667 winning percentage away from Joe Louis Arena is currently best in the NHL.

Indeed, it seems as if the Red Wings’ road-warrior mentality may be their saving grace thus far this season as they’ve won twice as many games in the other teams’ barns as they have in their own.

This isn’t to say this trend is surprising because the Red Wings were somehow supposed to be worse on the road than at home. Rather, any team that can find this level of consistent success playing in hostile territory is doing something surprisingly unexpected.

1. The Team's Home Record

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Speaking of hostile territory, Joe Louis Arena has become exactly that for the Red Wings this season.

Their 3-0 loss to the New York Islanders prior Christmas was perhaps the most glaring example of this as the team was literally booed off the ice at game’s end.

The Red Wings have played 22 games at The Joe this season—they’ve won six of them.

Deciphering the mystery as to why this is the case has become steady work for Detroit’s coaching staff, and Bleacher Report’s own Jonathan Willis recently took an excellent stab at doing the same.

However, the “how” and the “why” of Detroit’s terrible home record isn’t nearly as surprising as the simple fact that, to this point of the season, the visiting team has a much better chance of winning at Joe Louis Arena than does the home team.

There was a time, not too long ago in fact, when such a thing would have been considered laughably absurd.

However, the first half of this season has provided ample evidence that “home ice advantage” is no advantage at all for the Detroit Red Wings and that, more than any other trend that has emerged thus far, has provided the biggest surprise of the season-to-date.