Of Red Wings defensive-related note this morning:
- Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff surmises that the Red Wings haven’t completed renovating their defensive corps this morning, suggesting that the Red Wings’ re-signing of William Lagesson and signing of Jacob Bernard-Docker don’t feel like the Wings’ final moves of the summer:
The Detroit brass has always preferred to carry eight blueliners on the NHL roster. If that is again the decision, it only makes sense that Lagesson will be that guy. There’s nothing to be gained from having a prospect like William Wallinder or Antti Tuomisto, and certainly not Axel Sandin Pellikka, sitting and watching. They need to be playing every night with the AHL Griffins.
That’s all assuming nothing changes within the club’s defensive personnel. As colleague Kevin Allen recently pointed out, there are a number of under-the-radar defensemen who could be had in the NHL trade market.
Seattle’s Jamie Oleksiak is a big body who would add offensive upside while skating in a third pairing. The dream sequence would be the acquisition of reliable, steady veteran Ryan McDonagh from Tampa Bay. He’d be a calming presence and an ideal partner for Seider. And his first pass tends to border on the impeccable. It was Yzerman who made the original move to bring McDonagh to Tampa Bay.
Do we know if any of these moves are in the works? No.
Call it a feeling, a sense if you will. Just a nagging sensation that the Wings aren’t done yet when it comes to retooling the defense.
Continued; the Red Wings are running pretty young and lean in all three groups–at forward, on defense and in goal–and it is entirely possible, if not probable, that we’ll see the team add another forward and another defenseman to flesh out the forwards and defense…
But my gut feeling is that the Wings aren’t going to add an Oleksiak or McDonagh for them to sit and watch the 3rd pairing play. The team needs to bolster its 2nd defensive pair, and that means upgrading said pairing by a more than marginal…margin, for lack of a better word.
2. Speaking of which, MLive’s Ansar Khan posted an article about Bernard-Docker this morning, discussing the 25-year-old righty’s desire to play as a regular on the Wings’ roster:
The Detroit Red Wings signed Bernard-Docker, 25, to a one-year, $875,000 contract on July 1. The 6-1, 198-pound right-shooting, stay-at-home defender is projected to compete with Justin Holl for a third-pair spot alongside Erik Gustafsson.
Bernard-Docker appeared in 40 games last season between Ottawa and Buffalo. He was included in the Josh Norris-for-Dylan Cozens deadline deal. He played only 15 games for the Sabres and said he was surprised to learn on the night of his 25th birthday, June 30, that he wasn’t receiving a qualifying offer, making him an unrestricted free agent.
“The next morning, I was at the gym and got a call from my agent who said Detroit was super-interested, and I was pretty pumped about the fit there,” Bernard-Docker said.
Drafted 26th overall by the Senators in 2018, Bernard-Docker has appeared in only 144 games over parts of five NHL seasons (six goals, 18 assists).
“Trying to find a spot where I could kind of carve out a role,” Bernard-Docker said. “I guess Buffalo didn’t quite see that, just with the D-men they have or whatever it was. But I’m really hoping to come in and be someone that can be relied upon every night and just be really solid and physical. … Hopefully be a good penalty killer, a solid player that’s tough to play against.”
Continued (paywall); I believe that Bernard-Docker will be given every opportunity to compete with Erik Gustafsson and Justin Holl for a spot on the 3rd pairing.
I guess the operative question is whether Duff’s talking about adding a fourth 3rd pair defender through free agency or a trade, or whether the Wings will find that 2nd pair defender via a trade.
