‘Reckless usage’

EP Rinkside’s Dmitri Filipovic posted an article discussing “winners and losers” after the first day of the unrestricted free agent period, and here’s what he had to say about the Red Wings’ moves:

The other team whose reckless usage of resources similarly stands out is the Detroit Red Wings. For the second straight offseason, they jumped head first into the unrestricted free agent market and spent freely on players that are fine, but don’t exactly move the needle in any significant way. Here’s the list of free agent skaters they’ve signed in that time, and the amount of future money they invested in them:

The last two I actually like. Detroit’s offence was deplorable last year, finishing 28th in 5-on-5 scoring and 31st in high-danger chance generation. At those prices, Gostisbehere and Sprong will both surely be able to help and can be easily flipped to a contender at the deadline for a decent return. 

What I don’t really understand are the long-term commitments to some of the others up at the top, especially when combining the context of where they’re at as an organization and what those players provide. When he took a sharp step back and sold off everything he could at last year’s trade deadline, general manager Steve Yzerman was fairly critical of the Red Wings, and how far away they were from competing against some of the other teams in their own division. 

That was the right assessment at the time, and it was encouraging to hear because it provided some hope for their plan of action moving forward. But the choices they just made yet again this summer don’t really gel with that, and the fact that it’s unclear what their goals are and what they’re trying to ultimately accomplish is kind of concerning.

Continued (paywall)

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George Malik

My name is George Malik, and I'm the Malik Report's editor/blogger/poster. I have been blogging about the Red Wings since 2006, and have worked with MLive and Kukla's Korner. Thank you for reading!