Detroit Red Wings
2015-16
season: 41-30-11, 93 points,
Lost in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals |
Head
Coach: Jeff Blashill (2015)
|
3rd Place Atlantic Division
|
General
Manager: Ken Holland (1997)
|
8th Place Eastern Conference
|
AHL
Affiliate: Grand Rapids Griffins
ECHL
Affiliate: Toledo Walleye
|
Cap
Space: -$4,867,042
|
Team News
- Detroit traded Pavel Datsyuk's contract (he retired following the 2015-16 season) to Arizona, along with their 1st round draft pick, in exchange for Joe Vitale and Arizona's 1st and 2nd round draft picks
Free Agents Lost in the Offseason
POS.
|
Player
|
New Team
|
Contract
|
RW
|
Brad Richards
|
Retired
|
|
C
|
Joakin Andersson
|
Orebro HK (SHL)
|
|
C
|
Andy Miele
|
Philadelphia Flyers
|
1 year, $600,000
|
RW
|
Daniel Cleary
|
Free Agent
|
|
D
|
Kyle Quincey
|
Free Agent
|
Incoming Free Agents
POS.
|
Player
|
Old Team
|
Contract
|
C
|
Frans Nielsen
|
New York Islanders
|
6 years, $31,500,000
|
LW
|
Tomas Vanek
|
Minnesota Wild
|
1 year, $2,600,000
|
LW
|
Steve Ott
|
St. Louis Blues
|
1 year, $800,000
|
C
|
Ben Street
|
Colorado Avalanche
|
1 year, $600,000
|
2016 Draft Picks
RD
|
Pick No.
|
POS.
|
Name
|
Junior/College/Club Team
|
1
|
20
|
D
|
Dennis Cholowski
|
Chilliwack Chiefs (BCHL)
|
2
|
46
|
RW
|
Givani Smith
|
Guelph Storm (OHL)
|
2
|
53
|
D
|
Filip Hronek
|
Hradec Kralove (Czech)
|
4
|
107
|
D
|
Alfons Malmstrom
|
Orebro Jrs (Sweden)
|
5
|
137
|
D
|
Jordan Sambrook
|
Erie Otters (OHL)
|
6
|
167
|
G
|
Filip Larsson
|
Djurgarden Jrs (Sweden)
|
7
|
197
|
LW
|
Mattias Elfstrom
|
Malmo Jrs (Sweden)
|
Top Three Prospects
POS
|
Name
|
Draft Info
|
Current Team
|
C
|
Anthony Mantha
|
2013 1st RD (20)
|
AHL
|
C
|
Martin Frk
|
2012 2nd RD (49)
|
AHL
|
LW
|
Evgeny Svechnikov
|
2015 1st RD (19)
|
AHL/ECHL
|
Projected Lineup
Forwards
POS
|
Name
|
Age
|
Nationality
|
Free Agent Year
|
LW
|
(C) Henrik Zetterberg
|
35
|
Sweden
|
2021
|
C
|
Dylan Larkin
|
20
|
United States
|
2018 (RFA)
|
RW
|
Justin Abdelkader
|
29
|
United States
|
2023
|
LW
|
Tomas Tatar
|
25
|
Slovakia
|
2017
|
C
|
Frans Nielsen
|
32
|
Denmark
|
2022
|
RW
|
Gustav Nyquist
|
27
|
Sweden
|
2019
|
LW
|
Thomas Vanek
|
32
|
Austria
|
2017
|
C
|
Riley Sheehan
|
24
|
Canada
|
2018 (RFA)
|
RW
|
Darren Helm
|
29
|
Canada
|
2021
|
LW
|
Drew Miller
|
32
|
United States
|
2017
|
C
|
Luke Glendening
|
27
|
United States
|
2021
|
RW
|
Andreas Anthanasiou
|
22
|
Canada
|
2017 (RFA)
|
Defensemen
POS
|
Name
|
Age
|
Nationality
|
Free Agent Year
|
D
|
(A) Niklas Kronwall
|
35
|
Sweden
|
2019
|
D
|
Jonathan Ericsson
|
32
|
Sweden
|
2020
|
D
|
Brendan Smith
|
27
|
Canada
|
2017
|
D
|
Mike Green
|
30
|
Canada
|
2018
|
D
|
Danny DeKeyser
|
26
|
United States
|
2022
|
D
|
Alexey Marchenko
|
24
|
Russia
|
2017 (RFA)
|
Goalies
POS
|
Name
|
Age
|
Nationality
|
Free Agent Year
|
G
|
Petr Marzek
|
24
|
Czech Republic
|
2018 (RFA)
|
G
|
Jimmy Howard
|
32
|
United States
|
2019
|
Extra Skaters
POS
|
Name
|
Age
|
Nationality
|
Free Agent Year
|
RW
|
Teemu Pulkkinen
|
24
|
Finland
|
2017 (RFA)
|
LW
|
Steve Ott
|
34
|
Canada
|
2017
|
D
|
Xavier Ouellet
|
25
|
Canada
|
2017 (RFA)
|
Season Outlook
- Last season the Red Wings snuck into the playoffs as the second Wild Card, winning the tiebreaker against Boston. Detroit went on to lose their quarterfinals series in five games against Tampa Bay, and didn't even really look like a playoff team. First year head coach Jeff Blashill did, however, raise some questions as to whether former coach Mike Babock (now with Toronto) is far and above the best coach in the NHL. Blashill managed to do the same thing with the Red Wings as Babcock had in many of his later seasons with Detroit: get into the playoffs and then sputter out relatively quickly.
CAT.
|
Goals For
|
Goals Against
|
PP %
|
PK %
|
PDO
|
Corsi For
|
Corsi Against
|
Corsi For %
|
oZS%
|
dZS%
|
Stat
|
211
|
224
|
18.80
|
81.55
|
99.8
|
4458
|
4239
|
51.3
|
53.5
|
46.5
|
Red Wings’ Rank
|
24th
|
18th
|
13th
|
14th
|
21st
|
20th
|
4th
|
9th
|
2nd
|
2nd
|
PDO= Even Strength Shooting Percentage + Even Strength Save
Percentage
Corsi For= Shots + Blocks + Misses while in possession of
puck
Crosi Against= Shots + Blocks + Misses while not in
possession of puck
Corsi For %= Corsi For/(Corsi For+Corsi Against) -> Above
50% means that team controls play
oZS% = Offensive Zone Start Percentage
dZS% = Defensive Zone Start Percentage
- This coming season, the Red Wings are probably in worse shape than they were last year. Veteran center Pavel Datsyuk has retired from the NHL to return to his native Russia and Detroit GM Ken Holland had to move his contract to Arizona. In Datsyuk's place, they brought in the talented Frans Nielsen, who is good but doesn't seem like enough to put off the inevitable. Detroit has been good enough to make the playoffs in recent years, but not good enough to really be a Cup contender. They are also fairly old, injury prone, don't have a great farm system, and don't have the financial flexibility to acquire players through free agency. They've also made a habit out of paying their own guys like Justin Abdelkader and Danny DeKeyser too much money for too long of contracts. The Red Wings should go the way of the New York Yankees in baseball and work to rebuild, or at least retool on the fly. They have a lot of marketable talent that other teams would be interested in trading for and would give the Red Wings a lot in return. With their new arena opening next year, now is as good of a time as ever to rebuild. With the team in its current state, I don't see Detroit making the playoffs out of their division and the Metro is too good to rely on a Wild Card spot.
Breakout Candidate:
- C Riley Sheehan - Sheehan actually regressed last year from his 2014-15 season, only registering 25 points last season. Detroit will need players like Sheehan to step up and play a bigger role this year if the Red Wings hope to be competitive and keep their playoff streak alive.
Regression Candidate:
- C Henrik Zetterberg - Zetterberg will center the Red Wings' first line, but has been injured quite a bit during recent seasons. He is also 35 and is at the point in his career where his body will continue to break down and his productivity will be unreliable. This could be an issue for Detroit, as he is under contract through 2021.
Bounceback Candidate:
- G Jimmy Howard - Howard lost the starting job in net last season to Petr Mrazek even though Howard's numbers weren't terrible. He still put up a sub 3.00 GAA (2.80) and a .906 save percentage. This was a down year for him, however, in the grand scheme of his career. I look for him to have a better season this year and to have a more even split with Mrazek for starts in net.
*All statistics and information come from: rosterresource.com, thehockeywriters.com, hockeydb.com, hockey-reference.com, and generalfanager.com
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