Off-Season Review: The Red Wings are quietly getting better
The Detroit Red Wings have missed the playoffs in five consecutive seasons, their longest drought since the late-1970s and early-1980s.
In 1983, the Wings selected Steve Yzerman with the No. 4 overall pick and proceeded to enter an incredible era in which they made the playoffs 30 times in 32 seasons. In 2019, Yzerman returned to Detroit as the team’s general manager, and the hope is that he can again guide the team into an era of success.
The first two years of Yzerman’s tenure have been focused around stockpiling young talent, but, this off-season, the Red Wings have started to move towards being competitive.
What happened in 2021?
The Red Wings were among the worst teams in the league last season, finishing with a 19-27-10 record. They were a team largely devoid of offence, as their leader in scoring was defender Filip Hronek, who put up 26 points in 56 games.
Injuries ultimately hampered this young squad from taking a larger step forward in 2021. Captain @Dylan Larkin missed time due to a neck injury, Robby Fabbri was limited to 30 games with an upper-body injury, and @Tyler Bertuzzi only suited up for nine games because of a back injury that ultimately required off-season surgery.
Still, the 2021 season marked a pretty significant improvement for the Wings, who put up a paltry 17-49-5 record in 2019-20.
What did they do in the off-season?
Notable Subtractions: Jonathan Bernier, Frans Nielsen, Darren Helm, Valtteri Filppula, Evgeny Svechnikov, Luke Glendening.
Yzerman had a boatload of cap room to work with this summer, but he opted not to go fishing for any big-time free agents. Instead, he improved the team’s depth with some under-the-radar additions that ultimately keep his financial flexibility open in the coming years.
The Wings sent goaltender Jonathan Bernier to Carolina in exchange for Rookie of the Year finalist Alex Nedeljkovic and inked him to a two-year deal worth $3,000,000 annually. The hope is that Nedeljkovic, who posted a .932 save percentage in 2021, can be Detroit’s goaltender of the future.
Detroit also added a quality defender in @Nick Leddy, a cap casualty of the Islanders, via trade to give them more veteran depth on the blueline. In free agency, they added Pius Suter, who scored 27 points in 55 games as a rookie with the Blackhawks, to a two-year contract while also adding Jordan Oesterle and Carter Rowney on cheap deals.
The Wings used their top draft pick on Swedish defender Simon Edvinsson and then Yzerman used some of his draft pick capital to move up from No. 23 to No. 15 to add goaltender Sebastian Cossa, who posted a .941 save percentage in the WHL in 2020-21.
Circling back to Detroit’s cap situation, they only have three players (Jakub Vrana, Filip Zadina, and Filip Hronek) signed beyond next season, along with a few entry-level deals. There’s all kinds of room for Yzerman to make some major moves over the next couple of summers.
What to expect in 2021-22?
The Red Wings will be an interesting team this season.
As I mentioned earlier, they took a decent step forward in 2021, which was fairly impressive given the injuries they dealt with. If the likes of Bertuzzi, Larkin, and Fabbri return and have healthy years in 2021-22, the Wings will be poised for another step forward.
Another key to Detroit’s ascent is how well their newest crop of rookies perform as they break into the league. Moritz Seider, the No. 6 pick from the 2019 draft, headlines the rookies Detroit will be welcoming to their lineup this season. Other players who could contribute are Joe Veleno, who had a solid five-game cup of coffee with the Wings in 2021, and Jonatan Berggren, who just had a breakout season in the Swedish Hockey League.
Playoffs are obviously a stretch for this group, but another step forward from 2021 is the expectation.
One bold prediction…
Moritz Seider steps into the NHL and immediately becomes an impact defender. He takes home the Calder Trophy for the NHL’s top rookie.
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