The Athletic’s Harman Dayal discusses teams which could find themselves in the NHL’s “mushy middle” this morning, noting that the Red Wings could struggle to be a not-good-but-not-bad team if the next GM/president of hockey operations falters:
Detroit Red Wings
The Red Wings have missed the playoffs by slim margins three years in a row with 91, 86 and 92 points respectively, which is a perfect snapshot of the mushy middle. There isn’t a realistic path for them to explode past that ceiling anytime soon, especially with captain Dylan Larkin’s trade request.
Detroit is too weak down the middle, five-on-five scoring still looks like a major issue and they’re stuck in an absolutely stacked Atlantic. And because they’ve flirted with the playoffs over the last few years, they haven’t drafted high enough to land another elite star to their core. If anything, in the event the Red Wings trade Larkin, they may be too bad next season to even be considered mediocre.
Committing to a step back in the short term is probably the wisest decision for the franchise’s long-term health, though. Detroit doesn’t need a full-scale teardown as it has some foundational pieces in Moritz Seider, Lucas Raymond and Simon Edvinsson, along with a top-10 prospect pool in the NHL, but the worst possible scenario would be to trade Larkin for a win-now package in an attempt to stay competitive and end their postseason drought.
In any case, it feels like a while before the Red Wings will be relevant again. For the sake of their fans, hopefully their next GM accepts this fate, is OK with taking a step back and commits to a path that at least creates some light at the end of the tunnel.
Continued (paywall); I am still optimistic that the Wings can win this season under coach McLellan’s stewardship, but Detroit may very well take a “rest for a minute” approach to this upcoming season, should their prospects not deliver.
