If you want to be bad, you might as well be the worst. If that's not already Detroit's mantra, maybe it should be.
The team is already helpless last in the NHL and it didn't help that the team lost again against Dallas by 4-1 in tonight's NHL. The team's 29th loss in 42 games.
Detroit has only managed to scrape together ten wins and 23 points when half the season has passed. Should it continue on the same track season out, the team will end up at 46 points and minus 137 in goal difference - which would be the worst season since Atlanta Trashers 1999/2000 and worse than Colorado 2016/2017.
Too many bad contracts
In addition to the fact that Detroit on paper is a bad team, they have also put in a good deal when it comes to contracts. With the salary cap, one or two bad contracts can steal a team - and Detroit has tons of them.
Frans Nielsen, Valterri Filppula, Justin Abdelkader, Mike Green and Trevor Daley are all highly paid within the team and account for a quarter of the team's total salary cap.
So far, these five together have managed to scrape together to 21 points.
Washington leads the league
In the opposite part of the league is Washington. The team took its 28th victory when defeating the Carolina Hurricanes away with 4-3.
Nicklas Bäckström provided an assist.
For Washington's goalkeeper, Ilya Samsonov, there was reason to celebrate. The win was Russia's eleventh win in 13 games and the eighth straight away game with a win. Thus, he is just the second NHL goalkeeper ever to win his first first eight away games.
With the win, Washington leads the entire NHL ahead of the Boston Bruins and St. Louis Blues.