Detroit Red Wings season preview
Today is the Detroit Red Wings season preview as part of the Central Division bloggers’ efforts to preview each team before the start of the season. Dave @ Gorilla Crouch is the brains behind this project. I’ll be sure to post links to what the other Red Wings’ bloggers have to say once they are posted.
Losses
Over the past summer, the Wings bid farewell to four former players. Kyle Calder and Robert Lang were told to look elsewhere and they signed with the LA Kings and Chicago Blackhawks respectively.
The other two players turned down Wings offers to go for the bigger money in Anaheim. Todd Bertuzzi signed a two year deal worth $8 million that paved the way for the Edmonton Oilers to snatch restricted free agent Dustin Penner.
The bigger loss for the Wings was that of veteran defenseman Mathieu Schneider. The Wings certainly felt his loss during the playoffs when he suffered a broken wrist. He signed a two year deal with the Ducks and will be making a total of $11.25 million. Unfortunately for the Ducks, Schneider broke his ankle and will miss the first 4-6 weeks of the season so it looks like a smart decision by Holland to look for a younger replacement.
New Faces
The Red Wings have a few new faces on the roster for the upcoming 2007-2008 season. The biggest signing came on July 1st when the Wings picked up offensive defenseman Brian Rafalski. While he doesn’t have the offensive numbers Schneider earned over the last couple of years with the Wings, Rafalski should see a jump in his numbers while playing for a team that will encourage him to play as an offensive defenseman. Rafalski will be wearing #28, which was previously worn by rookie Tomas Kopecky (he’ll wear #82).
The Wings then added veteran forward Dallas Drake, who should play on the fourth line. If you recall, Drake played for Detroit back in 1992-1994 before being traded to Winnipeg. While some fans may not approve of Drake getting a spot that a younger up and coming forward could’ve taken, I like that we added a physical veteran for only $550,000. Not too shabby. Drake will be wearing #17, formerly worn by Kyle Calder and Brett Hull.
Before training camp, I would’ve said to look for rookie Igor Grigorenko to earn a roster spot during training camp. He doesn’t have the speed he once had before a life-threatening car accident, but he’s a physical player who will be welcomed by many fans on the roster. He has spent the past six years since the accident in Russia trying to regain his form after suffering broken bones in both legs and a fat embolism in his lung while at the hospital.
Unfortunately for Grigs, he came to camp out of shape and his conditioning has prevented him from showing off the skills he does have. It looks like he may very well play in Grand Rapids to start off the season, which is disappointing for us fans and I’m sure management who had high hopes for him.
How will the Wings do this season?
Last season, the success of the team heavily depended on the health of veteran goaltender Dominik Hasek. The Wings are going with the Hasek-Osgood goaltender duo this season so the same question remains. Can he stay healthy for another season? If he doesn’t, will we be able to get another goalie at the trade deadline? If it’s after the deadline, can Chris Osgood rise up to the challenge? If Hasek stays healthy and plays like the crazy Czech that he is, the Wings will be all set in the net.
I would expect goaltending prospect Jimmy Howard to see some play, but Osgood should be the backup goalie this season. If Howard has to step up to the backup goalie role, he should do a better job than he would’ve last season. Howard came to camp after losing a fair amount of weight and has played pretty well during the preseason games he has played in.
Do I think the Wings have drastically improved from last season? No, but they did lose deadweights Lang and Calder. Admittedly, Lang had an incredibly critical goal against San Jose in the playoffs, but the rest of the time he spent on the ice gave Wings fans ulcers and a reason to yell at the TV.
While the Wings have only picked up a veteran forward who will spend most of his time on the fourth line, he is another physical body to make the Wings an even more physical team. We all had our doubts on how the team would play in the playoffs and they proved to be physically and mentally tougher than all their opponents (until they met Anaheim and I still blame the series loss on Andreas Lilja’s boneheaded play).
Certain players like Johan Franzen and Valterri Filppula will have to step up their play to fill the offensive void left by Lang, but there is no reason the Wings can’t win the Central Division and be one of the top Western Conference teams once again.
Unless the Wings are able to re-sign defenseman Danny Markov (which is unlikely and TSF predicts he’ll be playing in Pittsburgh), the team will give a defensive roster spot to a fresh face. While there are quite a few players who could earn the spot, it’ll probably go to Derek Meech. Why? Meech has to pass waivers if he’s to be sent down to Grand Rapids and another team would pick him off and the Wings would get nothing in return.
Another possibility is Kyle Quincey, who played solidly in the postseason when defenseman Niklas Kronwall and later Schneider were injured. The biggest defensive prospect is Jakub Kindl, who will play for the Griffins in the AHL this year. However, I believe he will have to wait another year or two before jumping to the big league.
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4 Responses to “Detroit Red Wings season preview”
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September 24th, 2007 at 10:32 pm
I expect Rafalski to flourish this year. In terms of offensive defensemen, Scott Niedermayer got all the headlines in New Jersey, but Rafalski actually outpointed Niedermayer in three out of the five seasons they spent together as teammates. And with the kind of power play the Wings can ice, I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see Rafalski post bigger numbers than Schneider this year. (Even if Schneider hadn’t broken his ankle.)
September 25th, 2007 at 9:20 am
[…] Christy at Behind the Jersey - as is usual - has provided a thorough account of the players the Red Wings lost and signed this offseason. I agree with her that the biggest loss for the Wings was Mathieu Schneider signing with the Anaheim Ducks. But his leaving didn’t bother me at all when I found out that Detroit was able to sign Brian Rafalski to replace him. […]
September 25th, 2007 at 10:46 am
[…] Behind the Jersey - Christy sums up her thoughts on the Red Wings’ chances. […]
October 3rd, 2007 at 9:31 am
[…] Abel to Yzerman part 1 and part 2 George Malik Gorilla Crouch Behind the Jersey Gloveside AOL NHL Fanhouse Free Press Detroit News […]