The Detroit Red Wings season is right around the corner! The season commences when the Wings play the New Jersey Devils at the Prudential Center on Thursday, Oct. 12 at 7:30 p.m. The Red Wings this offseason made lots of additions to their roster. Some notable names they signed include forwards Klim Kostin, Daniel Sprong, J.T. Compher, defenseman Justin Holl, Shayne Gostisbehere, and goaltender James Reimer. They also acquired Alex DeBrincat and Jeff Petry through a couple of trades.
Teacher Mr. Miesch, who has been a passionate Detroit Red Wings fan since kindergarten. When asked about the additions the team made in the off-season, he said, “I love the additions Yzerman has made to the roster. We acquired a goal scorer in DeBrincat, who is a young talented forward, in the prime of his career, who can be a true goal scorer for our team. We also added some good veteran leadership to the team by bringing in some veterans like Jeff Petry who will help grow our younger players on the roster.” These changes to the roster overall will hopefully provide a general need of change for the whole team and improve players point production.
The additions made to the forward core will look to improve the scoring of the team’s roster. The team this season will look to score more by committee this season as the team struggled to put pucks in the back of the net last season. Last year the Wing’s highest-scoring forward was Dylan Larkin who scored a career high 79 points in 80 games. The Wings only had one other player who scored over 50 points, David Perron, who had 56 points in 82 games. If the wings want to have a chance of making the playoffs, some players will need to step up their production from last year, averaging at least a couple more 50-point scorers. By adding Sprong who scored 21 goals in 66 games this previous year for the Seattle Kraken and DeBrincat who scored 27 goals in 82 games for the Ottawa Senators. They look to improve the average scoring depth of the roster with the goal of having four lines that you can rely on to put the puck in the net.
The Red Wings will also look to be better defensively this season and get rid of the major minuses from some of their defenseman. Last season, Ben Chiarot recorded a team-low minus 31 in 76 games and Gustav Lindstrom had a minus 16 in 36 games. However, there were not just a bunch of negatives, the team was able to generate some positives from the blue line. Once Jake Walman came back from his shoulder injury, he was able to showcase a plus 10 in 63 games on the blue line. He proved to be a revelation for the defense, re-energizing Moritz Seider, then together creating one of the top defensive pairings in the league. Both of them were able to produce a league-low 2.02 goals against per 60 minutes throughout 600 plus minutes together on the ice. Coming into this new season, it is vital for the wings that the defensive pairing of Walman and Seider continue to thrive. If they can do so the entire year, that pairing will be a dangerous threat around the league that teams will struggle to play against.
Another area that needs to be improved this season if the Wings want to make a run at the playoffs is the goaltending department. The goaltenders who suited up for the winged wheel last were Villie Husso, Alex Nedeljkovic, and Magnus Hellberg. All three of the goalies had sub .900 save percentage seasons. Husso had the highest save percentage of all three goalies registering a .896 in 56 games last season.
Mr. Miesch thinks, “The goaltending I believe is the biggest area the team needs improvement from this season. I am hopeful with some of the signings that they had this summer that the defense can help to improve the position and create some stability.”
To try and improve the position, this off-season the Wings let Nedeljkovic and Hellberg go to free agency where they both decided to sign with the Pittsburgh Penguins. In addition, the Wings decided to sign goaltenders James Reimer and Alex Lyon to help boost the lineup. James Reimer, 35 years old, is a solid veteran goalie. Throughout his entire career, he has posted an average save percentage of .911 per season. He should be the backup goalie this season, most likely playing 32 of the 82 regular season games. Alex Lyon, 30 years old, is a good depth goaltender who is projected to play for the Wings affiliate, The Grand Rapids Griffins of the American Hockey League (AHL). The hope is that these goaltenders will help Husso play less this season, causing his statistics to improve, which would make the goaltending a more reliable situation than it was last year.
Last season, we also saw the progression of many of the organization’s young and upcoming prospects. We got to see Jonatan Berggren blossom in the NHL, Simon Edvinsson, and even Marco Kasper play a few games last season. Berggren was unexpectedly able to assert his spot on the roster, playing a total of 67 games and recording 28 points. The goal for all of them this season is for them to continue their development and cement a permanent spot on the roster. The current flux of veterans that are currently on the roster will mentor and help them progress their careers forward. If the organization decides it’s in the player’s best interest to play in the AHL, then they will be down in Grand Rapids. The many other prospects in the organization, to name a few, like Cossa, Wallander, and Lombardi. The goal for them is to continue to develop and hope that they grow into dominant NHL players.
This year will be head coach Derek Lalonde’s second season behind the bench. Last season in his first year with the team they had a record of 35-37-10, which is the team’s best record since the 2015-16 season. The coaching staff, having already been a year into their tenure, will be more comfortable with the systems and game style that they want their players to play on a nightly basis. Coach Lalonde said, “Last season we felt that we were starting on the 1 yard line, this season we feel with the more familiarity we have that we are starting on the 50 yard line.”
The coaches and management will look to see the wings improve on the ice this season, hopefully leading to a positive record.
I asked Mr. Miesch his thoughts on the upcoming season, he said, “I am very optimistic about the Wings this season coming up. I think they will get around 90 points, which will put them in the hunt for the playoffs.”
In his pre-season press conference, Detroit Red Wings Executive Vice President and General Manager Steve Yzerman said, “Every team would love to make the playoffs, we would be thrilled to make the playoffs, is it playoffs or bust? If it is your willing to trade all your draft picks and prospects. So, no, it’s not playoffs or bust, but we are going to try and win every game, and we are gonna try to make the playoffs. It’s not to me however at the expense of the future.” Yzerman reiterated the success this season will not hinder the future. His goal is to build a team that makes the playoffs every season. However, if the Detroit Red Wings grind away this season and secure a spot in the playoffs, the team and fans will not be disappointed.
