Detroit Red Wings
33-36-13, 79 points, 7th in Atlantic (‘16-‘17)
Key additions: Trevor Daley, Luke Witkowski
Key subtractions: Tomas Jurco (signed with Chicago), Steve Ott (Retired), Thomas Vanek (Signed with VAN)
Unsigned: Andreas Athanasiou
Offseason Analysis: The Detroit Red Wings’ offseason was spent trying to keep their current players. With contracts due to Tomas Tatar and Andreas Athanasiou, the Wings needed to shore up some of their core players. They managed this when they signed Tatar to a four-year contract worth $5.3 million AAV.
However, they still are dropping the ball on Athanasiou – he still remains unsigned. This a player who scored 18 goals and registered and 11 assists only a season ago, even when playing with the seventh-worst offense in the league. The 6’ 2”, 23-year-old center has a few options from KHL teams if the Wings can never reach an agreement, but I think there are a few teams in the NHL itching to get their hands on this player. If the Wings want to have a successful offseason, they need to make this deal happen.
The reason this deal is taking so long is because of Detroit’s lack of cap space. They are very tight to the cap and still have to sign a few players. One of the major offseason moves the Wings made was signing two-time Stanley Cup Champion Trevor Daley to a three-year deal worth $3.1 million AAV. The addition of Daley should help this team defensively and give them a leader in the locker room.
As for the offseason as whole, the loss of Thomas Vanek seems like a big loss to that group of forwards. This team struggles offensively as it is losing a top 6 forward is going to hurt them even more.
Red Wings fans aren’t going to like this next part: I still don’t think the Wings are a playoff team. They added defensively, but they lost offensively. I think you need to look at some of the dead weight with big contracts. The management team in Detroit needs to find a way to get the contracts off the books. They also need the younger prospects, like Tyler Bertuzzi and others, to step up and produce on smaller contracts. If they can make this happen, maybe Detroit can find a hint of playoffs in next few seasons. As for this year, all the other teams in the division got better and I see the Wings at the bottom of the table.
Offseason Grade: C-
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