Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen argues that the Red Wings must rely on their team defense to improve if the team is to enter the 2026-2027 season without having added a goal-scoring forward (or two):
Moritz Seider and Simon Edvinsson are still young enough that they are improving significantly each season. The Red Wings will benefit for the entire season from Justin Faulk’s two-way game. Albert Johansson is as competitive as anyone on the team. And what if 6-foot-4 rookie defenseman William Wallinder is as steady and effective as scouts believe he can be? This defense could be very good.
If John Gibson plays as impressively well as he did last December, the Red Wings will have a chance be in the race even if they can’t score like the 1980s Edmonton Oilers.
Gibson was 25-15-3 with a 2.45 goals-against average and .912 save percentage in his last 44 games. Last season, the league-wide save percentage was .896.
The Red Wings have to believe that the Daniil Tarasov and/or Michal Postava will give the team more wins from the backup goalie position than Cam Talbot gave them last season.
The other interesting variable is the Red Wings expectation that they will be in the frequent hitters club this season, led by newcomer Keegan Kolesar who has recorded 237 hits for five consecutive season. Marco Kasper and Moritz Seider could be above 180 hits. Youngsters Michael Brandsegg-Nygard, Carter Mazur and Emmitt Finnie also will help make the team harder to play against.
It’s hard to know how much impact that will have on the standings, but in theory you wear down your opponent if you are constantly delivering body checks. It does make it harder to score for some when they are worried about being driven through the boards.
Everyone knows playing stingy defense will work. We see it every spring in the NHL playoffs. But it’s hard to know if the team has the requisite mindset to play well defensively until you see them do it night after night.
Continued; I do agree with Allen that the Red Wings must stress defensive improvement in order to remain at least somewhat competitive this upcoming season…
However, as Allen concludes, adding at least one scorer to offset Patrick Kane’s production would also serve as a wise investment.
