yave1964 Posted January 5, 2021 Share Posted January 5, 2021 Last season the Wings were on pace to have the worst record of any team in the salary cap era. God awful. Unwatchable. This season? GONE, Abdelkader, Bowey, Ericsson, Perlini, Howard, Daley, Athanasiou and Ehn. INCOMING Greiss, Namestnikov, Staal, Bobby Ryan, Stecher and Merrill. Rookie Mathias Brome will likely make the team LINES Bertuzzi, Larkin, Mantha solid capable group Namestnikov, Fabbri, Zadina all can score, should be Wings top second line since Z and Pavel hung them up Ryan, Flippula Brome Again, decent offense Helm, Glendening Givani Smith tough to play against solid 4th line SPARE PARTS Gagner, Nielsen, Erne WILDCARDS Rasmussen is determined to push for a middle six scoring role, Blashill is gushing about him in camp stating he would love to see Rasmussen in the 3C role and on the second power play. It is put up or shut up time for him SVECHNIKOV Has been passed by player after player on the Wings depth chart and like Rasmussen it is now or never. He is healthy and ready to fight it out with Brome for the 3rd line wing role. Both could stick and if productive the Wings could actually ahve four solid lines. WAIT UNTIL NEXT YEAR Veleno will play in Europe all year, Raymond will likely be given another year but is just ultra talented, and Jonatan Berggren a Arvidsson type sniper is a year away. The forwards are decent but will be even better next year. DEFENSE PAIRINGS Hronek and Staal Veteran Staal allows Hronek to provide offense from the back end without as much risk Stecher and Dekeyser both can move the puck and are responsible in their own end Nemeth and Lindstrom are plodding, boring stay at home types who should defend adequately SPARE PARTS Biega and Merrill will fill in when others need a night off. Both are okay in limited roles. WILDCARD Dennis Cholowski who has shown flashes but also looked awful at times will fight to play middle pairing minutes forcing Stecher to the third grouping and get second power play time as well. If he finally develops and Dekeyser stays on the ice all year this could be a decent bunch WAIT UNTIL NEXT YEAR The biggest disappointment to me was the Wings keeping young Moritz Seider in Europe for the year. In spite of being the youngest player in the AHL last year he was damn good with the Griffins. Next year he will be here to stay. Two others, Albert Johanssen who is a puck moving blueliner and Jared McIsaac who has shut down defender written all over him will push for time in 2021-22 as well. GOALIES Greiss and Bernier give the Wings a solid capable andem in net. SPARE PARTS Pickard is a retread AHL goalie who could fill in if desperate. WAIT UNTIL NEXT YEAR None. There is nobody in the Wings system in net who i believe has any chance of making it to the NHL unless they seriously surprise. OVERALL Much better outlook, but look, lets temper the enthusiasm. This team was biblically bad last year, in 20 point improvement in the standings likely still means finishing last. They look better, forward and goaltending a strength and defense no longer a horrible weakness but it will be 2021-22 before the real turnaround will begin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.