Red Wings Season In Review
2021-06-15The Red Wings 20/21 season has been meet with mixed reviews by the organization. Only 2 years removed from lifting Lord Stanley they ended up in the bottom third of the league in the standings.
This is very disappointing since this marks the first time in a while that Detroit had a legit well rounded top 4 defensive pairing. The Wings may not have the offensive depth as years prior but still have some top weapons in their top 6 but that just wasn’t enough to carry them into the playoffs this season.
The Wings do have some bright spots to look forward come next season as some youngsters took a big step in the right direction that should see Detroit hopefully be a contender for the next few seasons
Goaltending
One bright spot on this Wings team was the performance of Connor Hellebuyck who put up greater numbers than he did during his Vezina winning season. His record may not show for it but his save % and GAA show he had a monster season.
Defense
The defensive unit which will stay intact for next season and beyond had 2 rookies step up in a big way. Adam Fox and Quinn Hughes took major steps forward in the organization.
Fox in his pro season looked like a 10 year veteran playing major minutes and racking up 47 points while still being a +7 and hopefully taking him into Calder Trophy consideration.
Hughes in his second season but first with the big club was able to put up a similar point total with 45 points but needs to round out his defensive part of his game.
The other 2 defenders who round up their top 4 are Shea Theodore who also put up 40+ points and created a rock solid defensive unit with Fox. The other being Filip Hronek who played a majority of his time with Hughes. The great part of this defensive unit is Theodore is the oldest at 25yrs old, with Fox and Hronek both being 23 and Hughest 21.
The Red Wings will look within their organization to round out their 6 man unit with guys like Bean and Brannstrom or possibly bring in a veteran to mentor one of those 2 and have the other start in Grand Rapids.
Forwards
Lead again by the Dyanamic Duo of Leon Draisaitl and Nikita Kucherov who put up 80+ point sesasons isn’t what the fans are used to as they have seen Kucherov crack the 100point mark in each of the last 3 seasons and Draisaitl the last 2.
As you can see the forward group is where the possible weakness lay for the Wings this season. Their depth wasn’t as strong as seasons prior. But the future does look bright for the Wings in this department with some rookie forwards stepping in soon.
Brock Boeser, Vicent Trocheck, Christian Dvorak and Nikita Gusev had a dip in their performance but will all be back next season and looking to have a bounce back season. Trocheck was heavily leaned up again for his 2-way play and leading the PK unit. Boeser played on the 2nd line all season but did get some looks on the top PP unit. Dvorak had a bounce back year and Gusev will need to take a huge step forward.
Rookies
Detroit fans should be excited about the performance of rookie forward Joel Farabee who was playing bottom line minutes but towards the end of the season got a look on the top line with Draisaitl and Kucherov and didn’t disappoint. With a season under his belt look for Farabee to have a big contribution come next season.
Another rookie forward who got a season under his belt was Max Comtois, now he didn’t play big minutes this season but should be able to contribute in their top 9 come next season.
Both Farabee and Comtois should be able to stabilize the LW side and bring back that offensive depth the Wings once had.
Jake Bean had a monster playoff last year helping the Griffins hoist the Calder Cup and posting 14 points in 21 games and followed that up this year with a huge offensive performance posting 44 points and a +19. Look for Bean to battle for the 2 spots open on the bottom pairing come next year.
The other rookie defender who will be battling for the bottom pairing in Detroit is Erik Brannstrom who has posted 2 solid seasons back to back and looks primed to take the next step.
In goal the Griffins lost some veteran leadership when they lost Alex Lyon to waivers who backstopped them to the Calder Cup win as well as Jared Coreau who was traded to the LA Kings for a 7th round draft pick.
That left 2 rookie goalies to pick up the huge hole that was left in net. Joey Daccord and Ivan Prosvetov stepped in really well but at times you could tell how inexperienced the duo was and it showed as the Griffins just missed the playoffs.
Draft
The Red Wings enter this year’s draft with a 14 draft picks. With lots of picks look for the Red Wings to try to move up, or package these picks for next year’s draft.
1st round – 2 picks
2nd round – 2 picks
3rd round – 1 pick
4th round – 3 picks
5th round – 3 picks
6th round – 1 pick
7th round – 2 picks
Look for the Wings and Griffins to have a bounce back season come next year with a lot of new players making impacts.
Great looking core and a ton of picks this season...shouldn't be long before the Wings are back at the top.
Red Wings Season In Review
Down Year
Nice article ... will be interesting to see where the Wings go in the offseason
Red Wings Season In Review
Down Year