It’s anyone’s guess as to what the next few months will look like for the Detroit Red Wings. Predicted by most to be a bottom ten team, the Red Wings find themselves in a playoff spot right now, though with many games in hand and Boston nipping on their heels.
Will it stand? It’s anyone’s guess. But here’s some resolutions for the Red Wings as the calendar turns to 2022.
1: Stay healthy: This really isn’t hockey related, but it’s more for the goodwill of the players. Covid has wreaked havoc on the league and the world. For the sake of everyone–players, staff, referees, and fans, here’s hoping that things look up more as the months roll on.
2: Find a fix for some defensive pairings: Specifically, Danny DeKeyser. Again, this isn’t a pile on but he just hasn’t looked up to speed this season. During Detroit’s 3-1 loss to Washington, there were plays on both sides of the ice where it feels like he’s just fighting to keep up. The Red Wings have been shuffling guys in and out for months now and when there’s some more stability, it’ll be interesting to see if head coach Jeff Blashill stays with DeKeyser.
3: Stay relevant while still keeping an eye to the future: This is in the hands of Steve Yzerman, and really is just a bullet point more than anything else. Yzerman has done a masterful of building the team up from next to nothing when he inherited it. There are still two months before the trade deadline and the Red Wings will be assessing who stays and who goes. I think the most interesting one to watch will be Nick Leddy, who has helped the Red Wings in both possession and driving some more offense from the blue line. Can he be flipped for higher draft capital or a higher end prospect? Or might Yzerman do one of his short term deals to keep in the fold and build more around it. With Simon Edvinsson, Donovan Sebrango, Albert Johansson and Jared McIsaac on the doorstep, open spots are dwindling but a veteran presence always helps.
4: Trust that Yzerplan: This might be more of a long-reaching one that goes beyond the offseason and into the latter part of 2022. The Red Wings are certainly trending in the right direction, and it’s tempting to keep throwing younger players into the mix, especially after the successes of Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider. Watching the success of Jonatan Berggren in Grand Rapids, and the aforementioned Edvinsson, Sebrango, and Johnasson is certainly exciting.
But up until this point, Yzerman has been very meticulous with his moves, some of them questioned initially, some that have worked out and some that haven’t. Across the soon to be three years of work Yzerman has put in, it’s been his hallmark to patiently wait for things to unfold while making prudent moves in the present.
After all, it started like this. Imagine the ending if all continues to trend in the same direction.