It must be the day after Thanksgiving, because The Athletic’s Dom Luszczyszyn and Sean Gentille are back with their weekly power rankings list, full of smarm, sarcasm and witty banter, and this week Luszczyszyn says…Something nice about the Red Wings?
Record: 9-9-3
Last Week: 25
Dom rank: 24
Sean rank: 26What should this team be thankful for? Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider look like draft-day steals to numb the pain of their low lottery luck.
Dom: I don’t know if the Red Wings have enough depth to really take a leap, but the emergence of Raymond and Seider to start the season means the team is a lot closer than they appeared to be before the season. Their underlying numbers are slightly above average, the goaltending is good enough to steal games and they have one of most electrifying top lines in the league. Add a true number one defender to the mix as Seider is working his way towards and a path forward starts looking a lot clearer for Detroit. It may not be much, but compared to other rebuilds around the league that are struggling to get off the ground it looks very promising. The 2017-18 Avalanche and 2016-17 Leafs are the blueprint here and while Detroit may be a bit off from that, even being in the same breath is a step in the right direction.
Continued (paywall);
I don’t know whether the Red Wings have the depth to “take a step” yet, either, but I do know that the team appears likely to hit on a couple more draft picks before all is said and done, and that’s going to tell the tale for the course and duration of the Wings’ rebuilding effort under GM Steve Yzerman.
