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Dead Things have a pulse, year in review


yave1964

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PRESEASON OUTLOOK Honestly, it was kind of nowhere to go but up mentality. Blashill had been brought back for one more year so that alone meant they werent ready to contend. Vets like Leddy came aboard, Seider was expected to make the team, Lucas Raymond was expected to do the Grand Rapids to Detroit shuffle and the hope was for some improvement.

FINAL RECORD 32-40-10 72 points, 6th in the Atlantic

 

HIGH POINT OF THE YEAR Well it sounds morbid or jerkish but to me it was when Vrana was injured early in camp. If he hadnt been no way no how does Raymond make the team out of camp. Raymond did and while Seider is the likely Calder winner Raymond had a fantastic first year as well.

  On the ice, the Wings had a 5 game streak as the clock struck December, running their record to 13-9-3. After that they hovered around .500 until a late swoon finished off th season.

 

LOW POINT OF THE YEAR After an Impressive win over Carolina on March first the Wings were 24-24-6 but then the wheels completely fell off. A quick six game losing streak was snapped but then another six game streak occured. Down the stretch the Wings went 8-16-4. Blashill was the first coach let go at seasons end,.

 

WHAT WENT RIGHT Bertuzzi had a monster season as a power forward, Larkin rediscovered his game and was a beast. Nedelcovic was good (not great) which was an improvement over what has been in the next before. The two kids, Seider and Raymond were so damn refreshing and Seider is likely  to win the Calder. Pius Suter was about what was expected, Vrana was red hot when he came back after the first of the year. 10 players scored double digit goals as the scoring was more spread out than in recent years. Rassmussen while not a stud has developed into a serviceable middle six forward. Sundqvist and Wallman who came along with a second rounder from the Blues for Leddy were refreshing. Both played solid Hockey.

 

WHAT WENT WRONG Fabbri was having a bad year and then got hurt and missed half the year. Zadina has to be the biggest disappointment in years, he simply cannot score. Leddy was awful but at least netted a fantastic return from the Blues. Dekeyser in his bad contract farewell tour was bad even spending part of the season in the minors. Joe Veleno is a lot like Zadina, simply not developing at all and running out of chances. Adam Erne took a big step back.

 

FREE AGENTS Sam Gagner and Marc Staal are calming veteran influences and both may be invited back. Greiss has been a servicable backup goalie but is a goner. Dekeyser is mercifullly off the books. 

 

TOP PROSPECTS Jonatan Bergrenn had a fantastic season leading the Griffins in scoring, he is a sniper and should make the team possibly and probably in a top six role for a team in need of offense. Jared McIsaac may make the team as a bottom pair shut down defender. Simon Edvinsson has been playing as a man among boys in Europe there is a real chance he gets fasttracked to the NHL like Seider did. He is a monster prospect. Albert Johansson is coming to North America next year and will likely be in Grand Rapids getting used to smaller rinks. Cocky goalie prospect Sebastian Cossa will own the crease in Grand Rapids. Lots of misc kids with misc talent as the Wings pool is getting deeper.

 

STRANGE STAT OF THE YEAR Nedeljkovic in spite of an abysmal 3.60 goals against with a .892 save pct was 12-10 at home. He performed much better on the road a nice 2.95 goals against and .911 save pct but was an awful 8-14 on the road. Thats right, his goals against was three quarters of a goal worse at home with a winning record and much better away and he lost nearly two thirds of his decisions.

 

OFFSEASON QUESTION MARKS Who will be the new coach>\? That is a biggie, the Wings need to find someone to light a fire under Rasmussen/Zadina/Veleno and get them in the game. That trio, how much patience do the Wings have with them? Do they sign someone like Vinnie Trocheck as a fantastic 2C, do the Wings likewise go all in on a top four defender long term? Both questions must be answered yes for this team to take another step closer. The Wings do have an extra second and three extra fourths so they are looking at 8 picks in the top 100 or so which is fantastic in a deep even draft. The core, Larkin, Bertuzzi, Suter Sundqvist, Erne, Nedeljkovic all are free agents after 22-23. This is a critical time for the Wings, they must decide who they are retaining and lock them up now.

 

SOME light at the end of the tunnel but still a long way to go.

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3 hours ago, Brewin Flames said:

I want a coach who gets the most out of Zadina, no way does this kid, not know how to score...needs a coach that can max his potential, cause he has tons.

My initial thought when Trotz became available was nab him, but the more I think about it..... I look at Barzal who has a ton of talent capable of 90 points, scoring 60ish every year but at least until this year they won. If Trotz signs in Detroit we may as well trade Zadina now because the defensive first scheme wins up to a point but it sucks the oxygen out of the offensive zone. Write it in stone, if healthy Barzal scores 85-90 points this year with whoever takes over for the Isles. Yes, I would rather win ugly 2-1 games but the Wings are built to score, a 2C like Trocheck and a veteran puck mover an the Wings absolutely could and should be top ten in the league for total goals which gets us in the conversation for the playoffs. So no offense to Trotz who is one Hell of a great coach but i hope he signs elsewhere and the Wings bring in someone with offensive accumen.

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6 hours ago, yave1964 said:

My initial thought when Trotz became available was nab him, but the more I think about it..... I look at Barzal who has a ton of talent capable of 90 points, scoring 60ish every year but at least until this year they won. If Trotz signs in Detroit we may as well trade Zadina now because the defensive first scheme wins up to a point but it sucks the oxygen out of the offensive zone. Write it in stone, if healthy Barzal scores 85-90 points this year with whoever takes over for the Isles. Yes, I would rather win ugly 2-1 games but the Wings are built to score, a 2C like Trocheck and a veteran puck mover an the Wings absolutely could and should be top ten in the league for total goals which gets us in the conversation for the playoffs. So no offense to Trotz who is one Hell of a great coach but i hope he signs elsewhere and the Wings bring in someone with offensive accumen.

 

I could be wrong, because you know, I've been wrong on lots of things in equal measure to being right on things, but I don't think you really have anything to worry about with regards to Barry Trotz being hired by the Red Wings......not with Steve Yzerman as the GM.

If Yzerman's plan is to build the current Red Wings more or less in the image of the Lightning he built, which in turn, was built on the blueprint of the winning Red Wings teams of the late 90's/early 2000s, then he is looking for a more balanced approach, where the scorers can do their thing, the defenseman are large and resistant, yet anchored by a good puck mover or all around defenseman, or defensemen in general that like to shoot the puck.

I'd be pretty surprised if Yzerman goes and hires a Tortorella/Hitchcock/Trotz type coach where their style doesn't really fit that plan. Those coaches mentioned are, IMO, "fix it" coaches that you bring in to knock some sense into a franchise that has seriously lost its way or is being run by the inmates of the locker room asylum....and their cure is a dictatorship, followed by lots of defense.
Good for a lost franchise, but I don't consider the Wings "lost" anymore.

They know what they want to do, are on their way to doing it, and a coach like Trotz won't really advance Yzerman's plan.

I don't know who would make the best fit for Detroit right now, although, if I were to come up with a name right off the top of my head, it would actually be Bruce Boudreau, who for some reason is being left flap around a bit as it seems Vancouver are dragging their feet at re-signing him.

Look at what he did for the Canucks when he took over. His coaching style is one where he DOES let his players be who they are, coaxes the most he can out of them (provided they are LISTENING), and likes an attacking style.
His competitive teams never seemed to have elite defenses, but they were good enough, always seemed to have a good goaltending, but were usually near the top of the league in offense generated.

Sounds like a guy Yzerman may like if Vancouver, who have a history of making inept coaching decisions, decide to let Boudreau walk.

Edited by TropicalFruitGirl26
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