MLive’s Ansar Khan discusses how teams in the Atlantic Division will finish this upcoming season, and he’s predicting that the Red Wings will finish 5th in the division:
5. Detroit
Key additions: LW Vladimir Tarasenko, D Erik Gustafsson, G Cam Talbot, C Tyler Motte.
Key losses: RWs David Perron, Daniel Sprong, LW, Robby Fabbri, Ds Shayne Gostisbehere, Jake Walman, G James Reimer.
The Red Wings are not as strong on paper as the team that missed a playoff spot due to a tiebreaker. They lost a lot of offense, including a key power-play component in Gostisbehere. Tarasenko, Jonatan Berggren and improvement from within will compensate to some degree, but they must move up several spots from 24th in the league in goals against to end an eight-year playoff drought.
Continued; no Perron, no Gostisbehere, no Sprong, yeah, that looks like a “step back,” but the goaltending situation is going to get sorted out, Tarasenko might ride shotgun with a fully healthy Patrick Kane…
And you lose the defensive struggles and penalties committed by David Perron’s slow-footed status, Gostisbehere’s inability to defend at even strength, and Sprong’s inconsistency.
Sometimes there’s “addition by subtraction,” and while the losses in terms of goals-for will hurt, if the Red Wings work on their goals-against average, and players like Simon Edvinsson, Jonatan Berggren and Joe Veleno take steps forward, they’ll be all right.
