Wings- every offseason move pays off- yet we still miss playoffs

[yave1964]

  It is impossible to look at the 2022-23 Red Wings offseason this past year and then look at this year and see a single move that at worst was not a move in the right direction. Literally every single move improved the team and yet we are doomed to finish with more or less the exact same results as last year. A look at the offseason adds

 

Andrew Copp He did not have a great year but a 2nd line solid two way center with 50 points compared to what we kept throwing out was a massive improvement.

 

David Perron like Copp will score 50 points and plays solid in both zones. Great get.

 

Dominik Kubilik 22-25 goals, 45 points on the cheap. Fantastic add for the money

 

Olli Maatta Settled down the 4D spot great p/k guy and clubhouse leader, the Wings young defense loves him

 

Ben Chiarot Was good most of the time, bad often, but overall a massive improvement over the junk we had out there in recent years.

 

Luff/Czarnik/Hellberg/Hagg/Chiasson all solid fill ins who at one time or another contributed to the big club

 

Vile Husso gave solid number one tender minutes most of the year.

 

Janatan Berggren was a ball of enthusiasm who brought hope for the future

 

  So literally every move was better than the players they replaced. and yet, for all that, we are gonna finish in the same place as last year because

 

Some players who returned lived up to expectations, Larkin was brilliant, Wallman finally healthy was fantastic, Rasmussen finally established himself as a solid two way third line forward. Seider was not great but was solid.

 

OTHER THAN THAT, the entire returning cast was somewhere between dissapointing and dreadful

 

Bertuzzi could not stay healthy and when in the lineup looked bad and slow

Fabbri could not stay healthy and was meh when in the lineup

Vrana was a trainwreck, getting him off the roster reminded me of when Probert finally left town.

Lindstrom allegedly played this year but was invisible if he did.

Veleno is nothing more than a 4th line center, at 23 he is not going to get better

Zadina, it is time to move on. he was injured and ineffective.

Suter was okay, i guess but wont be missed when he is allowed to walk

Sundqvist and Erne barely were able to justify spots in the lineup most of the year

Nedeljkovic was god awful, and shipped to the AHL/

Lucas Raymond suffered mightily from a sophomore jinx.

 

 So where are we?

IMHO we have 

Larkin, Raymond, Perron, Fabbri, Rasmussen Kubalik, Berggren, Copp, Soderblom. Nine forwards with Zadina/Veleno likely to be given a last chance. I think the forward group is good but not great and needs at least one top six winger. Truth is while i think copp was a great add he would be better as a 3C so a top six center and a top line winger would be the biggest needs.

 

Defense we have Seider, Chiarot, Maatta, Edvinsson, Wallman with dark horse Wallinder possibly winning the sixth spot next year. The defense is actually a strength

 

Goal has Husso with the likely return of Hellberg. Good but not great.

 

  So everything went right as far as offseason adds went but we were massively let down by the holdovers.  Hopefully  things break better next year.

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

Hmmm...I didn't watch a ton of Wings games this season, and in no way do I know the team better than you, @yave1964, however, I can offer some observations as to why Detroit will be finishing not too much differently than last season despite having a good off season:

For one, I think besides Dylan Larkin, just about every player on the team, Ville  Husso included, was inconsistent. Not saying they were all bad, in fact, some, again, like Husso, were downright brilliant at times, but it just didn't happen often enough to where the team could string together wins at any given time during the season.

Some of that inconsistency can be due to some younger players still learning the NHL ropes and how to play against the best hockey competition in the world, others, it is because certain players, THAT is who they are, and still with others, it was just some minor regressions that sometimes happen to players who have initial great years, but then, other teams 'catch on' to them...and then, they must go and make adjustments.

Second, the Atlantic Division is tough!
I realize the media LOVES to talk about how great the Metro is, and while there are obviously some good teams there, the bottom two of Philly and Columbus are just putrid, competitive-wise, and a third, Washington, is aging at such a rapid pace, it wouldn't surprise me to see them at the bottom next season.

Meanwhile, even the bottom feeders of the Atlantic are pretty competitive teams on most nights.
Buffalo, Ottawa, Detroit themselves, and yes, even Montreal....give me any of those teams over Philly, Columbus, even Washington as a winning pick were I to be a gambling woman!

Third, the Red Wings may very well end up in the same place, more or less, in the standings and miss the playoffs once again, but, in the games I did watch this year, I found them to be, generally, quite watchable, knowing they still gave themselves a chance to win, as long as they weren't getting blown out.

I couldn't say that about them the previous two or three seasons for instance. I found them previously boring, predictably loss-prone, and once they fell behind, I had no reason to think they were going to come back and win......a contrast to this season's team where I always felt they had a chance, even if it was a sliver.
So all in all, I'd say the Wings were 100% more watchable than recent previous years, and the fact I actually watched through entire games in my limited viewership of them attest to that....a bit different than the ol channel flip I would do before once the Wings went down 2-0 or 3-1.

Finally, yes, the Wings did have a good off season with some "value" signings.
Key word there being "value".
'Value' can be looked at a bunch of different ways.

At best, it can be looked at as, "Hey, we got a decent player here and didn't have to break the bank to get him"
Or, it could be a nice way to say, "Well, we got a low cost player, saved on our cap, but we can expect some pedestrian production most of the time...MAYBE more if we get lucky"

Many times in the NHL, GM's DO get what they pay for. Obviously there are surprises, diamonds in the rough, hidden gems, etc that GM's sign or draft, but the many of the players you mentioned seemed to be just that: "Value" contracts who are exactly what they are, and the Wings got more or less, budget production from those budget players....if, as you pointed out, they were even healthy to be on the ice at all.

IMO, the big picture here has to be progression.
In that regard, nevermind the actual finishing position of the team in the standings....ya gotta look at the 'feel' of the team, the track record of the GM in charge, and how competitive the actual games they played, whether they won or lost, were.

In all those categories, I think the Wings made good headway. 
Throw in some more seasoning for some very young players like Raymond and Seider, and things can only get better, as Yzerman continues to tinker with the Detroit machinations, moving on next season and beyond.

The Lightning, despite their bit of regression are still a powerhouse team...the Leaves® are looking as serious as ever, Boston has been absolutely lights out this season, Florida is still damned competitive and shows signs of being a SC contender every once in a while, while Ottawa and Buffalo, despite their putrid defending, show a monster side when it comes to producing...and even Montreal rolls over for no one.

So the Wings are in pretty deep predatory waters here.
No shame at this stage still for them, being behind in the standings, so long as the team, internally, is still improving, and I believe Detroit still is.

[Tomdog]

I don’t know where your prospects are in development, but I do think that is where you need to be looking for your hope for the future. 
You can only move so many players in one season. Turning over a roster really seems to take three years. 
Not sure if turning over faster would be a good idea anyway. 
I have a feeling they will be in the playoffs soon. 

[Brewin Flames]

Got some high talent in the system, just not ready yet....

 

Raymond, yup second season slump perhaps, and it's looking more like Zadina was a waste of a pick, hate to say it, but.....

[yave1964]

27 minutes ago, Tomdog said:

I don’t know where your prospects are in development, but I do think that is where you need to be looking for your hope for the future. 
You can only move so many players in one season. Turning over a roster really seems to take three years. 
Not sure if turning over faster would be a good idea anyway. 
I have a feeling they will be in the playoffs soon. 

Berggren broke in this year, he has the look of a 30 goal a year sniper who plays good two way game. Edvinsson is getting a cup of coffee with the big club after a fantastic season in the AHL, he will team with Seider as two massive pillars on defense. Soderblom is a bottom six mountain of a man who can score a bit. Wallinder is a sleeper, a ultra skill puck mover on the blueline- a year away. Cossa had a lost season in net and is two or even three years away but is a fine prospect. Our best prospect is likely Marco Kasper, a fine two way player whose skill set will be almost identical to Ryan Kessler. Anyway, lots to like in the system. 

[yave1964]

1 minute ago, Brewin Flames said:

Got some high talent in the system, just not ready yet....

 

Raymond, yup second season slump perhaps, and it's looking more like Zadina was a waste of a pick, hate to say it, but.....

Ugh with Zadina. Quinn Hughes went with the very next pick. Woulda looked nice carrying the puck up ice wearing the winged wheel.

[Tomdog]

Sounds like you have a good future. 

[SpikeDDS]

@yave1964

 

My ONLY gripe with Stevie was dealing Vrana. I think frustration got the better of him. If we were gonna deal him, let him play to raise Tempe value of his stock and THEN deal him.

 

No GM makes EVERY move right. I’m not even saying don’t deal Vrana (although I think there’s a GREAT argument for keeping him), but if you’re gonna do it, do it smart!

 

Love Stevie as a GM. Nobody’s perfect. This is the one thing that some day down the road, he might say to himself, “I’d have done that differently.”

[SpikeDDS]

On 3/29/2023 at 3:24 PM, yave1964 said:

Ugh with Zadina. Quinn Hughes went with the very next pick. Woulda looked nice carrying the puck up ice wearing the winged wheel.

Having said that (and not being one bit wrong), if we had selected Hughes, do you think Stevie would still have stuck his neck out to get Seider? And honestly, I’ll take Seider over Hughes.

 

Note that I am not necessarily saying Yzerman wouldn’t have picked Seider anyway. He DOES like to say, “We are going to take the player we think is the best available player regardless of position.” But that was a gutsy pick and we needed a Dman BADLY.

[J0e Th0rnton]

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On 3/29/2023 at 4:21 PM, yave1964 said:

Berggren broke in this year, he has the look of a 30 goal a year sniper who plays good two way game. Edvinsson is getting a cup of coffee with the big club after a fantastic season in the AHL, he will team with Seider as two massive pillars on defense. Soderblom is a bottom six mountain of a man who can score a bit. Wallinder is a sleeper, a ultra skill puck mover on the blueline- a year away. Cossa had a lost season in net and is two or even three years away but is a fine prospect. Our best prospect is likely Marco Kasper, a fine two way player whose skill set will be almost identical to Ryan Kessler. Anyway, lots to like in the system. 

Oh yeah. Kasper is a guy we will be keeping an eye on in banger leagues when he makes it to the NHL