A quartet of Red Wings-related stories from The Athletic

There are a bunch of stories of Red Wings-related note on The Athletic this morning. I can’t share everything from the paywalled articles, but we’ll try to dig in nonetheless.

1. The Athletic’s Max Bultman offered questions for every Red Wings forward yesterday, and this morning, he asks questions of every Red Wings defenseman and goaltender:

Moritz Seider: Will he hold onto the top power play spot?

Sure, there’s probably a bigger-picture question here about whether he can take the next step and become not just Detroit’s No. 1 defenseman, but join the league’s upper echelon. But based on Seider’s trajectory, that feels more like a matter of time. And whether that time is this season could be dictated in part by whether he’s able to fend off Shayne Gostisbehere for top power-play responsibilities.

Gostisbehere might be the more natural option, as a true specialist power-play quarterback, but Seider’s continued development in that spot is probably the most important thing for the team’s big-picture. It’ll be fascinating to see which direction the Red Wings take.

…

Ville Husso: Can he shoulder the load?

You all knew this one was coming. It’s been one of the biggest storylines since late last season. Husso had a ton of strong showings last season for the Red Wings — enough that his .896 season-ending save percentage required a double take. But it was the reality, and it seemed to be mainly driven by fatigue (and, relatedly, playing through injury down the stretch). Now, all eyes will be on whether he’s ready to hold up for the whole season this time around.

Continued;

2. The Athletic’s Murat Ates is predicting the Red Wings to improve this upcoming season–but not hit .500:

Detroit Red Wings

2022-23 record: 35-37-10, 80 points

The best case for major improvements: Detroit went shopping this summer, turning over 40 percent of its roster, and made quality additions: Alex DeBrincat, Daniel Sprong, Shayne Gostisbehere, J.T. Compher and Justin Holl will, to varying degrees, help a team that added Ville Husso, Andrew Copp and Ben Chiarot one year ago. That’s an awful lot of change in a short period of time.

Youngsters Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider will continue to grow, while Derek Lalonde will get his second crack at taking the Red Wings back toward a playoff spot. Real growth will depend on Husso running hot for a much bigger portion of the season than he did one year ago, but that comes with risk: Husso doesn’t have the lengthy track record that Jarry, Markstrom, Merzlikins or even Korpisalo do so as to justify the bet. An optimist might point out that Husso ran a .907 through Feb. 23 before cratering due to injury and fatigue; perhaps James Reimer can help Detroit manage Husso’s workload.

Detroit added a lot of talent, Lalonde is still relatively new, and Husso can run hot enough to carry a team. The Red Wings did hit a lot of our criteria; I’m just not sure they hit them particularly hard. It’s easy to imagine some degree of improvement but not some kind of season for the ages.

Continued; nobody’s going to believe in the Red Wings until the Red Wings believe in themselves;

3. The Athletic’s Shayna Goldman examines players from a fantasy hockey perspective, adding or subtracting from Dom Luszczyszyn’s model of their performance based upon some gut instinct.

Two players earn a “+++”…

Moritz Seider, D, DET

Moritz Seider’s second season didn’t go according to plan. But a mid-season shift from Ben Chiarot’s side to Jake Walman’s made a huge difference. So coaching probably won’t make that mistake again. Pair that with the fact that the Red Wings should be better offensively this year, and Seider should take a leap forward from his rookie year and be a lot more valuable to fantasy managers. 

Dylan Larkin, C, DET

Dylan Larkin’s going to have better winger depth with Alex DeBrincat in the fold. That should help both at even strength and on the power play, so expect Larkin to kick it up a notch, too. 

And one earns a “++”:

Alex DeBrincat, LW/RW, DET

Was 2022-23 the outlier season for Alex DeBrincat’s goal-scoring? The shot generation was there, the results just weren’t. We’re betting on it rebounding in Detroit. 

Continued; as I often say, here’s hoping.

4. And finally, for the record, Lucas Raymond was half-joking when he was asked to weigh in on a possible rule change by Michael Russo:

Smaller pads for goalies

Votes: 3

“They’re still way too big,” kidded Detroit Red Wings forward Lucas Raymond.

Continued; Something tells me part of him wasn’t joking.