DETROIT RED WINGS: On the other end of the spectrum, we have the Red Wings. They’re not a contender, not by a mile, given the club hasn’t made the post-season in six years. But they’re no down-and-out rebuilding squad either.
Steadily improving over the past few years, Detroit took another key step in 2021-22 on the back of its youth movement, as star rookies Lucas Raymond and Mo Seider showed a glimpse of their elite potential. Add that to the potential growth still on the horizon for 22-year-old Filip Zadina (the club’s sixth-overall pick in 2018), Simon Edvinsson (sixth-overall, 2021), and Marco Kasper (eighth-overall, 2022). Then there’s the pair of proven veterans in Dylan Larkin and Tyler Bertuzzi, both still in their mid-20’s, coming off 30-goal, 60-point campaigns.
And, of course, the veteran talent GM Steve Yzerman’s already thrown into the mix this off-season: forwards David Perron, Andrew Copp, and Dominik Kubalik, defenders Ben Chiarot and Olli Maatta, and, perhaps most importantly, netminder Ville Husso. Given that bevy of moves, it’s clear Yzerman feels it’s time for his project to take a bigger leap forward. But the veteran GM still has more than $10 million in cap space to work with, and only a couple in-house free-agent questions to address.
The Red Wings’ top six has already been steadily improving under Yzerman. Dropping Kadri into the 2C spot behind Larkin would give it a significant push forward, with Raymond, Larkin and Bertuzzi up top and Kadri perhaps between Perron and Jakub Vrana. Which would push Copp down into a role as a quality third-line centre, or onto the second-line wing, with one of the other wingers moving down to bolster the bottom six. Either way, it would be an undeniable upgrade for the group’s overall level.
And there’s no denying Kadri would be the type of player Yzerman would covet, given all we’ve learned about what the Hall of Famer looks for in players. Broadcaster and former NHLer Darren Pang, a close friend of Yzerman’s since their teenage years together, shed light on that subject for us a while back.
“He always had that eye. He always knew a hard player to play against or a guy that was a little soft in the corners, would give up a puck rather easily,” Pang told Sportsnet a few years ago, when Yzerman was still GM of the Lightning. “I’d ask him about this player or that player — he’d always say, ‘No no, watch that player in the corner. He’ll give up the puck easy. Watch this player, his second and third effort is incredible. And you look at Tampa Bay’s players and who they’ve scouted — if they’re undersized, they’re undersized, but they’re competitive. Every one of them. They’re competitive hockey players — they want the puck, they’ll do whatever it takes to get the puck. He saw something inside them — their soul, their spirit, their competitiveness, their hunger. That’s the way Steve was, the whole time.”
Given the mettle Kadri showed during Colorado’s Cup run, he seems a player who’d stack up well in Yzerman’s eyes. A deal with Detroit wouldn’t be joining a sure-thing contender, but it would give Kadri the chance to join an up-and-comer built by the same GM who helped create one of the league’s current behemoths. And the chance to take on a new role, to bring some Cup experience and veteran leadership to a talented young squad, to help lift one of the game’s historic franchises back to the post-season.
