NHL.com’s Dave Hogg takes a look at the state of the Detroit Red Wings this evening, discussing the Wings’ offseason additions, player departures, and what the Red Wings still need to do to complete their offseason:
What they still need: With Tarasenko joining Patrick Kane, Alex DeBrincat and Lucas Raymond, the Red Wings have a lot of scoring potential on their top two lines, but these four players are not known as strong defensive forwards. That’s going to put a lot of pressure on Larkin and J.T. Compher to forecheck and retrieve pucks. Detroit also needs a strong defensive defenseman for its second pair. Moritz Seider faced the League’s toughest competition last season, which cost him on the offensive end. A stay-at-home veteran could take much of that pressure off him.
Continued; I don’t disagree that the Red Wings do need a second-pair, right-shooting defenseman pretty significantly, but I’m not sure that he exists on the free agent marketplace.
Once the Wings have signed restricted free agents Jonatan Berggren, Lucas Raymond, Moritz Seider and Joe Veleno to contract extensions, and the team’s salary cap situation sorts itself out, perhaps the Wings will swing a late-summer trade for the kind of player they need…
But I think that it’s increasingly likely that the Wings will have to wait until at least the start of the regular season, if not until the 2023-2024 trade deadline, to fully address that particular need.
Also of note from Hogg:
They said it: “We would love to make the playoffs next year — we would have loved to have made the playoffs last year — but ultimately I’m still trying to put together that core of young guys that is going to be together and start to creep into the playoffs and hang around in the playoffs and maybe eventually win. That’s the long-term plan and we’ll stick to it.” — general manager Steve Yzerman
Fantasy focus: Tarasenko was a key contributor during Florida’s Stanley Cup run, but he ranked 129th in the NHL in points per game (0.72) during the regular season. He has reached a high fantasy gear in the past, having 40 goals in 2015-16 and 82 points in 2021-22 with the Blues. Tarasenko could be the missing piece to get the Red Wings back to the playoffs. He should be considered a fantasy bounce-back candidate with a high likelihood of playing on a line and power-play unit with one or two elite forwards. — Pete Jensen
Tarasenko may not have the blistering speed he once possessed, nor the desire to backcheck very hard, but he’s a sniper and a really good one at that. Add in a wee bit of a mean streak and a stocky 219-pound frame, and he can still hold his own when the going gets tough.
As for the rest of the roster, and concerns about the top six forwards checking, the bottom six forwards scoring, the glut of goaltenders, whether Gustafsson can replace Gostisbehere in any way, shape or form on the power play, or whether the team can deal with the departure of David Perron in the leadership department…
Those questions will sort themselves out over the course of training camp and the exhibition season, if not the first dozen games of the regular season. And the progression of young players and impact of injuries will both play their respective roles in shaping the form of the 2024-2025 Red Wings team.
