Of Red Wings-related note this afternoon:
- The Hockey News’s Jared Clinton examines the Red Wings’ “youth movement” as the team prepares for a season in which Henrik Zetterberg may or may not play:
While a Zetterberg-less Red Wings would mean the end of an era, the changing of the tides may be what’s best for the organization in the long haul. It’s no secret Detroit, after a long spell of success, are mired in a two-season drought and entrenched in a transitional period as the old guard passes the torch to a new wave. And in that sense, it was somewhat fitting that Holland copped to the continued uncertainty about Zetterberg and the potential for life without one of the franchise’s modern fixtures on the same day the team announced and celebrated the signing of Dylan Larkin to a five-year, $30.5-million pact.
Larkin took a major step towards becoming the future of the Red Wings’ offense last season when he took over the top-line role that formerly belonged to the likes of Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk, commanding not only first-line playing time, averaging nearly 20 minutes per outing, but driving the offense with a team-leading 63 points. Even prior to his career-best point production, though, Larkin was heralded as the future in Detroit, with some even attaching the future captain tag to his name.
And while Larkin’s role would potentially stand to increase the most on a Zetterberg-less Red Wings, with added on- and off-ice responsibility as arguably the new face of the franchise, he would be far from the only one who could benefit from the roster refresh that could truly be spurred on by Zetterberg’s injury-related departure. Anthony Mantha and Andreas Athanasiou, both of whom were handed two-year contracts this summer, would almost certainly be among those to see increased playing time if Detroit were to hand the reins over to their younger talent. Both have seemingly untapped offensive upside, and on a goal-starved team, having one or both breakout with greater ice time would give promise for a brighter future for the Red Wings.
Likewise, other up-and-comers fighting for playing time, the Tyler Bertuzzis, Martin Frks and Evgeny Svechnikovs of the roster, could see greater opportunities come their way were Zetterberg’s absence to lead to a change in mindset in Detroit. While veterans such as Justin Abdelkader and Darren Helm have become fixtures of the middle-six for the Red Wings, Detroit could use this as an opportunity to rejuvenate the bottom half of their roster with young legs. That’s to say nothing of the aforementioned Zadina, either, who could be an instant top-six winger in Detroit.
2. DetroitRedWings.com’s Arthur J. Regner examines Anthony Mantha’s 2017-18 season on both statistical and narrative bases:
80 – Total games he played for the Red Wings last season. Mantha’s 80 games played ranked third overall on the Wings. Captain Henrik Zetterberg, Dylan Larkin and Gustav Nyquist played in all 82 games for Detroit. Defensemen Jonathan Ericsson and Nick Jensen played in 81 games.
24 – His goal total for last season, which led the Red Wings. Nyquist was second with 21, Frans Nielsen, Larkin and Andreas Athanasiou were tied for third with 16 goals apiece. He also had 24 assists, which was fourth best on the Wings. Larkin led Detroit with 47 assists, followed by Zetterberg’s 45 and Mike Green’s 25.
48 – Mantha’s point total, which was third on the Wings. Larkin led Detroit with 63 points and Zetterberg finished second with 56.
3. And ESPN’s Sean Allen posted his “Dynasty League” top 250 fantasy hockey player rankings, with Dylan Larkin (61), Anthony Mantha (139), Evgeny Svechnikov (140), Filip Zadina (169) and Jonathan Bernier (190) making his list.
