4 Big Questions for the Detroit Red Wings in 2020-21
There’s Four Big Questions facing the Detroit Red Wings in 2020-21.
With the start of the 2020-21 NHL Season just a couple of days away, we continue our Season Previews by putting the spotlight on the Detroit Red Wings today.
It was a historically bad 2019-20 season for the Red Wings who broke records for just how god awful they were, finishing 31st with a lowly 39 points.
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For context, the second worst team, the Ottawa Senators, finished with 62 points so that gives you some idea as to just how bad the Detroit Red Wings were last year.
They finished dead last in most statistical categories and it was just a continuation of what has been a pretty bleak period for sports fans in Detroit, particularly Red Wings fans who were so used to winning for so long.
However, there is a much-larger plan in place for this franchise and that is now being overseen and led by Red Wings legend Steve Yzerman, who is stocking up on assets and stud prospects to ensure that the glory days can return to the Motor City in the not too distant future.
After making some smart additions in Free Agency and via the trade market during the offseason, Yzerman has ensured that the Red Wings should be a lot more competitive in 2020-21, although they will more than likely end up as a lottery team again.
That isn’t a bad thing for Yzerman who wants to continue bolstering the farm system with elite talent, although the losing does have to stop at some point.
Anyway, without further ado, let’s delve into the 4 Big Questions the Detroit Red Wings will have to answer in the 2020-21 NHL Season…
4. Will the Detroit Red Wings be more competitive in 2020-21?
Yes and no.
Yes because General Manager Steve Yzerman did a superb job of adding some proven and high-end veterans to this team in the ilk of defensemen Jon Merrill and Marc Staal and forward Bobby Ryan, not to mention reliable goaltender Thomas Greiss.
Signing top-four blueliner Troy Stecher to a two-year, $3,400,000 contract was a very smart pickup, while Yzerman also picked up 26-year-old defenseman Christian Djoos off waivers over the weekend.
Those additions, coupled with the invaluable leadership and experience Staal in particular will bring to the table, will ensure that the 31st ranked defense in Goals Against Per Game (3.73) in 2019-20 is much better in 2020-21.
A highly-motivated Bobby Ryan should also add a scoring punch to the offense, one that also ranked 31st in Goals For Per Game last year (2.00), while if the top line of Anthony Mantha, Dylan Larkin and Tyler Bertuzzi can stay healthy and wreak some damage together, then that will also ensure that the Red Wings are a tough out this season.
However, after missing out on the No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft, and therefore the chance to accelerate their rebuild by taking generational talent Alexis Lafreniere, despite having the worst record in the NHL, the main goal for the Red Wings will still be to get another high draft pick so that they can add a legit game-changer to this organization.
The 2020-21 season will be about striking that perfect balance between giving the young players some experience of winning, while still remaining bad enough that they get a high enough pick in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft to be able to take a player they feel can really put this franchise back on the map.
Therefore, don’t be surprised if the Detroit Red Wings pull off some shocks during the regular season, before trading away some of their recently acquired veterans at the Trade Deadline in order to stock up on Draft capital and more assets for the future.
3. Is Jeff Blashill the right guy going forward?
Many within hockey circles would not have been surprised if Detroit Red Wings Head Coach Jeff Blashill lost his job after presiding over what was a nightmare 2019-20 season that was full of losses, humiliating beatings and very little hope.
However, Blashill didn’t have a lot to work with and losing was part of the plan for the Red Wings, who are in dire need of an elite game-changer in order to really accelerate this rebuild.
And, while Detroit will still be a lottery team in 2020-21, they should be a lot more competitive thanks to the plethora of clever moves made by General Manager Steve Yzerman during the offseason.
Therefore, there will be few excuses for Jeff Blashill this season.
He’ll now have a legit NHL starter in Thomas Greiss who has been stellar for the New York Islanders over the last couple of seasons and will be a significant upgrade on Jimmy Howard, while the likes of Marc Staal, Jon Merrill, Troy Stecher and Christian Djoos, and not forgetting a healthy Danny DeKeyser, will ensure that Blashill will actually have a competent blueline unit to work with in 2020-21.
Blashill has also been blessed with some legit offensive weapons in the form of Bobby Ryan, who put up 42 points (15 G, 27 A) just two years ago, and smart two-way forward Vladislav Namestnikov, who will both help improve what was a dire offense in 2019-20.
As a result, Blashill will be expected to make this Detroit Red Wings team a hell of a lot more competitive in 2020-21, while getting the best out of Anthony Mantha, Dylan Larkin and Tyler Bertuzzi, and also helping to unlock the potential of prospects in the ilk of forward Filip Zadina.
However, if it is another tough and gruelling year for this team and they show no signs of improvement at all, then GM Steve Yzerman may decide that he needs a new guy behind the bench to help usher in a new era of Detroit Red Wings hockey when it does arrive.
2. Can Filip Zadina break out this year?
Is 2020-21 the year that Filip Zadina finally breaks out and takes the National Hockey League by storm?
General Manager Steve Yzerman and the Detroit Red Wings will be hoping that is indeed the case.
Zadina was the No. 6 overall pick by the Red Wings in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft and he certainly came into the league with a lot of hype and fanfare.
However, he played just nine games in 2018-19 with three points (1 G, 2 A), while he recorded 15 points (8 G, 7 A) in 28 games in 2019-20 with a plus / minus rating of -13.
The naturally-talented right-winger has shown flashes of his high-end ability for Detroit but has failed to really put it all together when it really matters.
But, Zadina impressed throughout Training Camp and putting the talent on a line with perhaps Robby Fabbri and veteran Bobby Ryan could help to bring the best out of the stud.
After all, Fabbri has proven to be a revelation in Hockeytown and has arguably been of GM Steve Yzerman’s best acquisitions so far with 31 points (14 G, 17 A) in 52 games for Detroit in 2019-20, while Ryan is exactly the ideal type of role model you would want for a young player in Zadina.
There is no doubt that key to the Detroit Red Wings being more competitive in 2020-21 is to find some secondary scoring after they ranked 31st in Goals For Per Game (2.00) last year, and Filip Zadina carving out a breakout campaign and proving why he was taken so high two years ago is key to that.
1. Who will be the next Detroit Red Wings Captain?
Detroit Red Wings General Manager Steve Yzerman knows a thing or two about what it takes to wear the “C” on your jersey for this storied franchise, and he has confirmed that he will be naming a new Captain before the start of the 2020-21 NHL Season.
The Red Wings have not had a Captain since 2017-18 and have only had three hold the prestigious title since the 1986-87 season – Yzerman (1986-2006), Nicklas Lidstrom (2006-12) and Henrik Zetterberg (2012-18).
So, whoever does get the “C” stitched on to their jersey will carry a huge amount of responsibility and history on their shoulders.
Just who will that be?
Well, given the makeup of this Red Wings roster, it would be a shock if Dylan Larkin wasn’t announced as the next Captain of the Detroit Red Wings.
The 15th overall pick in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft by the Red Wings, Larkin has morphed into a franchise cornerstone for this organization, and he’s seen by those within the building as being the one to lead this team into an exciting new era of Detroit hockey.
It is also an obvious choice given that Larkin grew up in the Detroit area and attended the University of Michigan, so he knows what it takes to represent this storied Original Six franchise and just how lucky he is to be able to pull on that iconic jersey.
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With 266 points (107 G, 159 A) in 389 career NHL games for the Detroit Red Wings, Dylan Larkin is the present and the future of this franchise and his expected announcement as Captain in 2020-21 should mark what should be an exciting new era for this team who long a return to the glory days.
And they will hope that hometown boy Dylan Larkin can lead them there.