Let’s all be surprised that The Athletic’s Corey Pronman is not impressed with the state of the Red Wings’ rebuild. This morning, Pronman ranks the Wings 12th out of 16 non-playoff teams:
12. Detroit Red Wings
Detroit has a quality NHL team. The Red Wings were top 10 in the league in goals last season. They also have a solid farm system with some excellent high picks on the way who will be pushing for NHL time soon. So why 12th? If this was about becoming a playoff team, I could rank Detroit higher, but I’m looking at the path to winning it all, and other than Dylan Larkin and Moritz Seider, I don’t see the true premium pieces in this organization to carry them the distance.
Continued (paywall); I’m not going to disagree that there’s a lack of superstar power in the Wings’ prospect brigade, but I’m pretty lost as to why Pronman discounts Lucas Raymond as merely a good foot soldier on a team that’s hopes to merely compete for a playoff spot on a regular basis.
Just as was the case with The Athletic’s Harman Dayal’s assertion that the Red Wings are destined to inhabit the NHL’s “mushy middle,” it’s going to take the Red Wings proving their critics wrong on the ice–and finding some surprise performances from their prospect pool–in order to take the next step.
Pronman is always negative about the Red Wings. He nor any of us know what we have yet in Kasper, Danielson, MBN, ASP, Anton J, and Buchelnikov. Then add in Cossa and Augustine.