Bleacher Report’s Joe Yerdon posted a set of grades for the NHL’s 32 teams’ respective offseason moves, and here’s what he has to say about the Red Wings’ renovations:
Detroit Red Wings
What Went Right: GM Steve Yzerman was one of the busiest executives in the league once again and made it even more apparent that getting the Red Wings back to the playoffs is the goal. He acquired forward Alex DeBrincat from Ottawa and signed him to a four-year, $31.5 million extension. Taking him from a division foe is a crucial move, particularly because they’ll be right there with the Senators in playoff competition.
They also added forwards Klim Kostin from Edmonton and signed free agents J.T. Compher (Colorado), Daniel Sprong (Seattle) and Christian Fischer (Arizona). He also deepened the blue line, adding veterans Shayne Gostisbehere (Carolina) and Justin Holl (Toronto), and acquired Jeff Petry from the Canadiens. James Reimer also signed on to be Ville Husso’s backup.
What Went Wrong: While the Wings were busier than most teams, the big question for a lot of the additions is whether most of these guys will address their needs. Yes, Detroit is much deeper with veteran talent, and they all seem to address very specific needs, but that kind of turnover sometimes requires time for chemistry to build, if it even builds at all. This puts a load of pressure on coach Derek Lalonde to get everyone on the same page ASAP because the Eastern Conference is going to be a battlefield.
Grade: B
Continued; again, the preseason doesn’t count for much, but the Red Wings did look like they were integrating the vast majority of their free agent and trade additions into the lineup quite well. Even though DeBrincat was snake-bitten in front of the net, he was skating and making plays and even bumping and grinding opponents, so he’s engaged, and players like Jeff Petry and J.T. Compher looked like they’d always played here.
The Wings have a rough start to their regular season in games at New Jersey and at home vs. the Tampa Bay Lightning, so they’ll be in tough, but their first two games are a good set of tests to see whether the 8-games-in-12-nights preseason helped the Wings get a running start.
