The Athletic surveyed its NHL beat writers regarding a “burning question” which each NHL team faces going into training camp, and Max Bultman weighed in with the following:
Exactly how much better are they? The Red Wings should be improved next season after adding a premium goal scorer in Alex DeBrincat, another strong two-way center in J.T. Compher, defensemen Jeff Petry, Shayne Gostisbehere and Justin Holl, and rounding out their depth on the wings and in goal. The question is: How much better? Those are some big adds, but the Red Wings also subtracted Tyler Bertuzzi, Filip Hronek and Jakub Vrana late last season. Is the sum total of those moves enough to push the Red Wings into serious wild-card contention in a loaded Eastern Conference? And what kind of steps will key returners Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider take? Training camp will give us our first look at just how much better than last season the Red Wings actually might be. — Max Bultman
Continued (paywall); I’m curious to see what the revamped Red Wings look like through training camp and the exhibition season as well. The team turned over nearly half its roster, and Tyler Bertuzzi was a big driver of play. I don’t know who’s going to step up to fill his role.
