The Athletic posted a trio of articles which discuss Red Wings-related topics this morning:
- Sean McIndoe offers “oddly specific predictions” for every NHL team…
Detroit Red Wings
It’s an annual oddly specific prediction tradition, so let’s make the Wings this year’s team that some people think will be a lot better, some people think will be a lot worse, but that actually finishes the year with exactly the same number of points they had in 2023-24 (91).
2. The Athletic’s James Mirtle and Harman Dayal rank every team’s defensive corps, and the Wings are ranked the “Below Average” tier (geez, The Athletic loves tiers)…
Detroit Red Wings
Ben Chiarot–Moritz Seider
Simon Edvinsson–Jeff Petry
Olli Maatta–Erik GustafssonExtra defense options: Albert Johansson, Justin Holl
On paper, this group looks like it will be the biggest impediment to the Red Wings finally returning to the postseason.
Jeff Petry is 37 in December and shouldn’t be playing higher than third-pair minutes at this point. Ben Chiarot doesn’t belong on a playoff team’s top pair. And there’s a reason Olli Maatta and Erik Gustafsson have bounced around as much as they have.
The big caveat to all of that is Moritz Seider is a stud and Simon Edvinsson has very high-end potential. Edvinsson, in particular, could level up into a top-pair defender as early as this season. If he’s ready, the Red Wings will climb this ranking quickly — and possibly even grab a wild-card spot.
3. And Sean Gentille ranks the “Hope-O-Meter” for the NHL’s 32 fan bases:
23. Detroit Red Wings — 70.2
Optimist Tim: It feels weird to be optimistic about a team that mostly overachieved last season, and I know “the model” says otherwise, but I really do think this Red Wings team got better. Edvinsson’s a top 4 upgrade over Walman. Tarasenko’s a slight upgrade over Perron. A full offseason of training for Kane. Continued growth for Raymond. Enough decent goalies to ride at least one of them at a time. The roster is still flawed, but this year I think we earn our playoff bubble slot instead of lucking into it.
Pessimist Kris: All I’ve heard for years is how great our prospect pool is, and yet we keep signing aged and overpaid vets that end up blocking them vs. just biting the bullet a little and letting the kids learn by doing.
Etc. etc. at this point.
