Lineup Changes the Detroit Red Wings Need to Make
The Detroit Red Wings lines might be part of the problem with the team.
The Detroit Red Wings are having themselves quite the year. Younger players take the opportunity and run with it, while veterans lead this group to winning hockey.
The Red Wings have been blessed this season with a turnaround nobody expected. While the playoffs still seem a year or two away, the Red Wings are showing what the future will look like with younger talent.
However, the roster Detroit Red Wings Line Combinations (wingsnation.com) does need some fine-tuning and could use some stability. Here are the changes the Red Wings should make from this point out:
While these two players are extremely talented and are two the team can build around, forwards Joe Veleno and Filip Zadina need to be top 6 forwards. Zadina has struggled this year and Veleno has been playing in the bottom 6, but when placed with more offensive talent these two could flourish offensively.
Danny Dekeyser is a shell of himself and should be nowhere near the top pairing with Moritz Seider, taking his place should be defenseman Troy Stetcher. Stetcher is a highly-skilled, puck-moving defenseman who can run the power play and produce offensively, which he did when he first arrived in Detroit.
The team should move Givani Smith to the 3rd line permanently where he can play the role he is designed to play, which is the grinding, physical, fighting on occasion style. He does not produce a lot of offense but he isn’t supposed to. When Smith is on the ice the opposition takes notice.
Michael Rasmussen, a talented, big forward who can skate for a big man, should be moved to the 4th line. He is steady defensively but has really struggled offensively and moving him to the 4th line could be a way for him to figure out his game with no pressure.
Filip Hronek should be paired on the first defensive pairing and on the top power-play unit. Hronek has struggled this year to produce offensively because he has been moved to the 2nd and 3rd pairings. However, he is the best offensive defenseman the Red Wings have and these would be the options to work out the kinks and showcase his skills.
The Red Wings are better than last season with the younger talent taking the stage. However, they are still in a rebuild and have a ways to go with the roster as it currently stands.
Time will tell how this all works out but the rebuild is off to a promising start. Once competitive again, Steve Yzerman will not hesitate to bring in the proper additions to take this team to the promised land once again.