Where Should The Red Wings Go From Here After Having an AWFUL Season?

 

The Red Wings had one of the worst seasons in NHL history where they finished with an abysmal record of 17-49-5. They have many bad contracts, an okay lineup at best, and an average prospect pool. Where should they go from here? Keep reading to find out!

Don’t Resign Old Veterans: 

When Ken Holland was the GM, he signed many old players and poor contracts to his roster because he wanted to have the playoff streak going. Well since the playoff streak is now over and they're in a complete overhaul of their roster, they’ve got old players that shouldn’t return to the roster in my opinion. Jimmy Howard is one of them. He’s got a cap hit of $4,000,000 and that cap hit didn’t even come close to how he played. I know that the Red Wings were bad, but when you have a record of 2-23-2 with a 4.20 GAA and a .882 sv%, you should probably either be in the AHL, or go play in Europe. Since Howard is near the end of his career, it’s probably in his best interest to retire. Two other players that the Red Wings probably shouldn't bring back are Jonathan Ericsson and Trevor Daley. They’re both 36, have big cap hits, don’t produce much and are pretty much liabilities on the ice. The combined salary of $11,416,666 (of Ericsson’s, Howard’s and Daley’s contracts) can help go towards resigning guys like Mantha, Bertuzzi, Fabbri, etc. Overall, Detroit has a ton of old guys who probably shouldn't be on the opening night roster for 2020-21. If they do bring back these guys, they should be on very cheap contracts, so they can mentor the young core. 

Succeed at the 2020 NHL Draft: 

This draft for Detroit will be one of the most important drafts in a very very long time. Even though they wanted 1st overall, having the 4th overall pick will help them gain a very valuable prospect who could potentially play as soon as next year. One prospect that has been rumored that Detroit could pick is Cole Perfetti. Cole’s a highly intelligent player and someone who knows how to produce offense at a high level. Due to his upside, Cole could maybe hit 90 points in the NHL someday. He can either play center or the wing, so having that versatility would be a major plus. A line of Perfetti-Larkin-Zadina could be very effective in the near future if they decide to pick him at 4th overall. Along with their 1st round pick, they also have three second round picks (DET, EDM, SJ), two thirds (DET, EDM), one fourth (EDM), and their own 5-7th round selections. Those 2nd round picks will be very high and they could get steals from them. In the 2nd round, they could target guys like Alexander Pashin, Tyson Forester, or Marat Khusnutdinov. All 3 are highly skilled forwards who can make impacts for the Wings in a few years. If they don’t think Filip Larsson is their starter for the future and more of a backup, a guy like Artur Akhtyamov could be their solution. Artur has been lights out in the MHL for the past few seasons. In the 18-19 season, he played in 54 games and had a 2.30 GAA and a .921 sv%. If you thought that was impressive, this season he played 46 games and had a 1.80 GAA and a .931 sv%. Not to mention, he’s 6’2, 170 lbs, so he’s got the height to be an effective goalie. If he’s available early in the 4th round and Detroit’s picking, they should take a chance on him and see how he progresses. If they have a good draft this year and get rid of the bad contracts, they should be looking pretty solid for the future. 

Take On Bad Contracts From Teams that Need to Unload Cap

There will be teams this offseason that need to unload cap space due to the flat cap caused by the pandemic. Some contracts that they could take on are Jack Johnson’s $3,250,000 cap hit, Andreas Johnsson’s $3,400,000 cap hit, Viktor Rask’s $4,000,000 cap hit, etc. This can allow them to stockpile more picks and young players for their rebuild. This can be very beneficial for Detroit if they take on bad contracts because it can maybe allow them to have the players with high cap hits play in the NHL, while their prospects develop in the minor leagues. 

Tank in 2020-21 and 2021-22  

If the Red Wings are planning on being at the bottom of the standings for the next few seasons, these are probably the years to do it because of the amount of talent that’s available in the drafts. In the 2021 draft, they could maybe pick up a left handed defenceman like Owen Power, Carson Lambos, Aidan Hreschuk, Luke Hughes, etc. All 4 of these can become top  pairing defenders in the NHL and can potentially be paired with Moritz Seider or Filip Hronek. If they’d like to pick a forward, Kent Johnson, Aatu Raty, Dylan Guenther, Matthew Beniers and Chaz Lucius could all be good players to add. Kent Johnson and Matthew Beniers will be playing college next year with the University of Michigan, Raty will be playing with Karpat in the Liiga, Guenther will be playing with Edmonton in the WHL, and Lucius will probably play with the USNTDP u18 team. All the forwards are centers except Guenther. Guenther is a LW. If they pick a center, they could be the 1C and Larkin could be a great 2C. If they do in fact pick Guenther in 2021 or a d-man, that’ll be all good because the 3 headed monster of Shane Wright, Matthew Savoie and Brad Lambert will all be available in 2022. They’ll all be great 1C’s and a great add for the RedWings in the future. In 2020, let’s say 3 of they’re picks are Perfetti, Pashin, Akhtyamov. In 2021, they pick a left handed d and in 2022, they pick either Wright/Lambert/Savoie. This team could be SCARY. 

Projected lines with my system: 

Perfetti - Wright/Lambert/Savoie - Zadina 

Bertuzzi - Larkin - Mantha 

Fabbri - Veleno - Pashin 

Bergren - Grewe - Soderblom 

2021 d-man - Seider 

Tuomisto - Hronek 

Cholowski - veteran

Akhtyamov

Larsson/Gylander/veteran backup

2022 & Beyond: 

If the Wings go by my system, I think it could lead to a fun group for fans to watch. The next few years may be tough, but it can be all worth it if they win a cup! Most of the bad contracts should run out by the time the young core needs new contracts anyway, so fans shouldn’t be worried that they won’t have enough money to sign their young stars. They should start to make a push for the playoffs by 2022-23 with my system and hopefully win a cup by 2027!

By: Luka Tkalcevic (Instagram: luka_tkalcevic, futurehockeystars)