DobberHockey.com’s Alexander MacLean examines the Red Wings’ off-season moves from a fantasy hockey perspective today, giving the Red Wings an interim C+ until Dylan Larkin is moved:
Fantasy Outlook
This is a team that finished in the bottom-third for goals scored last season, and lost more offensive talent than they gained. There might be a bit of internal growth to help them hold steady, but at best this would be a 20th overall team in the league on offence, with an average power play. If and when Larkin is traded, that offence won’t be replaced right away, and there will be a gaping hole up the middle. There is still value in Lucas Raymond and others further down the draft board, but there is no high-end piece here, and Detroit is suddenly lacking in both the middle of the lineup and in the quality of their depth pieces.
For those worried about the key remaining piece in Lucas Raymond losing some value after a Larkin trade, you probably don’t have to worry. Larkin was Raymond’s linemate about 80% of the time in 2025-26, and Raymond scored 75-78% of his points with Larkin on his line (depending on how you include the points from penalty shots or times when it was Raymond and two defensemen on the ice). In a smaller sample size, being separated from Larkin doesn’t seem to affect Raymond’s scoring.
On defence, Mortiz Seider is the team MVP, and with both scoring and peripheral numbers, he’s a huge fantasy value player too. After Justin Faulk joined the team, Seider’s SOG and scoring rates both increased. If he can keep that up for more of the season next year he jumps into the top-five in terms of fantasy value quite easily. However, with Seider leeching all of the value, it holds others like Axel Sandin-Pellikka back, who would need a heavy dose of PP time to be relevant in standard leagues.
In net, Gibson and Tarasov are entrenched in the starter and backup roles, and should be able to provide similar numbers to last year, though maybe with a handful less wins for Gibson. With a full year of Faulk it could be that the goals against numbers drop a bit as well, especially since the team may need to focus a bit more on defence to win games this year.
Continued; regardless of whether and/or when and/or if Larkin is traded, Detroit’s got to improve defensively to win more games.
