Bleacher Report’s Adam Gretz offers mid-summer grades for the offseason performances of the NHL’s 32 teams this morning:
Detroit Red Wings
Grade: C
The big move so far was adding a mediocre veteran goalie (John Gibson) to a team that has been a revolving door for mediocre veteran goalies the past few years. If Gibson can duplicate what he did a year ago for Anaheim in a bounce-back year, that would be helpful. But there is no guarantee he can do that.
Beyond that they swapped out Vladimir Tarasenko for James van Riemsdyk, which seems like nothing more than a shuffling of deck chairs, and re-signed Patrick Kane.
A lot of the flaws that already existed defensively and during 5-on-5 play offensively still exist.
It has been a slow, methodical rebuild under the watchful eye of general manager Steve Yzerman, and it seems that is going to continue.
There is still salary cap space to be used, so maybe a trade is still on the horizon.
Continued; I’d give the Red Wings an “incomplete” B- grade for their offseason. Adding van Riemsdyk and Jacob Bernard-Docker in free agency, in addition to Gibson as a trade asset, help the Red Wings’ depth, but the team hasn’t made a meaningful move to address the top-six forward corps or second defensive pairing.
I’d add a “yet” to the previous sentence, but I have a sinking feeling that the Red Wings will only be able to add a top-six forward or a top-four defenseman without depleting its prospect pool and draft picks, leaving one of those two needs unmet until closer to the 2025-2026 trade deadline.
