Bleacher Report’s Adam Gretz has posted an article declaring the “biggest losers of the 2024 NHL offseason,” and he bags on the Red Wings’ defense (or the lack thereof) pretty heavily:
Moritz Seider and the Red Wings Defense
The Detroit Red Wings had one thing they needed to improve this offseason. Their defense.
Not only in terms of adding more high-level talent on that unit, but also adding more depth.
They have one bonafide stud in Moritz Seider, and then a bunch of question marks and bad contracts surrounding him. The lack of depth forced Seider into playing some of the toughest minutes in the NHL during the 2023-24 season. He was constantly starting in the defensive zone, he was playing against every team’s best players, and he did not have anywhere near enough support on a team that finished the season as one of the worst defensive teams in the league.
What did the Red Wings do to help him this offseason?
They gave away one of the only other reliable defenders in the roster in Jake Walman in a salary dump trade and signed Erik Gustafsson, while also taking some significant defensive hits at forward with the re-signing of Patrick Kane and addition of Vladimir Tarasenko in place of David Perron.
That is not enough. It is not enough for the Red Wings’ playoff pursuit, and it is not enough to take some of the pressure of Seider.
They really need a young player like Simon Edvinsson to take a huge leap forward and become an immediate star to make a difference.
Continued; the Red Wings had to walk and chew gum at the same time.
They needed to assuage the losses of David Perron and Daniel Sprong, they needed to bolster the defense in terms of both Shayne Gostisbehere’s exit and yes, adding a shut-down defender to spell Moritz Seider, and they needed to reinforce their goaltending situation.
Oh, and the team needed the cap space to re-sign Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider.
The team’s management at least adequately addressed its offensive issues by re-signing Patrick Kane and bringing in Vladimir Tarasenko; they tried very hard to bring in Erik Gustafsson to replace Gostisbehere; Cam Talbot will shore up the team’s goaltending, and they’ve got the cap space to ink Raymond and Seider (and Jonatan Berggren) to extensions.
They did not address the glaring need for a shut-down defenseman to spell Seider, that is true. It may take until the 2024-2025 trade deadline to address that issue fully (and Jacob Trouba was probably going to be “that guy” until the trade fell through).
As such, yes, Simon Edvinsson will have to take a step forward. But the team does not have two defensemen, it has eight. They are not elegant “studs” on the blueline, or the belles of the ball, but it’s up to Ben Chiarot, Justin Holl, Olli Maatta, Erik Gustafsson, Jeff Petry and Albert Johansson to step up and play better.
That’s what the team’s got, and you work with what you’ve got until you can bring in reinforcements. Again, not “sexy” names by any stretch of the imagination, but that’s what coach Lalonde and his assistants have to work with, and they have to make due with it.
The Wings’ forwards will have to chip in in terms of reducing the team’s goals-against average, too, as will the goaltenders.
It’s a team dynamic, not Seider’s job alone, though he’s definitely going to continue playing hard minutes for a bit yet. But all is not doom and gloom.
