Detroit Red Wings: October Start Should Set Up Excellent Regular Season

Almost no human activity is immune from this simple and undeniable fact—a good start, is the best start.

Indeed, whether you're building a house, baking a pie, flying a plane, or trying to make the NHL playoffs, a bad start will make your job harder, and often impossible.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman has said that one of the reasons the NHL is more exciting post-lockout is that since playoff spots can literally be won or lost in October, every game from one to 82 is meaningful.

While I don't often agree with much of Bettman's pablum, in this instance, he is exactly right.

Teams who miss the playoffs by just a few points can now often look back at their record and see that the seed of failure was planted in October.

Again, a good start is the best start.

Last October, the Red Wings ended the month with a 5-3-4 record.  Now, in my book, that means they lost seven out of 12 and even though those four overtime/shootout loses yielded four points, losing that early and that often certainly didn't do the team any favors.

Only a nearly miraculous finish (the kind of blessing a Fairy Hockey Godmother will bestow only once a decade) got the Wings into the playoffs last season as a bottom-four seed.

Had the Red Wings won the game they lost to Phoenix in a shootout in October, and added just one more win of any kind on top of that, the Red Wings would have been the fourth seed, securing home-ice advantage in the first-round.

Two wins in October can make quite a bit of difference.

This season, the Red Wings are blessed/cursed with a lighter schedule and have ended the month with a convincing 5-2 win over a red-hot Nashville team to conclude the month with a 6-2-1 record.

Though obviously 9-0 would be preferred, a 6-2-1 start is "good" by any measurement one could apply.

What makes this good start so important to the goal of a good finish isn't just the points earned, but the habit of winning that's been established early on.

However, there are times when even a good record can be deceiving.

Teams also need to have their best players contributing to these wins to ensure that October wins aren't just the result of a favorable schedule, a hot rookie/veteran that's bound to go cold or a collection of shootout wins that could have easily turned into losses.

Prior to the season, Henrik Zetterberg, Nicklas Lidstrom and Pavel Datsyuk were supposed to be Detroit's most important players.

These three lead the team in scoring, one through three, respectively.

Prior to the season, a healthy Johan Franzen was supposed to lead the team in goals scored.

The Mule currently shares the lead with Datsyuk, having scored six goals in eight games, two of them game-winners.

Prior to the season, Jimmy Howard was supposed to cement himself as the team's undisputed starter by matching his outstanding performance from the 2009-10 season, a season that saw him finish with 37 wins, a 2.26 goals-against average and .924 save percentage.

Howard currently has a 2.14 goals against average, a .925 save percentage and is on pace for 36 wins.

Aside from the Red Wings earning the wins and the points they have, each of the key pieces required for success have, to this point, fallen right into place.

Still, October has not been without its disappointments.

The three losses Detroit suffered were almost exclusively the result of their poor play, rather than a mounted effort by the opposition.

Shaky goaltending and repeated giveaways cost the Wings wins and points against Dallas, Colorado and Phoenix, all of which are good teams. However, a more experienced and talented Detroit squad can certainly beat them.

Then, there are the third-line woes, defined primarily by Mike Modano's lone goal and team-worst minus-seven rating.

Modano was supposed to anchor a third-line that, with wingers Jiri Hudler and Dan Cleary, would be the envy of the league.

So far, no luck.

While the trio's poor start could honestly be chalked up to nothing more than adjustment issues, bound to resolve with time, there will be mounting doubt about Modano's ability if things don't turn around soon.

Recall that Modano stated, prior to signing his one-year contract with Detroit, that in his mind, his only options were playing for the Red Wings or retirement.

If things don't pick up for Modo, and soon, he might start wondering if choosing the latter might have been the better option.

Regardless of third-line problems and a nagging habit for turnovers, the present, and by extension the future for the Wings' season, is quite bright.

There are no glaring flaws that cannot be remedied, no holes in the roster that will prove fatal come crunch time and no competition that figures to be insurmountable.

After last season, a good start is just what the Red Wings needed this season, and that's just what they got.

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