Bleacher Report’s Adam Gretz posted a set of “Bold Predictions” for every one of the NHL’s 32 teams, and he offers the conventional take on Detroit’s hit-and-miss offseason:
Detroit Red Wings: They Miss the Playoffs Again: At some point there are going to have start being some tough questions asked about whether or not Steve Yzerman is going to get the Red Wings to where they want to be and need to be.
Missing the playoffs for an eighth straight season would probably be the time when those questions really start getting seriously asked.
It is not hard to envision that scenario playing out, either. Mainly because the Red Wings have ignored the single biggest flaw that held them back last season — defense.
In fact, they arguably made it worse by trading Jake Walman to San Jose in a salary dump move. The Red Wings could already score goals and spent the offseason focussing on that aspect of their game, re-signing Patrick Kane and bringing in Vladimir Tarasenko. In a vacuum, there is really nothing wrong with either move. Kane will help the power play. Tarasenko will score some goals. But neither player is going to do anything to help prevent goals, and that looks to be the aspect of the team that will once again hold them back.
Continued; at least under Chris Ilitch, Yzerman doesn’t have to worry about his job as playing the “long game” in terms of rebuilding the organization. Derek Lalonde, on the other hand, might be on the “hot seat”…
And the Wings at least ended up stemming losses on defense via bringing in Erik Gustafsson to replace Shayne Gostisbehere, and they’re expecting improvement from within as Simon Edvinsson and Albert Johansson turn pro.
I believe that the Walman move was a mistake made with the intention of adding a d-man through a trade or free agency signing that probably fell through, but he wasn’t a defensive stalwart, and yes, the Wings need to add a shut-down, right-shooting defenseman to help bolster the blueline…
But in the interim, their “bottom six” is better- equipped to keep pucks out of their own net, their “top six” is going to score more and it’s faster this year, their “D” is treading water at least, and Cam Talbot may be old, but he’s an upgrade on Husso and Lyon in my opinion.
Marginal improvements for sure, but sometimes you swing and miss (and my gut feeling is that the Red Wings wanted Marchessault, not Stamkos) in free agency, and end up losing guys to teams offering more money and term (in David Perron’s case) or a better chance to win (in Shayne Gostisbehere’s case).
Yzerman did the best he could do with the cards he was dealt, and now the Wings need to get this roster sorted out so that they can address any post-Raymond-and-Seider-contract trades to shore up the D or up-front checking.
That, and getting as close to the playoffs as they did will hopefully light a fire under the team’s collective ass, giving the team even more impetus to grind out a spot this upcoming season.
All in all, it’s been an OK offseason for a team that still has some flaws to address, but that doesn’t make its GM or pro scouts incompetent.
