Of Red Wings-related note this morning:
- The Athletic’s Craig Custance penned a “Red Wings 2018-19 Depth Chart 1.0,” concluding that the Wings will have to make a trade to alleviate roster jams. Regarding the forwards, Custance offers the following:
OK, there’s a lot going on here. Let’s start with the captain. Because of his degenerative back condition, Henrik Zetterberg isn’t a lock to return next season and that would shuffle up these lines considerably. If he retires early, that moves Larkin and Frans Nielsen up a slot at center and likely means Darren Helm and Luke Glendening centering the bottom two lines. Andreas Athanasiou can also play center in that scenario. Part of the motivation of signing Thomas Vanek was to play him with younger players, to help build their confidence offensively. GM Ken Holland mentioned his success in the past with Athanasiou, so that’s a pairing we may see up front. It would also be interesting to see his passing ability paired with Filip Zadina’s shot.
There are a lot of interchangeable parts here at forward. Michael Rasmussen is likely to make the team and break in at left wing, similar to the way the team eased Larkin into the league. Trading Athanasiou, which is very much a possibility, would open more time on the wing for Rasmussen.
The odd-man out, among the kids, appears to be Evgeny Svechnikov, who had a down season last year in the AHL but showed glimpses of being able to use his big body effectively at the NHL level. A few things could help Svechnikov get regular playing time: 1) Zadina isn’t NHL ready. 2) Zetterberg retires. 3) Athanasiou is traded. There’s a good chance at least one of those scenarios emerges by the start of the season.
Custance continues (paywall)…
2. In the land of controversy, NBC Sports’ James O’Brien suggests that allowing Henrik Zetterberg to retire would serve as a catalyst to jump-start the Wings’ youth movement:
If the Red Wings are realistic about their near future, they should err on the side of encouraging Zetterberg to way his health more than trying to gut out the 2018-19 season.
Again, what’s the best-case scenario if Zetterberg plays? He’d take a roster spot from a player who might be part of a longer-term solution in Detroit, on a team few expect to contend. There’s also the unsettling possibility that his own play would plummet. Zetterberg would have robust company if he joined the ranks of sports stars who’ve suffered depressing final seasons, but wouldn’t be more pleasant to see him instead end his Red Wings days with his head held high?
Conversely, the Red Wings could instead improve their odds of landing a lottery pick like Jack Hughes in 2019, something that – deep down – they should realize they really need. Along with the torch being passed to the next generation of Red Wings, there might be a better chance of fringe prospects receiving crucial make-or-break opportunities.
Also, a beloved star wouldn’t needlessly suffer.
O’Brien continues, and put bluntly, Zetterberg wants to play hockey, which is something O’Brien doesn’t consider in his article…
3. In the land of lists, part 1: ESPN’s Emily Kaplan penned a list of the best contracts for each and every one of the NHL’s 31 teams…
Detroit Red Wings
Jonathan Bernier, 29, G
$3 million cap hit through 2020-21 season
It’s hard to find gem contracts on this roster, which was saddled by too many bloated deals that it is now trying to unload for future success. That said, Ken Holland has done a good job of correcting past mistakes. We like the contract of Jonathan Bernier a lot, especially if he proves to be a worthy successor to Jimmy Howard.
4. Finally, also in the land of lists, from Sportsnet’s “Down Goes Brown” comes a list of the best defensive pairs of the last 30 years:
Nicklas Lidstrom and Chris Chelios, Detroit Red Wings
Here’s a combo Yzerman probably has a little bit fonder memories of.
During his time in Detroit, Lidstrom was one of those stars that you could send out with just about anyone and know you had a dominant pairing; towards the end of his career, he clicked especially well with Brian Rafalski. But back in 1999, before Lidstrom had won a Norris, the Wings decided to bring in another big name to share the blue line minutes when they pried a 37-year-old Chelios out of a messy situation in Chicago.
At the time, it felt like a move that could be a short-term rental. Instead, Chelios played another decade in Detroit, giving the Red Wings two all-time greats. Their most impressive accomplishment came in 2002, when Lidstrom and Chelios finished 1-2 in a close Norris vote, an almost unprecedented case of players from the same team dominating the ballots.
Not surprisingly, the Red Wings won the Cup that year.
They’d win it again in 2008, although by that point Chelios was well past his prime, and they had their share of dominant regular seasons, too. And they weren’t shy about doing it with veteran blueliners – when the Red Wings finished with 124 points in 2005–06, Lidstrom and Chelios were two of a ridiculous five defencemen on the roster who were 35 or older. (By comparison, here’s the total list of blueliners that old who saw the ice in 2017–18 for any team.)
DGB (a.k.a. Sean McIndoe) continues…
