The Detroit Red Wings have been one of the busiest teams this offseason and made a number of big changes to their roster. With the acquisition of Alex DeBrincat, the assumption is that the rebuild is over and they will be pushing for a playoff spot all the way to the end of the season in 2023-24. With all the changes comes questions for the Red Wings. Are they going to be better than they were last season? Are the changes enough to bring them out of mediocrity and a rebuild yet? And is this a winning strategy or are they bound to come up short again?
Red Wings Additions
The Red Wings just seemingly capped off a busy offseason by bringing in two-time 40-goal scorer DeBrincat to play alongside Dylan Larkin for the next four-plus years. But nothing about any of the other additions screams instant turnaround and puts them above any team they weren’t as good as last season.
The Red Wings also brought in J.T. Compher, Shayne Gostisbehere, Klim Kostin, Daniel Sprong, Christian Fischer, Justin Holl, James Reimer, and Alex Lyon. Let’s dive into each of these and judge what impact they should have and if the signings as a whole will make a huge difference.
Impacts of New Players
The Red Wings were at a disadvantage when it came to centers available in free agency this season and went with Compher who was coming off a career year. He did put up 52 points in a heavily relied upon role last season and is expected to do the same on the second line of Detroit, but he’s nothing special. What bringing him in does is allow Andrew Copp to slide back into a more familiar role centering the third line where he can succeed.
After the Red Wings traded Filip Hronek, they needed a power-play quarterback. They got this in Gostisbehere, but also had to shell out over $4 million to bring him in. For one year, this is a good investment with all the cap space the team has, but he isn’t great defensively and will likely slot in on the third pair. Holl was also brought in on a larger contract than he had with the Toronto Maple Leafs despite a ton of criticism. He’s more defensively focused and gave the team another right-shot defender.
Players like Koston, Fischer, and Sprong will slot in the bottom-six and are expected to provide solid depth, but it seems as if the Red Wings are expecting each of them to at least replicate what they did last season. That’s a bit of a tall task, but there also isn’t much risk right now in terms of contract length.
The goaltending additions aren’t anything special either as Reimer has seemingly lost a step. The smart move made was bringing in a very capable third string goalie in Lyon though as the Red Wings struggled in net and needed to utilize their third goalie. Lyon did a very good job for the Florida Panthers last season in the role he will now have this season, potentially elevating the goaltending as a whole.
Roster Comparison to Recent Cup Winners
A big objective for the Red Wings was to reduce goals against for this season after they were sunk due to that aspect of their game. The defensive and goaltending additions are a step up from what the team ended with, but it is nothing special. Comparing what Steve Yzerman and the Red Wings were trying to do to the roster, it seems as if a solid all around team is trying to form instead of a top-heavy squad.
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The leading scorer of the Vegas Golden Knights last season during the regular season was Jack Eichel with 66 points. Their team was big and was a great all around team. Although Eichel is on the team and some might consider him a superstar, I would argue that there aren’t really any superstars on the team, just a lot of very good players. This is what it seems like the Red Wings are gearing up to try to be. You don’t need superstars to win the Cup and the Red Wings don’t have any. Without superstars, there is a low chance the team will have to be paying anyone a ton of money either. This keeps money available to address every part of the lineup so that they are a threat at all times.
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