The Detroit Red Wings’ final game of the 2019-2020 season was supposed to take place against the Washington Capitals, but it was cancelled on March 12th, as was the rest of the NHL season. The team the Red Wings bring to Washington tonight is very different, as the Free Press’s Helene St. James notes:
“[Lucas Raymond] and Mo [Seider] have been outstanding for us,” [Robby] Fabbri said. “They’re fun to watch. They’re pretty special players and showing it early in their careers, which is nice.”
Raymond is one of multiple changes Yzerman made to the roster that limped toward the finish line in 2020. Gone are forwards Anthony Mantha, Luke Glendening, Darren Helm, Justin Abdelkader, Brendan Perlini, Valtteri Filppula, Frans Nielsen, Dmytro Timashov and Christoffer Ehn; defensemen Trevor Daley, Madison Bowey, Alex Biega, Jonathan Ericsson, Patrik Nemeth and Dennis Cholowski; and goaltenders Jonathan Bernier and Jimmy Howard.
Yzerman replaced Howard with Thomas Greiss, and Bernier with Alex Nedeljkovic. The defense has been bolstered by Seider, Nick Leddy, Marc Staal, Troy Stecher, Jordan Oesterle and the return of Danny DeKeyser from back surgery. Up front, Raymond, Pius Suter and Mitchell Stephens are among the new faces. Jakub Vrana was supposed to make up for the scoring lost in the Mantha in last season’s Mantha trade, but Vrana is out through January with a shoulder injury.
“There’s a process that has to happen when you’re in a rebuild where it takes time for draft picks to come to fruition,” Blashill said. “That’s one area where we are in a better spot today. And then obviously Steve has made some moves, whether it be signing free agents or through trades, that have definitely strengthened our team.”
Blashill wanted to eat dinner Tuesday at the same restaurant he had dinner March 11, 2020, when he saw the news that the NBA had shut down. What he saw was a reminder of the last 19 months.
“The place I went to eat was closed,” he said. “It was boarded up. We’ve all been through lots in the last year and a half. I look forward to not remembering. I look forward to where we recall it, but it’s been a while.”
Continued (paywall)
