The wheels have already started to fall off and the bus hasn’t even left the station yet. Through the first five games of the 2018-19 season, the Red Wings have yet to pick up a victory, going 0-3-2. Obviously, wins aren’t a priority when rebuilding but some confidence to start the year would be nice. No matter the direction the team is going in, the players in that locker-room want to win, that is what they’re paid to do. It’s got to be a tough feeling when you come up empty-handed two weeks into the season.

Currently, the only other team yet to see victory is the Florida Panthers, but they’ve played in only three games. Their placement in the standings come April will most likely be just as bleak, but I decided to look into past teams from recent memory who also started off slow. Every point matters, which will be apparent at the end of the season, so does this give them a head start in the Jack Hughes sweepstakes or is the overall outlook not so bad?

Th Coyotes had high hopes for the 2017-18 season. They traded away a top-10 pick for immediate help in Derek Stepan and Antti Raanta. Clayton Keller came in as a favorite to win the Calder Trophy. Well, things didn’t click right away as they dropped their first eleven games of the season and won just twice in the first twenty games (neither in regulation).

The rest of the season they spent in the basement. A late hot streak in the year bumped that up to the third worst team in the league with 70 points. Their biggest problem was scoring, finishing 30th in the league in goals-for, and hey the Red Wings – *checks notes* – have the same problem, currently ranking 7th last in GF/GP!

The state of the franchise for both these teams have their similarities and differences. Detroit is just settling into their rebuild, Arizona was looking to exit theirs. Each have some exciting youth, such as Dennis Cholowski and Keller. Both teams struggle to score, and I’d argue Detroit is much worse defensively.

Arizona ended up drafting 5th overall, which they used to select Filip Zadina Barrett Hayton.

The Blue Jackets lacked an identity at this point in time. The year prior they made a big move to acquired Brandon Saad in hopes of making a playoff push. Instead they flopped and found themselves drafting Zach Werenski 8th overall in the 2015 draft.

Entering the 2015-16 season, they were in a “who are we” stage. They ended up being horrendous to start off, losing their first eight contests, giving up four or more goals in seven of the eight games. The Red Wings have been bad defensively but nowhere near as bad as this Blue Jackets squad. They remained mediocre for the rest of the season which prompted their star 21 year-old center Ryan Johansen to demand a trade. It’s not like the Red Wings have one of those… (this is why that confidence thing I talked about is important).

Columbus ended the season with 76 points, placing as the league’s 4th worst team. Thanks to the draft lottery they moved up a slot to 3rd overall which they used to select Pierre-Luc Dubois.

This is a bit of an alternative. This rendition of the Ducks started off very slow – as they seem to always do – beginning the season four straight losses and winning just one of their first ten games. However, they managed to recover and make the playoffs convincingly by taking the Pacific division crown with 103 points.

A major reason for the Ducks turnaround was due to their defensive play. They ranked 1st in the league in GA/GP. Unless prime Nick Lidstrom comes out of retirement I don’t see that happening for Detroit.

Chances are the Red Wings don’t replicate this run by the Ducks. They are in a much tougher division and lack the depth this Ducks team had. Nor would it be in their best interest. Top draft picks are important for the Red Wings to become competitive in the future. The Ducks weren’t in rebuild mode and the Red Wings are.

But again, you never know.

Every situation is different and predicting the future is impossible. But its important to remember that a five to ten game stretch doesn’t necessarily have to represent an entire season. There are plenty of other examples of teams who started off slow. These three teams each paint a slightly different picture that could be possible.

The Red Wings fate in 2018-19 is yet to be determined, but one thing is for sure: they are going to have to get the wheels back on this bus very soon if they want to make it to their final destination.