32 in (roughly) 32 Season Preview: Detroit Red Wings

The rebuilding Red Wings look to be more competitive this time around

Team: Detroit Red Wings

GM: Trevor D

Power Ranking Placement: 25/32 in league, 5/8 in division, 11/16 in conference

Significant Additions:

Steven Stamkos, C/W - 92 OV

Mike Smith, G - 92 OV

Joe Pavelski, C/W - 88 OV

Brent Burns, D - 87 OV

Jacob Moverare, D - 72 OV

Significant Subtractions:

Conor Sheary, C/W - 81 OV

Trevor Lewis, C/W - 79 OV

Mark Pysyk, D - 77 OV

Justin Braun, D - 79 OV

Alex Biega, D - 76 OV

Devan Dubnyk, G - 69 OV

Nikolai Knyzhov, D - lack of games played

Offseason grade: A

I mean, it’s clear to anyone with eyes that this team is monumentally better than it was last season. It may not be one that necessarily competes for a playoff spot, but Detroit has improved drastically and has a ton of prospects coming up in the next few years. This year, Byfield, Foote, and Protas are all debuting for the Red Wings. In the next couple of years, we’ll likely see Wright, Edvinsson, and Zellweger, among others, come up and play key parts in the team. So, I’m a big fan of what Detroit has done here, and that’s assemble a core of young players to build your team around and sign players in free agency to do just that. Whether or not Detroit actually keeps these players has yet to be seen, they’ll likely be sellers at the deadline. However, They can trade these players for a boatload of assets to help build around their younger players in the next coming years. They likely won’t compete, but I don’t really think they’re trying to. They’re playing for the next couple of years once their prospects have developed and become the studs that they’re projected to be.

Projected Lineup: 

Pavelski - Stamkos - Hagel

Okposo - Dach - Debrusk

Foote - Byfield - Kolesar

Hirose - Highmore - Protas

-

Burns - Jokiharju

Ferraro - Merkley

Moverare - Middleton

-

M. Smith

Korpisalo

Quote from the GM:

GM Trevor D said of his team, “This is a critical moment for our franchise. Bottom line, I want the team to be harder. I think we need to present ourselves, look harder, coming off the bus, coming into buildings. I want other teams to say, “You know what? We’ve got our hands full tonight.” He added, “This won’t be an easy overnight process, however, at least the Wings should be a fun team to watch again. A competitive team.” 

Season Expectations: Rebuild

The Detroit Red Wings are still currently in the midst of a rebuild, though I do believe they’ll have completed their rebuild soon. GM Trevor D has done a terrific job in doing so. They won’t compete though. They have Ottawa, Boston, Florida, and Buffalo to surpass if they want to make the playoffs and I just don’t see that happening. They’d have to also beat Carolina, Washington, and the Islanders who will be among those fighting for the wild card spots as well. Frankly, I just don’t see it happening. I don’t believe the Red Wings intend on keeping all of Stamkos, Burns, Smith or Pavelski, since they have 12 RFAs to qualify (or not) this upcoming season, though I suppose it’s not completely outside the realm of possibility. Because of all that, this has been and will continue to be an extremely pivotal year in Detroit’s rebuild and what they decide to do will determine a lot. We’ll see, but at the very least, the Red Wings have potential to steal some games off the top teams with an excellent top line with Stamkos and Pavelski, a solid top pairing with Burns, and a strong netminder in Smith. Whether or not they make the playoffs, they could be a very fun team to watch and will make games more interesting than I believe most GMs give them credit for. 

In the next entry, we’ll be covering the Edmonton Oilers. Thank you for reading, and have a wonderful day!

Previous entries:

Anaheim Ducks: https://dchl.ca/articles/senators/32-in-roughly-32-season-preview-anaheim-ducks

Arizona Coyotes: https://dchl.ca/articles/senators/32-in-roughly-32-sesaon-preview-arizona-coyotes

Boston Bruins: https://dchl.ca/articles/senators/32-in-roughly-32-season-preview-boston-bruins

Buffalo Sabres: https://dchl.ca/articles/senators/32-in-roughly-32-season-preview-buffalo-sabres

Calgary Flames: https://dchl.ca/articles/senators/32-in-roughly-32-season-preview-calgary-flames

Carolina Hurricanes: https://dchl.ca/articles/senators/32-in-roughly-32-season-preview-carolina-hurricanes

Chicago Blackhawks: https://dchl.ca/articles/senators/32-in-roughly-32-season-preview-chicago-blackhawks

Colorado Avalanche: https://dchl.ca/articles/league/32-in-roughly-32-season-preview-colorado-avalanche

Columbus Blue Jackets: https://dchl.ca/articles/senators/32-in-roughly-32-season-preview-columbus-blue-jackets

Dallas Stars: https://dchl.ca/articles/senators/32-in-roughly-32-season-preview-dallas-stars