Red Wings stock watch: Who's trending up, who's trending down after 12 games?

After a 4-1 win Wednesday night in Chicago, the Detroit Red Wings are now 6-5-1 even if it hasnt felt that way in a season thats been largely defined by Detroits struggles to generate offense.

And make no mistake, the Red Wings still have real issues to work out at both ends of the ice .

Their recent wins over the Chicago Blackhawks and the Buffalo Sabres were much needed, but stiff tests against the Toronto Maple Leafs and the New York Rangers (who have already beaten Detroit twice) now loom.

Advertisement But before that, lets take a look at a few players who are trending up, and a couple trending down so far this season.

Trending up The Moritz Seider Simon Edvinsson pairing This has been by far the bright spot of the young season for Detroit.

Seider was already a top-pair rock for the Red Wings, and Edvinsson came into the season expected to play a top-four role right away despite having played just 25 NHL games coming in.

But when the season started slow for Detroit, coach Derek Lalonde was quick to put the two young players together on the top pair and has fed them a heavy dose of the toughest minutes in the NHL.

Seider was accustomed to that, of course, but it was a big ask for Edvinsson so early in his career.

But the two are passing the test so far and put together another strong game Wednesday.

Its easy to envision them as a pairing for many years to come, using their length and mobility to smother opponents transition chances and their skating and puck game to help start transition.

Now, the downside of pairing them up has been that Detroit takes some lumps when theyre not on the ice.

And thats something theyll continue to have to figure out.

If the second and third pairs are getting into trouble, maybe the Red Wings will have to eventually split up the two No.

6 picks.

But that time isnt here yet.

And really, either or both of these two could have made this list as individuals too, with Edvinsson succeeding so quickly in such a tough role and Seider producing more offense so far something Detroit surely wanted to see after signing him to a seven-year, $59.85 million contract extension this fall.

His assist on Joe Veleno s goal Wednesday gave him 8 points in 12 games so far, and hes taken over the top power-play responsibility, too.

Andrew Copp Copp has taken his fair share of criticism in his first two years in Detroit, seeing lower offensive output while he played predominantly a matchup role for the Red Wings.

He started this season that way, too, and even found himself playing on the fourth line at one point early this season.

Advertisement But give him credit hes up to 7 points in 12 games, with five goals after adding an empty-netter Wednesday.

Those numbers wont set the world on fire, and the goals themselves havent all been works of art, but they reflect a player whos probably playing at the highest level hes reached as a Red Wing.

As part of that, he earned a promotion to the second line recently and if he can stay there, playing opposite Lucas Raymond (Detroits leading point producer so far) will leave him plenty of room to add more offense.

Even if he drops back down the lineup eventually, Copps start to this season has been an important reminder that his game isnt all checking.

Thats part of the package, to be sure, but his hockey sense is high and hes capable of bringing some forechecking and playmaking to a top-six line.

Thats what hes done so far, and for a team that has struggled to score, those five goals are a welcome development.

Detroits goaltending duo I took a little flak for not spending more time on the Red Wings goalies in an earlier analysis of Detroits young season , so well give the netminders flowers here.

Coming out of the offseason, The Athletic s Jesse Granger ranked Detroits current goalie situation 32nd out of 32 teams.

But so far theyve been outstanding and are the biggest reason the Red Wings sit above .500 through 12 games.

Not every game has been perfect, of course, but after stopping 28 of 29 shots against the Blackhawks on Wednesday, Cam Talbot sits at a dazzling .929 save percentage, and Alex Lyon is at .916.

Thats well above league average, and all the more impressive considering the kind of shot volume theyve faced.

Now, that said, Detroit has probably allowed some extra volume while collapsing to keep shots to the outside, which helps the goaltenders out.

But theyve still held up their end of the bargain, both ranking in the top 20 league-wide in Evolving Hockey s goals saved above expected.

Advertisement How long they can sustain this level of play is a fair question, but sharing the workload should help both goaltenders stay relatively fresh, which is key after Detroit overworked Lyon in the second half of last season.

And if they can maintain anything close to this level, theyll give the Red Wings a chance on most nights.

Trending down Erik Gustafsson Gustafsson had perhaps his best showing of the young season Wednesday in Chicago, so the timing here is admittedly a little off.

But for the most part, these first 12 games in Detroit havent been kind to the 2024 free-agent signing starting with the fact hes been scratched for four of them.

Thats not ideal for a player who was signed to replace Shayne Gostisbehere as the teams top power-play quarterback, especially because even when hes been in the lineup recently, hes already ceded that role to Seider.

Its a long season, and Gustafsson might well reclaim that role before alls said and done, but the early scratches havent been just bad luck.

Entering Wednesday, the Red Wings were generating just 30 percent of expected goals when he was on the ice at five-on-five, according to Evolving Hockey.

And though that number will go up after a strong showing against the Blackhawks, its also notable he played the least of Detroits six defensemen with 15:01.

Gustafssons salary at $2 million wont break the bank, and this is not to put too much of the teams struggles on him: Hes a third-pair D in a sheltered role, so the problems run much deeper.

The pairing above him, for example, of Ben Chiarot and Jeff Petry , has had plenty of struggles in its own right and plays a much bigger role.

But Gustafsson was meant to be the Gostisbehere replacement, and there has been perhaps no absence felt as strongly as Gostisbeheres so far not so much on the power play, where Detroit has been pretty good, but in helping break pucks out and create offense at five-on-five.

Advertisement He has time to get up to speed, and Wednesday was a step in the right direction.

But you have to think Detroit was hoping this would go smoother than it has to date.

Vladimir Tarasenko s offense Not a great sign to have two new free-agent signings in this category less than a month into the season, is it? But thats where things stand, with Tarasenko sitting at just 3 points in 11 games (he missed one due to illness).

Now, Tarasenko was signed in part to bring some of the heavy elements Detroit lost when David Perron went to the Ottawa Senators , and some of that has shown up.

He makes an honest effort on the forecheck and he had a great defensive play on Connor Bedard on Wednesday, erasing a Petry turnover.

Those things matter, and shouldnt be taken for granted.

Detroit needs him to be more than a shooter.

And really, few players are generating much offense for Detroit right now.

The Red Wings have so far been extremely reliant on Dylan Larkin (eight goals), Alex DeBrincat (six) and Raymond (11 assists) for scoring.

But the biggest reason Tarasenko was brought in was, of course, to help with that and to replace the massive amount of offense Detroit lost this offseason with Perron, Robby Fabbri and Daniel Sprong .

And though theres still plenty of time, hes been held off the scoresheet entirely for five straight games.

In Tarasenkos defense, the game he missed probably wasnt the only game he was affected by the bug going around Detroits dressing room.

And his time in the top six was short-lived early in the season.

But on the other hand, the Red Wings werent accomplishing much as a team with him on the second line opposite Kane, either.

The fit with young players Marco Kasper and Jonatan Berggren has looked good in spots and seems worth keeping together, but at some point, the Red Wings need some more production from Tarasenko.

Offense is not his only asset, but its an important one nonetheless.

(Top photo of Simon Edvinsson and Moritz Seider: Bruce Bennett / Getty Images).

This article has been shared from the original article on theathleticuk, here is the link to the original article.