I’m going to roll my eyes at Daily Faceoff’s Scott Maxwell and Hunter Crowther’s assessment of the Red Wings as a “fringe playoff team” in a set of power rankings which are tiered instead of numbered. He’s not wrong that the Red Wings got lucky last season in some instances, but I believe that you earn your luck:
Scott: Were the Red Wings playoff chances decided on the final day? Yes. But at the same time, they relied a lot on luck to make that happen, and they did not make any drastic changes to the roster this year outside of swapping David Perron for Vladimir Tarasenko. They might see some improvement if they don’t give Moritz Seider the worst usage in the league, but they currently have him paired with Ben Chiarot again, so my confidence isn’t all that high.
Hunter: I’m just going to come out and say it — the league is better when the Red Wings are better. So watching Steve Yzerman be satisfied with mediocre veterans on the blue ine (e.g. Erik Gustafsson) and a lack of bottom-six depth up front is frustrating. Is 37-year-old Cam Talbot taking you to the promised land? Or soon-to-be 36-year-old Patrick Kane?
Continued; Yeah, there are some “old Wings” for sure, but the youth movement is imminent.
