As the holiday season approaches, PHR will take a look at what teams are thankful for as the season passes the one-quarter mark. There also might be a few things your team would like down the road. We’ll examine what’s gone well in the early going and what could improve as the season rolls on for the Detroit Red Wings.
What are the Red Wings thankful for?
A competitive team.
For an entire generation of Red Wings fans, missing the playoffs wasn’t even a possibility. A 25-year-long playoff streak ended in 2017 when the team finished 33-36-13, good for seventh place in the Atlantic Divison and 16 points back. Detroit hasn’t even sniffed the postseason since, bottoming out with a 17-49-5 record in 2019-20, one of the worst seasons in NHL history. Five years without a playoff game is a rarity for the Red Wings, with only a stretch in the 70s and early 80s to really compare it to. If you were part of the PHR Live Chats for any of the past few years, you probably saw several questions from Detroit fans asking how the team can improve and make a run–right away, not in the future.
The patience that was needed is finally paying off. The Red Wings have two star rookies–three if you consider Alex Nedeljkovic at that level–several twenty-somethings playing strong hockey and a few veterans dotting the lineup to give them structure. Things are headed in the right direction for Detroit and they are finally back in the playoff hunt. Sure, it’ll be difficult to topple the top teams in the Atlantic Division, and a wild card in the Eastern Conference is going to be difficult to obtain with so much experience in the Metro, but the Red Wings aren’t at the bottom of the standings anymore–and likely won’t be for some time.
Who are the Red Wings thankful for?
The idea of a franchise legend leaving the powerhouse program he built for a division rival just to return home and turn around a struggling franchise is the stuff of Disney, not the NHL right? Well, maybe the league can sell Yzerman’s front office story to their new broadcasting partners if he ever completes the journey and brings the Stanley Cup back to Detroit. From the moment he was hired in 2019, the Red Wings have suddenly had a clear direction to their moves and are now poised to enter another long period of success.
He’s added dozens of prospects to the system, seemingly hit a home run with at least two of his first-round picks, and cleared the books of any long-term financial commitments. The Red Wings don’t have a single player signed past 2023-24 and that’s by design. The team can now wait for the right time to strike in free agency, extend their young talent and build the roster to become a true contender. While sometimes cap flexibility is overblown because leadership still has to make the right choices with it, Yzerman certainly has the reputation to back it up. The Red Wings aren’t there yet, but he’s taking them.
What would the Red Wings be even more thankful for?
A breakout from a pre-Yzerman draft pick.
It’s not like the Red Wings only started getting top draft picks after Yzerman arrived; in fact, they picked in the top-10 both years immediately preceding his tenure with the team. Despite that, both Michael Rasmussen (ninth overall in 2017) and Filip Zadina (sixth in 2018) have already been surpassed by Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond in terms of prospect excitement. Joseph Veleno (30th in 2018) can be added to that list of top picks that still haven’t made an impact, and Dennis Cholowski (20th in 2016) and Evgeny Svechnikov (19th in 2015) aren’t even around anymore.
If there’s one thing that could really allow the Red Wings to make a giant leap forward in a short period, it’s a big breakout for one of the highly drafted forwards. Zadina especially was supposed to be a top goal-scoring threat but has just 19 tallies at the NHL level through his first 113 games. It’s important to mention Filip Hronek, who was a second-round pick of the last administration and is a very important part of the team, but there’s honestly not a whole lot else so far from those years of postseason absences.
What should be on the Red Wings’ Holiday Wish List?
Draft picks.
One more time. One more time the Red Wings should sell at the deadline, add picks to the cupboard and build out the pipeline. The team already has seven selections in the first four rounds this year, but veteran players on expiring contracts like Robby Fabbri, Vladislav Namestnikov, Nick Leddy, Troy Stecher, Marc Staal, and Thomas Greiss could all probably net them some extra picks at the deadline.
Sure, the team wants to compete for the playoffs this season, and gutting them of their entire veteran group would make that difficult, but none of the names listed above are going to be core pieces when this team is truly competing for a Stanley Cup. If the team loads up on picks for one more year, the future–which already looks plenty bright–will shine even more.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
They are thankful for the 2 Y’s. Youth & Yzerman.
Of the issues noted, the largest impediment to their progress and future goals is that top picks are not showing they could be top NHL players. Seider and Raymond the exceptions.
Zadina and Valeno show some flashes but you have to deliver the goods. Hronek is actually regressing and Rasmussen is close to a bust. This is a very significant issue for the Wings rebuild. All these guys are still quite young but they need to show they can make some plays and put up some points.
Illustrates how overrated Kenny Holland is as a GM. He can’t draft or identify talent. His long term contracts were terrible as we got hamstrung with bad contracts in Nielsen, Erickson and Abelkader. Picking Zadina over Quinn Hughes is the epitome of his ineptitude. Thank goodness he knew to leave when Stevie Y came to town and Edmonton gets to deal with him now.
I cannot provide evidence. I heard (read a while ago) the ownership asked that some older skilled players were given fat contracts to “honor their contribution” and so Holland did so.
As an Edmonton fan, Katz (owner) has definitely had a negative effect when he decided he knew better.
There is always more to it than we see.
That said, Holland has a mixed record in Edmonton. This year is the big tell.
(chuckles) A “a stretch in the 70s and early 80s?” Detroit stunk for over twenty years — they had exactly two winning seasons between 1966 and 1987, missed the playoffs fifteen times, and the only playoff series they “won” was a best-of-three to Atlanta.
Beat it, Nha. Nobody likes you.
Wings will have 5-6 prospects in the World Juniors! The future looks bright!