Bleacher Report’s Joe Yerdon assesses the progress made by 11 teams which he deems to be in the rebuilding process this afternoon. Here’s what he has to say about the Red Wings’ rebuild:
The Red Wings have been rebuilding for years and even now they don’t seem to be settled with what they’re doing.
They’ve made great draft picks in recent years with Moritz Seider, Lucas Raymond, Sebastian Cossa and Marco Kasper. They’ve also had some picks not pan out, most notably Filip Zadina (No. 6 in 2018) whom they recently parted ways with and signed with San Jose. Joe Veleno (No. 30 in 2018) hasn’t lived up to his high-scoring days in the QMJHL and Michael Rasmussen (No. 9 in 2017) has been more of a heavy than a scorer with the Wings.
Since Steve Yzerman took over as GM, the drafting has been a bit smarter but the free-agent signings make us tilt our heads like curious puppies.
Adding Andrew Copp made sense for defensive help with scoring touch up front, but at five years and $28.5 million, the goals haven’t been there consistently. Ben Chiarot had questionable analytics but played the prototypical defensive defenseman game which earned him four years and $19 million in Detroit. Ville Husso’s three-year, $14.5 million contract shows he might be there to keep the crease warm until Cossa is ready to compete for the NHL gig.
Justin Holl and J.T. Compher’s signings stick out from this year, but trading for Alex DeBrincat and signing him for four years at $31.5 million could be a superb addition.
The Red Wings believe they are right there and their offseason moves show their hand. There are some prospects coming, but Yzerman and his scouts are trying to play a little catch-up after Ken Holland struggled to keep up at the end of his Detroit tenure.
Grade: C
Continued; I’m sticking to the line that Yzerman had to tear down for a couple seasons before truly beginning the “Yzerplan” in earnest last season, and, as a result, the “Yzer-timeline” might take a little longer than any of us would have hoped.
That being said, I wouldn’t knock Steve for what Ken Holland did or didn’t do.
