What the Detroit Red Wings Must Improve Upon Early in 2014-15

The Detroit Red Wings have had a solid start to the season, and they currently sit in fourth place in the Atlantic Division with a 9-4-5 record and 23 points. They are one point behind the third-place Boston Bruins, and Boston has played two more games than Detroit.

No one expected the Red Wings to get off to such a hot start; they are looking like they are going to make the playoffs for the 24th consecutive season.

Although things appear to be going exactly how the Wings want, there are a few areas in which the team can stand to improve a bit. While the Red Wings are currently in line to challenge for a playoff spot, here are a few areas that they need to address going forward.

Power Play

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This season the Detroit Red Wings' power play has been the definition of average. At the same time it has been the NHL's 15th-best and worst unit. With a success rate of 19.2, the Red Wings' power play is right in the middle of all NHL teams.

They have scored 14 goals on 73 power plays, and although it isn't a bad statistic, I feel it could be better.

With offensive weapons like Gustav Nyquist, Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg, there is no reason why the Wings can't have a top-10 unit. Besides Niklas Kronwall, the Wings lack a mobile offensive defender on the back end, and that's something that hurts their power play.

It can be said that Detroit never replaced Nicklas Lidstrom in that regard; three years later it may be time to address that.

Secondary Scoring

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This season the Red Wings have lacked consistent secondary scoring. The majority of scoring has come from Henrik Zetterberg, Gustav Nyquist, Justin Abdelkader, Johan Franzen and Pavel Datsyuk.

These are top forwards, and ones expected to carry the weight. However, players like Tomas Jurco, Riley Sheahan, Drew Miller and defenders like Danny DeKeyser could step it up.

While those players aren't exactly having terrible seasons, the Wings will need more balanced scoring to be successful, especially during the playoffs.

Shootouts

The Detroit Red Wings have been just plain inept in the skills competition this season. Jimmy Howard has looked great in regulation and overtime, but it is almost like he forgets how to goaltend in the shootout.

He's been downright horrendous, and as a result Detroit is 0-3 in the shootout with a whopping .286 save percentage. While Howard has been bad, the Wings' forwards haven't been much better. Detroit shooters have a cumulative shooting percentage of 12.5, and a lone shootout goal.

That is unacceptable when the team can send out Henrik Zetterberg, Gustav Nyquist and Pavel Datsyuk back-to-back-to-back. While the Wings have only missed out on three possible points in the shootout to date, those are the points that can matter in a big way when it comes to a tiebreaker at the end of the season.

Depth on Blue Line

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The Detroit Red Wings have a number of young D-men on the roster, but they will be without one of their better ones for the next week. Brendan Smith will be on seven-day IR according to Chris McCosky of The Detroit News, and even when he is in the lineup it is fair to say they could use some help on the blue line.

Niklas Kronwall is a bona fide top defender; Jonathan Ericsson, Kyle Quincey, Jakub Kindl and Dan DeKeyser are all decent second-pairing/third-pairing defenders, but neither is a legitimate top-pairing guy.

There's a reason why, according to Bob McKenzie of TSN, Detroit has had some interest in Buffalo defender Tyler Myers, because despite his struggles he has a ton of talent and upside. He could use a fresh start, and it is hard to believe that he wouldn't be better along a guy like Kronwall.

Ultimately the Wings could use another top-pairing defender to replace the one they lost in Nicklas Lidstrom and the one they were unable to sign in Ryan Suter.