Bleacher Report’s Adam Gretz grades every NHL team’s offseason thus far, and he pulls no punches in issuing distaste for the Red Wings’ moves:
There might not be a general manager in the league facing more pressure this offseason than Steve Yzerman. He needs to produce a playoff team, and so far his offseason makes you wonder if he paid attention to the way his team played in 2023-24.
Instead of fixing one of the league’s worst defenses that helped sabotage their season, he has doubled down on offense by re-signing Patrick Kane and signing Vladimir Tarasenko.
Kane will crush it on the power play, but his 5-on-5 and defensive play are a shell of what they once were.
Tarasenko is still really good, and as good as the Red Wings’ offense was a year ago there is a very real chance it was set up for a regression this season given how high their team shooting percentage was (over 11 percent in all situations, which is not a sustainable number year-to-year).
But that defense … it’s bad, and only managed to get worse after they gave away one of the few reliable players they had by trading Jake Walman in a salary dump to San Jose (and they had to give up a second-round pick to make it happen). That is going to put even more on the shoulders of Moritz Seider to carry the load.
The Red Wings still have over $20 million in salary cap space, and while Seider and Lucas Raymond need to be re-signed as restricted free agents they should not take up all of that. Some of that, at some point, has to be used on defense or the Yzerplan could be setting itself up for another disappointing year.
Grade: D+
Continued; I’m more of an optimist, so I’d issue the Red Wings a solid “C” for their offseason, mostly because, as Gretz suggests, the Red Wings haven’t signed a right-side defenseman to help ease Seider’s workload and provide offense as well…
But the Wings weren’t all that good at even strength defense with David Perron and Shayne Gostisbehere in the lineup. I feel that the team did and will continue to address the “back half” of its lineup through free agency and the evolution and promotion of younger players…
And as much as Gostisbehere’s offense will be missed, his even-strength defense was an…adventure…and Perron has slowed considerably, and was prone to taking obstruction fouls as a result.
Overall, I feel that the Red Wings did what they could with the money they had, and while I disagree with the Walman trade, I am at least hopeful that the Wings will adjust the team’s defensive corps at some point this upcoming season, and I believe that this team will be better at even strength and in goal.
