ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski offered a set of “rebuild rankings” today, and he doesn’t feel very good about what the Red Wings are doing:
8. Detroit Red Wings
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The strategy: Let us know when you locate one.
The Red Wings missed the playoffs in consecutive seasons for the first time since 1983. That futility ended the following season when Steve Yzerman arrived in Motown, but there isn’t anything resembling that kind of transformative player on the Red Wings’ roster or in their system. The Gustav Nyqvist generation has yielded to the Dylan Larkin generation, which will yield to the Rasmussen and Zadina generation up front.
But the foundational defenseman the Red Wings have been seeking since the retirement of Nicklas Lidstrom still eludes them. At the very least, coach Jeff Blashill has stated he will defer to younger players when it comes to ice time if a roster spot is between a newbie and a veteran. “I say that because we need different results, and part of having different results is improving internally, and that can come with new guys being in spots,” he told the Detroit Free Press.
Is it working? It’s a roster with more players older than 34 (six) than under the age of 24 (five), so to call this a team in transition would putting it mildly. It’s also a team that currently has $2.828 million in cap space, and has entrusted the general manager who got them in this pickle (Ken Holland) with getting them out of it.
Estimated return to relevance: This is a team that needs to get worse before it gets better, purging the roster of veterans and cap space, and then hoping a combination of the draft and shrewd veteran acquisitions can position them as a contender. But the current management hasn’t inspired much confidence to that end. There’s way too much loyalty to veterans past their expiration date or, failing that, an overvaluing of them.
Out of towners see what the local beat writers are too blind or too concerned about access to see.
I think many of us have been saying what Wyshynski is saying. Only thing you do is hope the stars align and Kenny is doing it correctly. Is frustrating as it can be at times.
Looking at all the teams ranked lower than the Wings there is one commonality between them all: complete tear down.
My question to all of us, is risking a losing culture worth a slightly better chance at a #1 overall pick?
AZ and the Oilers are the examples I look at. I don’t want to be a fan of either of those teams.
agree w/ GrrRahRah…
also, Wyshynski has always been a Wings hater.
i’m not so pessimistic.
i like our prospects and i like our veteran leadership.
this is a transitional rebuild, not a complete tear down.
everything is going to be alright, alright, alright…
Ken Holland and favored stenographer, HSJ, and apologists on blogs (who can go overboard, just as much haters with the opposite view sometimes do) always cite Edmonton – once of the most badly mismanaged teams in recent history – a team that ironically was so mismanaged in part because of endless loyalty to insiders with career-long Oilers ties.
Arizona? Talk about a challenging market with endless non-hockey distractions. But based on where that team is now, they’re solid.
Buffalo is another team that has bungled a rebuild for some time. But it also got them Jack Eichel and Rasmus Dahlin.
It’s always the sort of all-or-nothing resort to presuming these three teams and especially Edmonton are the necessary alternative to following Kenny’s plan. And if you disagree you are naive or impatient or just don’t understand how the experts do it.
We’ve heard a lot of statements from Holland over the past three offseasons about what he intends to do to improve the team and no one forced him to make those claims in public. And then he can’t or won’t follow through.
No one talks about the many more GMs who have made clever and creative moves, using the draft, signings – not just UFAs but guys coming out of college or from abroad, using the cap as an asset, giving younger players a real chance earlier, adding new voices and talent to the front office, being willing to make a mistake and bring in a new coach….it’s not just either trust Kenny – or senselessly tear down for the sake of tearing down and then spend ten years in the lottery, maybe getting bad luck, maybe missing on picks. But often that’s how the alternatives are presented.
And I am not all critical. Holland has done some things right. There is more young talent at forward. He has received some decent returns by moving out players who aren’t part of the future. Believe me, I’d rather be happy and complimentary about the work the front office is doing.
Actually, Montreal is my favorite for worst managed team in the NHL. But…..my point is more about a losing culture and not mismanagement.
Look at the dysfunction in Buffalo, Ottawa, Montreal, Vancouver, Arizona, Islanders. It’s a low bar to set, but the Wings are not messed up the way these teams are.
ESPN….they still cover hockey ?
They got rid of all their real hockey writers.
Wyshynski isn’t all wrong, but he sure as hell isn’t that right either. The Wings have some good young forwards and some promising prospects. If a few of their D prospects develop and Holland makes a trade or two, then even if they have to wait for Kronwall to age out and for Ericsson’s contract to expire, they will still be within a year or two of getting really competitive again. As long as the goaltending doesn’t implode, they have a couple of promising goaltenders in the pipeline. The Wings will be better a lot sooner than a lot of the detractors think.
im not a big fan of holland as he can be very dense , though imo has some good ‘ big picture ‘ logic . but puck daddy is a total clown that i wouldnt read one word of so ide be glad of him being critical of drw . concerning rebuild its started way later than it should of but i agree with holland on maintaining the culture and keeping the room stable while the young guys are stepping in . and im real high on a bunch of the young guys in mantha-larkin-razz-hronek-tuzzi