MLive’s Ansar Khan looks at the performances of the players that the Red Wings have yet to truly replace this season, offering the following assessments of the following Red Wings alumni:
Shayne Gostisbehere, Carolina: A power-play specialist who drives offense from the back end, he’s the player the Red Wings miss the most after signing for three years at a modest $3.2 million average annual value with the Hurricanes. He has six goals, and his 27 points rank seventh among NHL defensemen. Gostisbehere’s 29 power-play points last season were the most by a Detroit defenseman since Nicklas Lidstrom in 2010-11 (39).
David Perron, Ottawa: The Red Wings wanted to re-sign this 36-year-old right wing for his production and leadership, but the Senators made a better offer (two years at an AAV of $4 million). It’s been a difficult season on and off the ice. He had taken an extended leave of absence earlier due to a medical scare involving his newborn daughter. He hasn’t played since Nov. 23. He has no points in nine games after tallying 17 goals and 30 assists last season.
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Jake Walman, San Jose: Trading Walman has backfired on multiple levels. He is tied for 12th among NHL defensemen with 25 points and reached 20 assists faster than any other D-man at the start of his tenure with the Sharks. To shed the final two years of his contract ($3.4 million AAV), the Red Wings needed to acquire a second-round pick from Nashville and include it in the deal. That cost them defense prospect Andrew Gibson. Instead of having Walman fill Gostisbehere’s void as the left-shooting power-play point man they wanted, the Red Wings signed Gustafsson for two years at a $2 million AAV and he has no goals and five assists, has been a defensive liability and an occasional healthy scratch.
Gostisbehere left Detroit for less money than the Wings were offering, while Perron got a second year’s worth of contract length from Ottawa.
I think that we’re all still scratching our heads about the Walman trade, as well as the failed experiment that was signing Gustafsson, but there’s very little that the Red Wings’ management group can do with it other than admit that it was a move that didn’t work out, and then supplant Gustafsson with a more effective offensive defenseman via the trade route.
The one part of the trade(s) I don’t have a problem with is sending Gibson to Nashville for Jesse Kiiskinen. Gibson is a big, tough defenseman, but Kiiskinen has become a strong scorer and scrappy player for HPK Hameenlinna in the Finnish Liiga.
