The Detroit News is promoting its “OctoPulse” podcast, in which Dearborn Heights native Mike Leone discusses his rise among the coaching ranks to the coach of the AHL’s Rochester Americans this upcoming season…
And Detroit News Red Wings scribe Ted Kulfan discusses the fact that the Red Wings added older players in free agency, bringing the team’s composite age up to 28.5 years of age, which will make the Wings one of the oldest teams in the league on average.
Here’s a bit of what Kulfan has to say about the Wings’ “treading water” in free agency:
“In some ways, I do think it’s about a wash,” Kulfan said. “You have Vladimir Tarasenko replacing David Perron. You probably lose a little bit defensively but Tarasenko is capable of scoring more goals. Defensively, you wonder if that’s going to be a significant loss there, losing Shayne Gostisbehere. He really seemed to inject some life into the power play. He’s kind of a wizard with the puck. I’ve always liked Gustafsson. He’s a fine player but I’m not quite sure he’s Gostisbehere. You’ll have Edvinsson for a whole season, so that will help.
“Cam Talbot has had some good years but he’s 37 and kind of slumped the second half of last season. I’m not sure if that’s a huge upgrade over what they already have. You haven’t replaced Daniel Sprong’s 18 goals. It’s still such a competitive division. Doesn’t seem like those four teams ahead of them (Florida, Tampa Bay, Boston, Toronto) have slipped that much and Ottawa and Buffalo are nipping at their teams. If Tarasenko and Kane slump and don’t reach the levels they’re kind of expected, it’s going to be a tough road to hoe.”
Continued; I’m not too concerned about the Wings’ situation, though I do believe that they need to add a two-way, right-handed defenseman to bolster the right side of the blueline.
To me, Tarasenko’s lack of defensive prowess is worth adjusting to if he doesn’t take the kinds of ill-timed penalties that Perron did; I agree with Kulfan that the combination of Edvinsson and Gustafsson (and Johansson) will have to make up for Gostisbehere’s decision to chase a Cup with Carolina; and I’m just not worried about Talbot’s age–he’s been durable for a long time now, and if last year’s playoff run with LA was an anomaly, then he posted a near-Vezina-worthy regular season’s worth of stats, and that should help stabilize the Wings’ crease.
Sure, the Wings have some goals to make up for, and they need to tighten up defensively, but we already knew that they weren’t going to be able to keep everybody, and that they were going to have to improve their defensive game to compete in the tightly-packed Atlantic Division.
