Breaking Down Why the Detroit Red Wings Are One of the NHL's Top Teams

The Detroit Red Wings picked up a lone point during a shootout loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday and improved to 40 points on the season with a 17-6-6 record. The Red Wings' performance to date has been completely unexpected, as the team was picked by many to miss the playoffs this season.

Due to Detroit's hot start, it is almost a lock to make the playoffs this year, which would make it 24 consecutive seasons with a postseason berth. You obviously can look at the standings and see Detroit is No. 1 in the conference, but do you know why?

Some of you may know the answer, but for those who don't, here is why the Red Wings have been a top team in the East in 2014-15.

The Kids Are More Than Alright

Dave Reginek/Getty Images

The Red Wings have been a prospect development factory for the last few decades, and this season, the boys in red and white have a number of strapping young-ish lads turning heads.

Tomas Tatar is having an excellent season, and his 12 goals have him in a tie for second on the team in scoring. His 20 points are good for third place on the team behind only Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg, which is a very impressive feat for a 24-year-old.

Tatar has been an unexpected surprise this season, and he's beginning to actualize the skills he displayed with the AHL's Grand Rapids Griffins.

I mentioned Tatar was tied for second in goal scoring, and he currently trails fellow youngster Gustav Nyquist by a goal. Nyquist has 13 goals and 17 points on the year, and he's been a key driver of offense for Detroit all season long. He's just a freak of nature who continues to be a player fans watch with bated breath.

There are also other youngsters such as Tomas Jurco (11 points) and Riley Sheahan (15 points) who are doing some amazing things, and each young player has served a vital role on this Red Wings squad at this point in the 2014-15 campaign.

The Veterans Are Healthy, and Scoring in Droves

Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk and Johan Franzen. All are key players who missed significant time with the Red Wings last season, and the absence from the lineup had an adverse effect on the team. This season, all three have remained relatively healthy, and their contributions have come early and often.

Zetterberg has 25 points in 29 games, Datsyuk is next with 22 points in only 18 games and the Mule has 18 points in 23 games. While you can see that both Datsyuk and Franzen have missed some games, it is unfortunately a known occupational hazard at this stage of each player's respective career.

What is important is that the team is taking the right course of action with each, and neither player has been silent about their ailments. Ultimately, this will allow head coach Mike Babcock to ice his best lineup come playoff time, and a healthy squad featuring the three veterans will make the Wings a tough team to play against.

Unexpected Contributions Paying Huge Dividends

Dave Reginek/Getty Images

The Red Wings expected their key players mentioned in the previous slide to produce, and the same goes for the youngsters in the slide before that. But it is fair to say that Detroit is sitting atop the standings because of the contributions it has received from unexpected sources.

Primarily, I am talking about Darren Helm, Stephen Weiss and Justin Abdelkader, and each has been a pleasant surprise for the Wings this season.

Helm is a 27-year-old speedster known for his two-way play, but he's added offense to his game this year. With five goals and 15 points, Helm is on pace to squash the 12 goals he recorded in 2010-11 and 2013-14 and his career points record of 32 set in '10-'11 as well.

If all goes well, he will finish with 14 goals and 42 points, which wouldn't be too shabby.

Next up is Stephen Weiss, and although he is a known commodity, it is fair to say little was expected of him because of his battles with injuries recently. He's only appeared in 10 games to date, but he currently is averaging a point per game.

His contributions help make the bottom six productive offensively, and he's certainly got the skill to move up if one of Detroit's big-name centers were to be sidelined for an extended period of time. In short, he provides skill and flexibility, and he's finally started to find his place in the Motor City.

Last but not least is Justin Abdelkader, a forward whose hot start was recently iced by a shoulder injury. Abdelkader has shown great promise this season in all areas of his game, especially offensively.

He's been a 20-point player during his tenure with the Wings, but he's started the season with seven goals and 15 points in 24 games. If he returns on schedule, which, according to The Detroit News' Ted Kulfan, could be later this week, he'll be on pace to finish with 22 goals and 48 points, which would be a career best for the 27-year-old Muskegon, Michigan, native.

Excellence of Jimmy Howard

Dave Reginek/Getty Images

Jimmy Howard has been a rock in net for the Red Wings this season, and he's been a big reason why the team is sitting atop the standings. He ranks eighth in wins with 13, sixth in goals-against average at 2.15 and 14th with a .918 save percentage.

A big reason why he's been so good this year is because he's remained healthy, and that's something he couldn't do last year. The constant in and out of the lineup led to poor on-ice conditioning, and it didn't allow Howard to keep a rhythm going.

That led to him only winning 21 games last year, and it took him 51 total games to get there. Howard should reach that total before he appears in 35 games this year, and if he keeps pace, he will finish with one of the best seasons of his career to date.

All-Around Dominance

Dave Reginek/Getty Images

As a team, the Red Wings have just been dominant this season. You might be saying to yourself, "Well, duh... they are leading the Eastern Conference." But I had to take a look at their situational numbers just to see how well they are executing as a team thus far.

Detroit ranks fifth with 3.03 goals scored per game, seventh at 2.34 in goals allowed per game, third in penalty-kill efficiency at 87.6 percent and 10th in the league with a 21.0 percent success rate on the power play.

In addition, the team has a .889 winning percentage in games in which it leads after one period of play and .846 winning percentage in games leading after two. When you look at all of these stats, it is easy to see why the Red Wings are a top team in the league—because they dominate in almost every situation you can think of.

Stats via NHL.com and The Hockey News unless otherwise noted.

Tom Urtz Jr. is an NHL columnist for Bleacher Report who also covers the New York Rangers and Detroit Red Wings. 

Follow @TomUrtzJr