The Sporting News’s Ryan Murphy posted a late-night article which digs into the Red Wings’ offseason moves, attempting to discern how the team will fare in a stacked Atlantic Division. This reads more like an “explainer” for people who aren’t familiar with teams’ offseason moves than a piece of in-depth analysis, which is fine:
Just because Detroit got a whole lot better does not make them automatic playoff contenders.
They are in arguably the toughest division in the NHL right now. Looking at the four teams that made the playoffs last season, all four are arguably in better spots than the Red Wings.
The Panthers didn’t make any major additions with their cap troubles, and lost Mason Marchment in free agency, but still have their core group together. The Maple Leafs brought in Matt Murray and Ilya Samsonov as their goaltending tandem and we’ll see if that helps them get over the first-round hump.
The Lightning are the Lightning and re-upped a bunch of their players while not bringing in anyone significant. They did lose Ondrej Palat in free agency. The Bruins are going to have to deal with the losses of Brad Marchand, Charlie McAvoy and Matt Grzelcyk at the beginning of the season, but still have their core group intact and will get three of those players back at some point.
The bottom line is the four playoff teams from the Atlantic last season are heading into the fall with rosters that are very similar to last year’s and will very well compete for a postseason spot.
Murphy continues, concluding that the Red Wings won’t make the playoffs. We shall see.
