The Detroit News’s Nolan Bianchi offers a superb column analyzing the Red Wings’ free agency moves as viewed over the course of the next season and couple seasons’ worth of growth:
Ben Chiarot, David Perron and Andrew Copp all said that getting ready to become a contender was the next step in Detroit’s evolution. One can reasonably hope that the Wings will grow significantly from a team that half-heartedly stayed in the playoff race for the first half of the season before the bottom fell out.
It’s pretty clear that playoffs are the goal in 2022-23, and the growth they showed early last season, coupled with Wednesday’s signings and a new voice in Lalonde, I think that’s reasonable.
Let’s say, though, that doesn’t go according to plan. After all, the East is loaded. Ottawa made a massive overhaul this offseason, too, and the aging Bruins are really the only team that could fall off a cliff in the Atlantic. Buffalo is also on the rise, Carolina and the New York Rangers will likely remain atop the Metro, and the next three or four teams in that division all project to be somewhat competitive.
Should the Red Wings remain on the outside looking in, they’ve maintained the ability to be flexible. Outside of Chiarot and Copp, all of the Red Wings’ signings on Wednesday were for two years or less at decent cap numbers. They’ll be movable.
The absolute worst possible thing for Detroit this upcoming season would be to enable an environment where Dylan Larkin is staring up into the rafters of Little Caesars Arena in the midst of a third seven-goal loss in two week’s time. Putting your best players through that ringer year after year starts to take a toll. I’m fairly certain that won’t be an issue in 2022-23, regardless of where Detroit finishes in the standings.
But make no mistake: The Red Wings are trying to make the playoffs next season. All things considered, I’d say their chances are likely somewhere between possible and probable. But if they don’t get in, they’ve built themselves a nice safety net in the process.
