The Red Wings are coming off another first round exit against the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Red Wings may have lost, but they took the best offense in the league to 7 games–leading the series three times with a chance to clinch at the Joe in Game 6. The Lightning ended up going to the Stanley Cup finals and losing to the Blackhawks. The team were the underdogs in the series and they definitely showed they still have some fight despite being underdogs in the series.
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The Red Wings have just barely slipped into the playoffs the past two years. Mike Babcock was a master motivator for the younger players and the veterans. He got the best out of the player’s game in and game out all season. Now that Babcock has left for the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Wings signed two established veteran players in the form of Brad Richards and Mike Green to fill holes in the Wings roster that desperately needed filling. There were some rumors that with Babcock at the helm, free agents were less willing to come to Detroit. That appears to be over.
New coach Jeff Blashill was the former coach of the Grand Rapids Griffins and is familiar with many of the players. The team Blashill inherited from Babcock is a young, yet experienced team. It has a solid core of veterans such in Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg and Niklas Kronwall.
One of these young players is goalie Petr Mrazek. After beating out Jimmy Howard for the starting spot in the playoffs he has shown why he deserved the starting job. Mrazek is a key part of a possible Red Wings playoff run. Mrazek had a .920 save percentage and 2.23 goals against average in 2015. Other players that were crucial to the wings success last year were Tomas Tatar and Gustav Nyquist. Together they combined for 112 goals last season and were a huge part of the red wings offense.
Based on these facts and as long as everyone stays healthy the Red Wings should make the playoffs and continue the streak. I wouldn’t be surprised if they made a run this year with the additions they added.
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