When former Detroit Red Wings general manager Ken Holland announced a two-year extension for coach Jeff Blashill in April, he cited the team’s competitiveness on a nightly basis and the development of young players.

The Red Wings finished 28th overall, but they battled hard most nights, losing many close games. It was encouraging to see progress from their core of young forwards – Dylan Larkin, Anthony Mantha, Andreas Athanasiou and Tyler Bertuzzi – and the steps taken by Taro Hirose and defenseman Filip Hronek late in the season.

When Steve Yzerman took over as GM 2½ weeks later, he also endorsed Blashill, referring to him as an excellent young coach who’s had success at every level he has coached.

Expectations were low this season; many prognostications had the Red Wings finishing in the bottom three. They lack talent, skill and depth at forward and defense. They are stockpiling draft picks while waiting for prospects to develop and some hefty contracts to come off the books.

So being tied for 29th in the NHL, ahead of only Ottawa (which has played three fewer games), after 15 games isn’t alarming. How they have arrived there is disconcerting.

The Red Wings started well at 3-1-0, with impressive victories in Nashville and Montreal. They have since gone 1-9-1, losing seven times by three or more goals. They lost 11 times by that margin all of last season.

They were not competitive over the weekend in losses at Carolina (7-3) and Florida (4-0), after playing well the previous three games (1-1-1).

They have the worst goals differential in the league at minus-24 (they finished minus-50 last season). They are last in goals per game (2.20), 29th in goals against (3.80) and their special teams seem to be getting worse each season.

It has been a mixed bag on the player development front. Mantha, Bertuzzi and Hronek have taken steps; Athanasiou and Hirose have regressed, and Dennis Cholowski continues to be up and down.

Fifteen games is a small sample size to conclude what kind of season these players will have. But it is large enough to see the coaching staff is not getting this team to compete hard enough on a consistent basis.

Some could argue if they’re not going to make the playoffs, it’s better to finish as low as possible for better draft lottery odds and a higher pick.

But making a 10- to 15-point improvement on last season’s 74-point finish, while hurting draft position, would benefit young players, providing them experience in winning and closing games. It would be encouraging for the organization, showing the rebuild is on course and provide some hope for the fanbase.

The plan, for the fourth year in a row, is to unload some contracts at the trade deadline to accumulate more picks.

Problem is, at this rate, the team’s rentals (Jimmy Howard, Mike Green, Trevor Daley) won’t have much trade value. Many players with term (Darren Helm, Valtteri Filppula, Frans Nielsen, Justin Abdelkader, Jonathan Bernier) will be next-to-impossible to move.

Athanasiou could be the Red Wings’ biggest trading chip. Maybe Yzerman will attempt to deal him by the deadline or before the draft for an additional first-round pick. But his dreadful start (no goals, five assists, minus-18 in 13 games) surely has damaged his trade value significantly.

Three of the Red Wings’ next four games are at home against Stanley Cup contenders: Nashville on Monday, Boston on Friday and Vegas next Sunday.

If the Red Wings continue losing without putting up a good fight, would Yzerman consider a coaching change? That’s difficult to say; he rarely speaks publicly and when he does, he doesn’t reveal much.

Chances are, unless this team completely falls apart, Yzerman will stick with Blashill for the entire season and then consider options for 2020-21, whether he feels a better alternative is available.

Red Wings feel urgency to reverse course before season unravels