Alright look, the Detroit Red Wings won’t be bad forever. You can always dump the slump. But, I don’t know if this is the year it’s going to happen. The Wings are going back to the atlantic division with Boston, Tampa, Montreal, and Toronto to name a few. The path will not be easy. Can the Detroit Red Wings shock the world? Let’s break it all down.
The Lines
According to Daily Faceoff, these are the lines right now:
First line – Tyler Bertuzzi, Dylan Larkin, Jakub Vrana
Second line – Robby Fabbri, Pius Suter, Filip Zadina
Third line – Vladislav Namestnikov, Michael Rasmussen, Sam Gagner
Fourth line – Adam Erne, Mitchell Stephens, Givani Smith
Believe it or not, this may not be that bad. Larkin was hurt and is back, so that is huge. That first line can be really good if they get hot. There is a lot of goal scoring potential there. Suter came over from Chicago, and it was a little surprising to see the Blackhawks let him walk. He is an electric young center that will add juice to the second line. The bottom six forwards are mostly young players with some experience, but not a lot of goals. This is a very young team still trying to figure it all out. However, when they do, they will be dangerous.
Defensive Parings and Goaltenders
The defense is a bit more balanced when in terms of youth and experience, and a new goalie should make Wings fans very excited. Here they are curiosity of Daily Faceoff:
Dan Dekeyser and and Filip Hronek
Nick Leddy and Moritz Seider
Marc Staal and Troy Stecher
Goalies: Alex Nedeljkovic and Thomas Greiss
Carolina is going to regret not keeping Nedeljkovic. His rights were traded to the Wings in exchange for the rights for fellow netminder Jonathan Bernier. This could be one of those moves that changes the course of a franchise for the better. Normally it’s the defensemen trying to take pressure off the goalie, this could be the opposite. The defense got burned a fair amount and because of poor goaltending, the puck hit the back of the net a lot. Nedeljkovic will change that.
If the older defenseman really start struggling, the Wings should make a trade. Staal is not spring chicken that’s for sure. Leddy game over from the Isles in exchange for Richard Panik in an underrated move. Overall, it is not going to be easy for the Wings to bounce back this season. But in the game of hockey, anything is possible when the skaters hit the ice and puck starts bouncing.
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