St. James: No overhaul in store, but big change needed for Red Wings
That the Detroit Red Wings need a shakeup is evident after a season of disappointment.
They were done just five games into the playoffs, barely making it in for a 25th straight season after key players underperformed. Their special teams were horrendous. The veterans showed their age, Pavel Datsyuk may be gone, the mid-20s core failed to take a step forward, and the brightest spot on the team was a teenager.
A rebuild is unrealistic. It took Chicago a decade of utter misery to gain Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane. Pittsburgh went through half a decade of misery and then lucked out during the 2005 lockout, winning the draft lottery and getting a generational player in Sidney Crosby a year after drafting Evgeni Malkin. Tampa Bay has risen because a decade of failure produced a first overall pick in Steven Stamkos (more on him later) and second overall pick in Victor Hedman.
Tanking doesn’t even guarantee success. The Edmonton Oilers picked first overall in 2010, 2011, 2012, seventh overall in 2013, third overall in 2014 and then took Connor McDavid, also considered a generational player, at first overall last spring. They haven’t made the playoffs in years. The Florida Panthers missed the playoffs 13 times since 1998, enabling them to draft inside inside the top three spots four times since 2010, and face elimination in the first round of the playoffs.
A realistic approach has the Wings finding a way to make a trade for a high-end defenseman. Teams do not surrender the truly elite, such as Drew Doughty, Duncan Keith and Shea Weber. But it is imperative the Wings address the need on defense, as it is clear Niklas Kronwall is in decline because of a bad knee. Danny DeKeyser has emerged as a solid presence on the back end, and Mike Green is what the Wings brought him in to be, an offensive defenseman. Brendan Smith has a high compete level. Jonathan Ericsson disappoints for a veteran defenseman. Alexey Marchenko needs to work on his speed, but he plays a good, safe game. Xavier Ouellet is penned in to be on next season’s squad.
It always was going be painful after Nicklas Lidstrom retired, and attempts to ameliorate that so far have been unsuccessful. General manager Ken Holland pursued Weber when he was a restricted free agent in 2012, the same summer Lidstrom retired. Weber instead signed a heavily front-loaded offer sheet with Philadelphia that Nashville still matched. Two years ago, Holland pursued unrestricted free agent defenseman Matt Niskanen, offering slightly more money than Washington, Niskanen’s eventual team of choice.
Ken Holland, Detroit Red Wings need a philosophical change
The trade route may be more viable. The Calgary Flames need help in goal, and goaltender Jimmy Howard increased his trade value with a late-season surge and solid playoffs. Maybe a package deal could get the Wings Mark Giordano or Dougie Hamilton. St. Louis has available defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk, but the last asking price included Dylan Larkin, who is untouchable.
The Wings will get a clearer picture of what they can do once they get a definitive answer from Pavel Datsyuk regarding his future. He has a year left on his contract but has said he wants to go home to his native Russia. The fact his last contract went into effect after he turned 35 means the Wings would be stuck with his $7.5 million cap.
If Datsyuk does retire, the Wings pretty much have to do what it’d take to trade his contract to a team that would use the salary cap hit to reach the minimum required payroll. Knowing the position the Wings are in, such a team could make demands including a higher-end prospect or a higher-end draft pick. It would be worth the cost as the Wings could then use the freed-up money to improve. It would be worth the cost especially if Stamkos, who so far has spurned attempts at re-signing by Lightning general manager Steve Yzerman, becomes an unrestricted free agent.
Datsyuk has been a joy to watch, but it is clear he and fellow veterans Henrik Zetterberg and Kronwall, all of whom are in their mid-30s, are at the stage where they need reduced roles, just like Yzerman did towards the end of his playing career. The great blemish of the 2015-16 season was how many players didn’t take the step forward the Wings needed to see. Gustav Nyquist and Tomas Tatar failed support their elders as Datsyuk and Zetterberg did for Yzerman and Brendan Shanahan a decade ago. Riley Sheahan was in that group, too, but he at least had an encouraging end to the season. Larkin helped save the season, helped get the Wings into the playoffs, and he shows an inner drive that will make him a building block for years to come.
The biggest change the Wings made last season was behind the bench, where Jeff Blashill took over after a decade of Mike Babcock. Blashill has proven himself successful at different levels of hockey, but going forward, his biggest challenge may be to change some of the culture in the Wings’ dressing room. A very telling incident took place late in the season, when Blashill was told Zetterberg had commented he’d like to see what rookie Andreas Athanasiou could do with 18 minutes of playing time rather than half that. Blashill asked if Zetterberg had said he’d be willing to give up his minutes to make that happen. Zetterberg has put in many years of outstanding service, but he is no longer the player he was. He was left at end of the playoffs admitting he needed to do more.
The Wings have moved younger players into the lineup, such as Larkin and Athanasiou and Marchenko this year, and goaltender Petr Mrazek. That needs to continue next season with Ouelllet and Anthony Mantha. Building from within is crucial within the confines of the salary cap era.
The Wings are paying the price of drafting no higher than 15th overall for more than two decades. An overhaul is as unrealistic as a rebuild. But some change is crucial for the Wings to once again be competitive.
Contact Helene St. James: hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames. Check out our Red Wings Xtra app on Apple and Android!
