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Offseason Keys: Detroit Red Wings

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The offseason has arrived for at least seven teams that were not invited to take part in the play-in round that’s slated to begin in early August.  With that in mind, it’s time to kick off our Offseason Keys series for the teams that are on the outside looking in.  Next up is a look at Detroit.

It hasn’t been a good last twelve months for the Red Wings.  After finishing 28th in points in 2018-19, they took a step backwards and had a terrible season, one that saw them allow the most goals and score the fewest.  Not surprisingly, that particular combination saw them in last place when the regular season was called.  Things weren’t better in the Draft Lottery either as they fell as far as they were allowed to, dropping from first to fourth in the order.  With that negativity out of the way, here is what Detroit will need to accomplish to have a successful offseason.

Find A Long-Term Goaltending Solution

For years, Jimmy Howard has been entrenched between the pipes in Detroit.  But that time has all but certainly come to an end after posting a 4.20 GAA with a .882 SV% in 27 starts this season.  He lost all but two of those games.  If that type of performance somehow isn’t enough to scare GM Steve Yzerman off, Howard is also now 36.  On a rebuilding team, a goalie that age can’t be part of the long-term solution.

Neither can Jonathan Bernier even though he had a pretty good year all things considered with a 2.95 GAA and a .907 SV% in his 46 appearances.  Those numbers aren’t great but given the team in front of him, he did okay.  He’ll turn 32 next month and while he’s signed for next season to fill part of their goaltending tandem, he is more of a platoon option at this stage of his career instead of a full-time starter.  He can be a piece of the puzzle but not the key one.

There are going to be a handful of starting goalies that hit the open market in November, barring any extensions to stick around.  Yzerman has ample cap space at his disposal with just over $46MM in commitments for next season to 11 players so there is plenty of wiggle room to work with.  They should be showing considerable interest in each of those options.

Detroit could also take a look at Yaroslav Askarov in the draft in October.  He’s widely considered to be the top goalie available and one of the better ones to be available for a while.  However, drafting goalies early is often considered a risk and selecting him fourth would be well above where his rankings suggest he should go.  However, the Red Wings went ‘off the board’ a bit last year with defenseman Moritz Seider so taking their guy earlier than expected is something they could certainly do which would free them up to look a veteran platoon option to hold things down while Askarov works his way into being NHL-ready.

New Deal For Mantha

Two years ago, Anthony Mantha signed a bridge contract coming off his entry-level deal.  The decision made sense as he hadn’t quite established himself as a consistent top liner.  There were flashes of him living up to his potential but other times where he wasn’t making a big impact.

That started to change last season as he became a bigger threat, matching his career high offensively from the season before despite missing 15 games due to injury.  He was on pace for an even better performance this season except that knee and lung issues limited him to just 43 games before the pandemic hit.  That’s not the best leverage heading into talks for his next deal even with salary arbitration rights.

The salary landscape certainly doesn’t help either.  The freezing of the salary cap is not conducive to handing out the big-money deal that Mantha was certainly hoping to get and with his platform year being basically cut in half, this feels like a situation where there is a lot of work to do.

From Mantha’s standpoint, another short-term deal may be desired.  If he does that, stays healthy, and is able to continue his offensive improvement, he’ll be well-positioned a year from now to cash in, even with the cap limitations still in effect.  In the end, he’d probably come out with more money than he’d get by signing a long-term deal now.  Of course, a deal that buys out several UFA-eligible years is certainly Yzerman’s preference to help ensure that one of their pillars will stick around.  Getting this done should be at the top of his to-do list in the coming months.

Rebuild The Back End

Of the eight defensemen that were on Detroit’s roster to end the season, three are unrestricted free agents that almost certainly won’t be back in Jonathan Ericsson, Trevor Daley, and Cody Goloubef (who was added on waivers less than three weeks before their season ended).  Mike Green (traded to Edmonton) is already gone.  Needless to say, there are some vacancies that need to be filled.

Filip Hronek looks like a long-term piece and Seider, though not yet ready to play in their top four, should get there eventually as well.  After that, there are some question marks.  Dennis Cholowski and Gustav Lindstrom have shown some promise but aren’t ready to take on a big role yet either while projected returnees Patrik Nemeth, Alex Biega, and Madison Bowey (RFA) are role players, not impact ones either.  There are some other prospects on the horizon but none that are ready to step in and play right away.

As a result, there are a few spots up for grabs and they can’t all be filled internally.  Whether it’s the free agent market, trades, or both, the Red Wings need to make a splash or two to give their defense corps a significant boost.  If they can’t accomplish that, it may not matter who they have between the pipes in the end.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Oilers Notes: Maksimov, Green

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Prospect winger Kirill Maksimov has the opportunity to develop into a potent offensive weapon down the line for the Edmonton Oilers, but he’ll need the right situation to do so, per David Staples of the Edmonton Journal. Maksimov, 21, put up 13 points in 53 games for the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors before the shutdown this season. On his potential moving forward, Staples writes: “Maksimov is never going to be a big driver of the play. He is a true complimentary winger, who thrives with playmaking centres capable of getting him the puck while he finds open spots on the ice. He does have quick hands and underrated playmaking ability, but needs that speedy and/or skilled pivot on his line who can push the pace. Basically, he’s the type of player who plays better with better talent around him.” Luckily for Maksimov, he plays for an organization with no current shortage of star players. Speaking of, let’s check in on the Oilers and their plans for the Stanley Cup Qualifier showdown with the Blackhawks…

  • The Oilers are the heavy favorites to advance past the Blackhawks to the Western Conference playoffs after a .585 points percentage during the season. Chicago has an interesting mix of been-there-done-that veterans and undercooked up-and-comers, but they were the last team added to the play-in round and haven’t shown a consistent enough approach to tackle the star-studded Oilers. Edmonton, meanwhile, figures to be fully healthy with defenseman Mike Green the only key injury after an MCL sprain knocked out the veteran blueliner. Green expects to be ready to join Kris Russell on the Oiler’s third pairing, per Tracey Myers of NHL.com.
  • Green played just two games with the Oilers after being acquired from Detroit in late February. Paired with a veteran like Russell, there would be less concern about finding the right working chemistry, but the Oilers have depth options if Green proves unready. Matt Benning is in his fourth season with the team, and youngsters Caleb Jones and William Lagesson also saw ice time this year. All things being equal, however, Green figures to be the guy on the ice. Green has appeared in 76 career playoff games with the Washington Capitals and Detroit Red Wings, putting up a noteworthy 37 points (10 goals, 37 assists) over that span. Green will be an unrestricted free agent at season’s end.

Poll: Who Is Most Deserving Of The No. 1 Pick?

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We asked and you voted and the Pittsburgh Penguins are the team that readers least want to see win the No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft by means of a second draft lottery. The Penguins were closely followed by the Toronto Maple Leafs and Edmonton Oilers and unsurprisingly these are three teams loaded with star power who finished in the top-five among teams in the qualifying round. Yet, the Carolina Hurricanes, who hold the second best record among qualifying round teams, gained just 1% of the vote, while the Montreal Canadiens and Chicago Blackhawks, the worst teams to qualify from each conference, finished fourth and fifth respectively in voting. This begs the question: who do you think is most deserving of the top pick?

Obviously, with the NHL Draft Lottery playing out as it did with each of the league’s bottom seven teams missing out on the top slot, the most deserving teams like the Detroit Red Wings, Ottawa Senators, or Buffalo Sabres won’t be an option for No. 1 this year. Instead, it will be one of the to-be-determined playoff teams out of the 16 who will play in a “knockout round” to open the expanded 24-team playoff field. All of these teams finished above .500 this season, so a good team will only get better in the form of Alexis Lafreniere, the elite talent at the top of the draft board. All eight losers of the qualifying round will have even odds in a second running of the lottery, but which franchise is most deserving of this boost?

The NHL has no shortage of teams with a history of losing, but the Florida Panthers have a strong argument for the title of unluckiest. Florida, who entered the league in 1993, has just 18 playoff wins in franchise history. A dozen of those wins came in the team’s run to the Stanley Cup Final in 1996, in which they were swept by the Colorado Avalanche. The remaining six wins have come in just four playoff series over the past 22 season, none of which have been won by the Cats. This series win drought is the longest current streak in the NHL. The team has also struggled with attendance over the years, due both to location and performance. The Panthers finished just 29th in capacity attendance this season and could use a young star player to draw more fans. The current Florida roster is not without talent but is strapped for cap space and set to lose some strong players in free agency. An affordable entry level deal for a top pick would go a long way to keep the Panthers competitive in the Atlantic Division.

The Winnipeg Jets have improved since moving from Atlanta, but the team’s legacy is still one of failure. The Thrashers franchise, which has since become the second iteration of the Jets, entered the league in 1999. In 19 seasons, the club has qualified for the playoffs just four times and has won only 11 games and two series. Like the Panthers, the bulk of those wins came in just one postseason as the Jets won nine games in 2017-18. Unlike Florida, they have never appeared in a Stanley Cup Final. The Jets playoff fortunes have increased since leaving Atlanta, where they failed to win a single postseason game in more than a decade. The club may be able to figure out how to get to their first Cup Final without luck, but playing in a remote city with a passionate but small fan base limits the Jets financially and they could definitely use an affordable superstar like Lafreniere, even though the roster already contains a number of strong young players.

The Columbus Blue Jackets have an identical 11-20 playoff record to the Thrashers/Jets and seeing as how they entered the league one year later in 2000, it would seem they have been slightly more successful. Additionally, all of those wins have come within the past six seasons and the team has qualified in each of the past three years. However, the Blue Jackets have the unfortunate distinction of never coming close to a Stanley Cup in a way that no other NHL team can claim. Columbus has won just one playoff series – just last year in fact – in their existence, the fewest in NHL history, and in that season was eliminated ten wins short of a title, the furthest distance that any team can claim is their best. Columbus also lost three of their best players from the team that finally won a series last season. The Blue Jackets may be improving, but their fans have seen less playoff success than any team in the NHL and their roster is not one that seem likely to produce a Stanley Cup any time soon. Lafreniere would be a boost to the franchise the likes of which have never been seen.

The Blue Jackets’ partners in the 2000 Expansion class, the Minnesota Wild presented a return to the State of Hockey for the NHL and have always had the benefit of immense fan support. Yet, the Wild have struggled to give their fans much to truly root for. While their 26 playoff wins since they entered the league is far better than some of their peers, Minnesota has never made it to the Stanley Cup Final and were swept out of their lone Western Conference Final appearance, which came back in 2002-03. Minnesota has largely been a one-and-done team, winning just four playoff series in their existence. Regular season success can only get you so far and it would be good for the team and the league for Minnesota to see some more results in the postseason. The timing could not be better to land Lafreniere either; the Wild snapped a six-season playoff appearance streak last year and their roster is one of the oldest in the league. The team could desperately use a young centerpiece.

The original Winnipeg Jets, who moved to Phoenix and became the Arizona Coyotes in 1996, also deserve inclusion among teams who could use some luck. The Coyotes franchise is the oldest to have never appeared in a Stanley Cup Final, dating back to the Jets’ birth in 1979-80. In that time, they have just 41 playoff wins overall have qualified for the postseason just three times in the past 16 years. They have one of the longest active postseason droughts in the NHL, dating back seven years. The team also has the very unfortunate distinction of having the highest cap payroll in the league this season while placing just 28th in capacity percentage attendance. While star players have been a part of the franchise from time to time throughout its history, the current roster is lacking a young superstar, which is exactly what they need to increase fan interest as well as affordably improve their roster. Lafreniere would be the perfect fit.

As for other teams, the Toronto Maple Leafs have the longest active Stanley Cup drought at 51 years and are second only two Florida with a playoff series win drought of 14 years, so while they have a young, loaded roster, they may still deserve some sympathy. Similarly, while the Montreal Canadiens are the winningest team in NHL history and don’t need any more titles just yet, they are technically the worst team in the qualifying round and could desperately use the boost, as maintaining relevancy in the 21st century has proved difficult for the once-great franchise. The Vancouver Canucks are the oldest team never to have won the Stanley Cup and got painfully close with a Game Seven loss in the 2011 Final and have not won a series ever since. The Nashville Predators have also never won the Stanley Cup, but have gotten close. Like several other teams, sustained success in Nashville would have a beneficial affect on grassroots hockey. Finally, the New York Islanders are a strong team this year and have staying power in the Metropolitan Division, but their glory days of the 80’s are long gone and they have not made a Cup Final appearance in 35 seasons. Lafreniere landing in the New York market could also be great exposure for the game.

What do you think? Which team is most deserving of the No. 1 pick?

Who Is Most Deserving Of The No. 1 Pick?
Other (CAL, CAR, CHI, EDM, NYR, PIT) 16.09% (402 votes)
Montreal Canadiens 14.69% (367 votes)
Winnipeg Jets 14.09% (352 votes)
Minnesota Wild 12.81% (320 votes)
Columbus Blue Jackets 9.49% (237 votes)
Arizona Coyotes 8.25% (206 votes)
Vancouver Canucks 7.53% (188 votes)
New York Islanders 6.04% (151 votes)
Toronto Maple Leafs 5.44% (136 votes)
Florida Panthers 4.00% (100 votes)
Nashville Predators 1.56% (39 votes)
Total Votes: 2,498

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Red Wings Could Loan Moritz Seider Overseas To Start Next Season

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Red Wings defenseman Moritz Seider showed some promise in his rookie AHL campaign and was expected to be recalled to finish up the season in Detroit had it not been for the pandemic.  With the start of next season still in question (it’s looking like late December or early January as things stand but still nowhere near being finalized), Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press suggests that the team may wind up loaning him back to Mannheim of the DEL to start next season as it’s unlikely that the AHL will start on schedule if there are still restrictions on how many fans – if any – can attend games.  That would certainly be beneficial from a development perspective but it would also give the sixth-overall pick in 2019 a leg up in a push for a full-time roster spot with the Red Wings next season.

Poll: Who Do You Least Want To See Win The No. 1 Pick?

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If Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly’s face didn’t give it away during Friday night’s NHL Draft Lottery, this result was not what the league was expecting or hoping for. In a season when a decorated Original Six franchise, the Detroit Red Wings, had one of the worst campaigns of all-time and the league’s most downtrodden franchise, the Ottawa Senators, had not one but two high-percentage chances of winning the top pick, the No. 1 overall selection will instead go to a to-be-determined “playoff” team.

With the league expanding the postseason field to 24 teams this season as a result of COVID-19 cutting the regular season short, 16 teams will vie for a chance to move through a “knockout round” onto a more standard version of the NHL playoffs. However, now those same 16 teams, all of whom finished above .500 this season, will also be in the running to win the top overall pick and the right to select a generational talent in forward Alexis Lafreniere. All eight losers of the qualifying round will have even odds in a second running of the lottery and one lucky team will get playoff experience and an elite young player this season. No one is going to be truly happy with the result (apart from the lottery winner and their fans of course) but who would you least like to see win the top overall pick?

The Pittsburgh Penguins might be at the top of many peoples’ lists. The franchise has won three Stanley Cups in the last decade and no one would be surprised to see them win again this year, especially given the fact that they finished  the regular season in seventh league-wide in points percentage. The Penguins are the best team slated to play in the knockout round, but if by some chance they lose to the Montreal Canadiens, Lafreniere could potentially join Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and company in a move that could extend the dynasty for years still to come. The thought of the talented young winger playing beside either of those superstars would be daunting to every other team in the league.

Finishing just behind Pittsburgh with the ninth-best points percentage in the league this year were the Carolina Hurricanes. The club has quietly accumulated a deep, talented roster including a number of elite young players. Carolina is set to contend for titles for many years to come, but Lafreniere would make them truly dangerous. Like the Penguins, the Hurricanes simply do not need the best player in the draft. Keep in mind  that they were also one of just two teams to vote against the expanded postseason model, making it especially twisted if they were to reap the benefits of this one-off lottery structure. As good as the Hurricanes were at times this season, they are a popular upset pick in the qualifying round against the New York Rangers and could wind up in the lottery.

The New York Islanders finished just outside the top-ten in points percentage this season and have a deep, experienced team. They also play a sound defensive system. While it works to win games, it isn’t the most exciting strategy and could limit the upside of an explosive offensive talent like Lafreniere. On top of that, the Isles don’t even know where they will be playing their home games next season and have suffered from poor attendance in recent years. It doesn’t exactly sound like an ideal landing spot for an exciting top prospect. Fortunately, the Islanders drew a plus matchup against the Florida Panthers and should advance past the knockout round if they can stick to their smothering defensive game.

Given their luck in the draft lottery over the past decade, it’s pretty gross to think about the Edmonton Oilers being in the running for another No. 1 pick. Likely soon to be the home of two MVP’s in Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, the Oilers landing Lafreniere as their fifth first overall pick and ninth top-ten pick since 2010 would really be something. With an improved NHL roster and a strong pipeline of talent, the Oilers are finally starting to be self-sufficient and don’t need Lafreniere like they might have in recent year. However, if the team can’t hold off a poor Chicago Blackhawks club in the knockout round, maybe they do need the pick.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are another team that is chock full of young talent and it would be an embarrassment of riches (and embarrassing for the league) to see them land Lafreniere. While the team would be in prime shape to finally snap their Stanley Cup drought with the addition, the Leafs are already well on their way and will be contenders for years and years to come even without the top pick. Additionally, should Toronto win the lottery, there would certainly be those that would cry foul about the whole situation. The Maple Leafs face the Columbus Blue Jackets in the qualifying round in one of the more evenly matched of the upcoming series. Toronto is likely the slight favorite, but could just as easily wind up in the lottery.

The current iteration of the Chicago Blackhawks is not good. However, they are also the most dominant franchise of this decade with three Stanley Cups. It’s not east to find many outside of Chicago who have pity for the current Blackhawks given their sustained success of late. With some of those core players still in place and some exciting young pieces starting to build up, the Blackhawks may already be back on the rebound without the assistance of Lafreniere. If they make it a series with the star-studded Oilers, it will be even more evident that they don’t need a top pick to stay relevant. Like the Maple Leafs, some will also be outraged if the Blackhawks win the lottery due to the perceived favoritism shown by the league on a number of occasions in recent years.

If you really want to hear conspiracy theories though, look no further than the possibility of the Montreal Canadiens winding up with No. 1 overall. Yes, the Canadiens have no business in a playoff series and would have been in the standard draft lottery anyway, but there will be plenty who think that it is far too convenient if the Habs win the top pick when a Francophone and Quebec native is the best player on the board. It used to be that Montreal – who don’t forget have more Stanley Cups than any NHL franchise – was able to claim the best French Canadian players in the draft regardless of draft order. If that opportunity should inadvertently occur once again, plenty of people might get upset at the league despite the fact that Montreal technically is the most deserving (read: worst) of the qualifying round teams. The NHL does not want that drama right now and its most decorated club frankly does not need special treatment, perceived or otherwise.

As for the remaining teams, the Winnipeg Jets, New York Rangers, and Vancouver Canucks were all better than their records implied this season and already have elite young players, the Florida Panthers and Arizona Coyotes may not have the fan bases to support a young star like Lafreniere, and I’m sure there are reasons to root against the Nashville Predators, Calgary Flames, and Minnesota Wild as well. If you can think of a valid reason why the Columbus Blue Jackets, who have one playoff series win in franchise history, don’t deserve a stroke of good luck, that’s fine too.

What do you think? Which team do you absolutely not want to see Lafreniere go to, either because of existing talent or complaints of foul play or for any other reason? The reality is that one of these 16 will end up with the best player on the board, which in many ways is already a loss for the league, but it can get much worse from here.

Who Do You Least Want To See Win The No. 1 Pick?
Penguins 22.98% (960 votes)
Oilers 19.61% (819 votes)
Maple Leafs 19.49% (814 votes)
Canadiens 8.67% (362 votes)
Blackhawks 6.06% (253 votes)
Rangers 5.48% (229 votes)
Islanders 2.94% (123 votes)
Flames 2.47% (103 votes)
Wild 2.47% (103 votes)
Canucks 1.89% (79 votes)
Predators 1.60% (67 votes)
Coyotes 1.48% (62 votes)
Blue Jackets 1.46% (61 votes)
Jets 1.44% (60 votes)
Hurricanes 1.01% (42 votes)
Panthers 0.96% (40 votes)
Total Votes: 4,177

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Red Wings Cancel NHL Prospects Tournament

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The Detroit Red Wings are done playing hockey for the year, and after a disappointing draft lottery night, they will be eager to turn the page on the 2019-2020 hockey season. In more disappointing news, the club announced the cancellation of the 2020 NHL Prospect Tournament, NHL.com announced.

The 8-team tournament typically takes place in September in Traverse City, Michigan to showcase some of the game’s top young talent. Last year’s tournament field included the Stars, Blackhawks, Wild, Red Wings, Rangers, Blues, Blue Jackets, and Maple Leafs. Detroit defeated Dallas in the final 6-5.

The tournament takes place annually at Centre Ice Arena where the Red Wings also typically hold their preseason training camp. Next season, however, Red Wings training camp has been moved from Traverse City to Little Caesar’s Arena in Detroit, per Ansar Khan of mlive.com. Both events are set to return to Traverse City in 2020-2021. It’s unclear at this time when training camp for the 2020-2021 season might take place, but the decision to move camp to Detroit was made with player safety in mind.

Khan provides an explanation via GM Steve Yzerman, who released a statement: “The health and safety of our fans, players and staff is our top concern. Based on discussions with local health experts, we have decided to hold our 2020-21 training camp at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit. We look forward to returning to Traverse City next year. The Traverse City community is extremely hospitable to our organization, and Centre I.C.E. Arena is an ideal location for us to hold our events each September.”

Snapshots: Hub Announcement Not Coming Today, Draft Lottery, Blackhawks

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NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly put the kibosh on any expectation that the final announcement about the postseason’s hub locations would be revealed today, per TSN’s Pierre LeBrun. There was hope bordering on expectation that the chosen cities would be announced today, but there’s evidently much still to consider. In the meantime, let’s see what else is going on around the NHL…

  • Tonight’s draft lottery will decide who gets the top three picks in next year’s draft – assuming the winners of those picks fall in the bottom seven by record, writes The Athletic’s Sean McIndoe. Otherwise, we might be facing a second lottery once the play-in round decides the other eight teams of the lottery field. The Detroit Red Wings have the night’s best odds, but the top pick has only gone to the team with the best odds 30% of the time over the past decade. After the Red Wings, the Ottawa Senators hold each of the next best slots, one for their own pick, and one for the Sharks pick they acquired in the Erik Karlsson deal.
  • Chicago Blackhawks GM Stan Bowman hasn’t engaged with their impending free agents, a list largely comprised of arbitration-eligible restricted free agents, per The Athletic’s Mark Lazerus. Goaltender Corey Crawford is their highest-issue unrestricted free agent, as the 35-year-old netminder held sway between the pipes for two Chicago championships. Restricted free agent Drake Caggiula also presents an interesting case, writes Lazerus, as the speedster expected that his broken hand would be the end of his season. The long layoff and expanded playoff pool has presented Caggiula with an opportunity to build his case ahead of what’s expected to be a rather tepid free agency.

Jonathan Bernier Hoping To Finish Career With Detroit

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While the Red Wings didn’t have a lot of success on the ice this season, it was a decent year for goaltender Jonathan Bernier.  He took over the number one role from Jimmy Howard while his 2.95 GAA and .907 SV% were respectable marks for a team that struggled as much as Detroit did.  The 31-year-old still has one more year left on his contract with a $3MM cap hit but he is already thinking ahead, telling Dana Gauruder of the Detroit Free Press that he’s hoping to play until he’s around 38-40 years old and would love to finish his career with the team.  GM Steve Yzerman will likely have to look to free agency to find Bernier’s partner for next season and if he signs a proven number one, their willingness to keep a higher-end second option in the fold may be limited.  However, if they go with another Bernier-type netminder with a goal of having a platoon, then the potential for him sticking around would go up considerably.

What Detroit Wasn’t The Worst At In 2019-20

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By now, everyone knows that the Detroit Red Wings were a bad team in 2019-20. The team finished last in the NHL with a 17-49-5 record. Their 39 points was 23 points less than the Ottawa Senators in 30th place and a whopping 61 points behind the President’s Trophy-winning Boston Bruins. Their .275 points percentage was historically bad, eighth-worst in the modern era and the very worst if expansions teams are removed.

But just how pervasive was Detroit’s failure this season? The Red Wings finished last in almost every meaningful statistic. The team was the worst at both scoring and preventing goals in 2019-20. Their meager 2.0 goals per game was more than half a goal behind the 30th-ranked Los Angeles Kings. They gave up 3.73 goals per game, nearly two more goals than they scored and .38 GAA behind the Ottawa Senators in 30th. In contrast, .38 more than the Senators’ goals against would be a sub-3.0 GAA and in the top half of the league. Detroit finished last in even strength, power play, and shorthanded goals against. The Red Wings also struggled on the penalty kill, finishing in last place with a 74.3% rating.

Taking an even deeper look, the team was a disaster at creating offense. Their 27.1 shots per game was last in the league, more than two shots behind the Buffalo Sabres in 30th. If the Sabres improved by the same amount, they would be among the top half of the league. Detroit also finished last in takeaways with just 4.33 per game.

The big question is: what wasn’t Detroit the worst at in 2019-20. The Red Wings were by no means successful in the following three key statistics, but they did not finish last:

Power Play

The Red Wings should thank the Ottawa Senators and Anaheim Ducks that they can say their team wasn’t the very worst this year in a major category like power play. The difference is marginal, but Detroit’s 14.9% was .02 higher than the Ducks and .07 higher than the Sens. The Red Wings were also just behind the Chicago Blackhawks in 28th at 15.2%. Success rates start to rise significantly beyond those bottom four all the way to the Edmonton Oilers, who were more than twice as successful with the man advantage as Detroit, Anaheim, and Ottawa.

Unfortunately, when you combine the Red Wing’s low power play success rate with their league-high 13 shorthanded goals against, the team actually had a league-worst 8.8% net power play.

Shots Against

At the end of the day, Detroit had the worst goals against in the league, but they did their part not to leave their goalies out to dry entirely. The team finished 27th in shots against per game with 32.8. The Vancouver Canucks, Ottawa Senators, New York Rangers, and Chicago Blackhawks all finished below the Red Wings, with the Blackhawks bringing up the rear allowing more than two more shots per game. Detroit was actually closer to a top-ten mark in shots against per game that they were Chicago in last.

Giveaways

While bad teams and giveaways seem to go hand-in-hand, and often do, the Red Wings did not cough up the puck the most in the NHL. That honor belongs to the New York Islanders, with the New York Rangers coming in second-to-last. Detroit tied the Montreal Canadiens with 11.23 giveaways per game. This was only marginally better than the Rangers, but nearly two giveaways less than the Islanders’ ugly mark.

Yet, due to their measly 4.33 takeaways per game, Detroit still finished last net turnovers with -6.09 per game. They may not be the worst team in giveaways, but they were hardly winners in the turnover battle.

Face-offs

Finally, a noteworthy statistic that Detroit was not worst or among the worst at this season. The Red Wings’ 49.5% face-off rate was still below average by definition, but it was just short of a middling mark and good enough for 20th in the league. The team was only about 1% better than all but three of the teams below them, but the Red Wings will be happy not to be a part of that bottom group.

The 2019-20 Detroit Red Wings: “Historically bad, but okay at face-offs”.

East Notes: Gostisbehere, Bruins FAs, Red Wings Youth

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There was quite a few rumors surrounding the trade status of Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere at the trade deadline in February, but in the end, the team couldn’t find a deal that they liked. After all, Gostisbehere was a top offensive defenseman with the Flyers for several years before back-to-back poor seasons. Of course he is just 27 years old and while he’s recovering from knee surgery this season, the team still believes he has quite a bit of value.

However, Philadelphia Inquirer’s Sam Carchidi writes in his most recent mailbag, that the team is still looking for a trade partner for Gostisbehere and hope to find the right deal this offseason. He adds that the team isn’t willing to just give the blueliner away as he still has vast potential, but the team might be willing to accept a second-round pick or a young forward with 20-goal potential down the road.

  • NHL.com’s Amalie Benjamin reports that Boston Bruins general manager Don Sweeney said that with the uncertainty of the salary cap going forward, the team has shelved any thought of discussing contracts with their UFAs and RFAs. The team has several unrestricted free agents, including defenseman Torey Krug, Zdeno Chara, Joakim Nordstrom and Kevan Miller. The team also has several key restricted free agents, including Jake Debrusk, Anders Bjork and Matt Grzelcyk, but will have little cap room to work with and with rumors that the cap may not increase next year, could force the team to make some difficult decisions.
  • Despite a record losing season in Detroit, MLive’s Ansar Khan writes that Detroit Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman and the coaching staff do feel that the team made quite a bit of progress in their development of their younger players. He notes that the team were thrilled with the play of defenseman Filip Hronek, who averaged 23:54 of TOI, while posting nine goals and 31 points. While his minus-38 isn’t impressive, the team saw a blueliner whose defense improved greatly. The scribe also points out the improved play of 2018 first-rounder Filip Zadina, Givani Smith and defenseman Gustav Lindstrom.

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