NHL.com’s spending July checking in with all 31 teams as they stand after the NHL Draft in Vancouver, and this morning, Nicholas J. Cotsonika examines the state of the Red Wings. Cotsonika assesses the Wings’ additions, subtractions, and possible training camp jobs to be won by rookies, but his bottom line is blunt:
What they still need
Difference-makers. Now that Yzerman is back in Detroit as the GM, he needs to find the next … well, Yzerman. The Red Wings kept their window open for so long because they replaced Yzerman and Sergei Fedorov with Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg at center while they still had defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom, and they built around them. They have to draft and develop the next generation of stars.
Cotsonika continues, and this is a really good snapshot of where the Wings stand today–as a team that is in the process of getting better.
