The Free Press’s Helene St. James discusses the Red Wings’ defensive depth this morning, wondering aloud how the competition for spots on the Wings’ blueline this fall will turn out:
General manager Steve Yzerman added three veterans during the offseason in Jeff Petry, Shayne Gostisbehere, and Justin Holl. Gone from last season’s roster are Filip Hronek, Jordan Oesterle, Robert Hagg and Gustav Lindström. Returning defensemen include Moritz Seider, Jake Walman, Ben Chiarot, and Olli Määttä. Health is unpredictable, of course, but on the face of it, that is a better starting corps than the Wings have had in years.
Seider, Petry and Holl shoot right, so the Wings will have the luxury of forming three pairs consisting of right-shots and left-shots. With Seider, Walman, Petry and Gotisbehere, the Wings can also have at least one defender on each pairing who can make things happen offensively. And Määttä showed renewed signs of that side of his game last season, too.
With the exception of three games in mid-February when Walman was out of the lineup, he and Seider formed a successful partnership the second half of the season. They read off one another well, allowing each to take an active role with the puck, without compromising integrity in their own zone. Seider had a minus-13 rating when he gained Walman as a partner, then posted a plus-two in the time they played together. The logical starting point is to have those together again.
From there, it gets interesting. Chiarot, Seider’s partner the first half, had an ugly plus-minus at season’s end, bottoming out at minus-31. But he’s 6 feet 3 and 232 pounds and plays as heavy as he is. He’s got an edge to him — when Ryan Reaves was taking all manner of liberties with the Wings during a game at Minnesota in December last year, it was Chiarot who dropped his gloves to send a message on behalf of his team.
Continued (paywall)
