Breaking down the Detroit Red Wings ahead of NHL Trade Deadline Day.
Deadline approach
The Detroit Red Wings will be: Buyers
Pending free agents
Unrestricted: 7 | Restricted: 13 | See full list
[teamleaders league=”nhl” team=”det” season”2013″]
Red Wings overview
No team comes within sniffing distance of the Detroit Red Wings’ active 22-season streak of consecutive playoff appearances (next-best San Jose is riding a nine-season run). So when Hockeytown moved to the weaker Eastern Conference, a 23rd straight playoff showing seemed inevitable. Then the injuries started.
Only two players on the roster, Drew Miller and Kyle Quincey, have played in all of Detroit’s going into the Olympic break (58 games). Core players Pavel Datsyuk, Mikael Samuelsson, Johan Franzen, Stephen Weiss, Henrik Zetterberg, Jimmy Howard and Daniel Alfredsson have missed a minimum of 11 games each, leaving Detroit in a dogfight with a handful of teams for a coveted wild-card berth. Worse, captain Zetterberg suffered a herniated disc in Sochi.
The 2014 Red Wings are a middle-of-the-pack club, equally average in offensive output and defending their own crease. We classify them as a buyer, but only marginally so. Because they’ve had to play their prospects more than they anticipated, they’ve learned their worth. Detroit won’t sell off significant future assets to improve right now, but GM Ken Holland is always looking to upgrade.
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| Click player positions to see depth chart | ||
Areas to address
Detroit already made its 2013-14 power moves in the summer, by signing proven free agents Daniel Alfredsson and Stephen Weiss. The biggest area to address is health — something that wasn’t accomplished when they sent 10 players to Sochi, including a banged-up Zetterberg and Datsyuk. Thus, Holland will look for depth up front. He reportedly kicked the tires on New York Islanders sniper Thomas Vanek, but found Garth Snow’s original asking price too steep for a rental.
Niklas Kronwall and Jonathan Ericsson form a decent top two on the blue line, but after that, things drop off. Quincey, a pending UFA with a $3.775-million cap hit, looks to be in play. If this team is to win a playoff round, Holland will need to give goaltender Howard more support at both ends of the ice. Howard has endured a rough season — his GAA, save percentage and shutouts all at three-year lows — and doesn’t look like a guy who will steal a playoff round for anybody right now.
Possible trade targets
Thomas Vanek, New York Islanders
Andrew MacDonald (Traded to PHI)
NHL Trade Deadline needs: Full list for all 30 NHL teams
