The Athletic’s Dom Luszczyszyn discusses the improvements made (or the lack thereof) by every one of the NHL’s 32 teams over the course of the summer (thus far).
We all know that Luszczyszyn is particularly tough on the Red Wings, and this morning, he argues that the Wings have dropped 9 spots from their end-of-season ranking due to a lack of offseason improvements:
Net Rating added: -9
Salary added: -$5 millionKey Additions: Vladimir Tarasenko, Tyler Motte, Erik Gustafsson, Cam Talbot
Key Departures: David Perron, Daniel Sprong, Robby Fabbri, Shayne Gostisbehere, Jake Walman
There seem to be a lot of Red Wings fans out there who believe Detroit did enough to jump into the playoffs. I am of the opposite opinion — it feels like the Red Wings got worse in an already difficult conference that got even harder.
Let’s go line-by-line. Vladimir Tarasenko offers more offense than David Perron, but it comes at the expense of defense. That might be a wash.
Tyler Motte is probably a downgrade from Robby Fabbri and there’s no adequate replacement for Daniel Sprong and the depth offense he brought.
I like Erik Gustafsson more than any reasonable person should, but he’s still just an off-brand Shayne Gostisbehere. No Jake Walman means more Justin Holl too. The team’s already weak defense probably got worse.
And while Cam Talbot had an excellent season with the Kings, I’m not sure he will repeat that at his age with this team. He’s likely more of the same as what the Red Wings already have in Alex Lyon and Ville Husso.
Continued (paywall); I don’t believe that the Red Wings got worse, though it does feel as if the Wings are treading water, and need to add a dynamic right-shot defenseman to bolster the defensive corps.
I think that Vladimir Tarasenko is an upgrade on Perron because he’s speedier and a little less gritty, which means fewer penalties taken due to slow foot speed or temper;
Tyler Motte isn’t Robby Fabbri–he’s a checking-line and PK forward who feels better-slotted to playing in the “bottom six”;
Losing Walman definitely hurts, and again, I feel that the Wings need to add a defenseman to help out Moritz Seider, Simon Edvinsson and Albert Johansson.
And while Erik Gustafsson is not going to produce as much as Shayne Gostisbehere, whose loss definitely hurts, he’s going to be better defensively, especially at even strength.
As I’ve gotten older myself, I’ve also continued to root for the old guys, and if Cam Talbot can push the Wings’ save percentage up a couple of percent, and be at least a steady presence in a Red Wings crease that’s been in a state of turmoil over the past couple of seasons, I’ll be very happy with his addition.
All in all, considering that Daniel Sprong is also gone and that the Wings’ remaining cap space is likely to go to re-signing Jonatan Berggren, Joe Veleno, Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider…
Yee Wings are going to have to improve from within to contend for a playoff spot, but that’s the whole damn point of player development, isn’t it?
I still feel that the Wings are at least ahead of the Senators, Sabres and Canadiens, if only by a nose, and I’m not certain that the Capitals or Islanders did enough to push themselves ahead of Detroit, either.
Ultimately, yes, I could see that the Wings end up having to battle for a playoff spot down to the wire again, but that’s whole lot better than things used to be around here. Detroit’s in year 7 or so of a 10-year rebuild, and that’s just where the team is at.
