Detroit Red Wings Still Need Starpower to Seriously Contend

The Detroit Red Wings have many talented players, but do they possess players to take them all the way?

The Detroit Red Wings are a good team. As of this writing, they sit tied second in the Atlantic division in points and tied for eighth in the NHL overall. The have a five point cushion in playoff seating in the Eastern conference, and look well on their way towards securing a post-season spot for the 25th consecutive season.

However, they’d be considered a long shot to actually win the Stanley Cup. They’ll make the playoffs and maybe even win a round, but when you think of the top few teams from this year and even the Stanley Cup Champions in recent history, they all possess one quality this current Red Wings team lacks: star power.

The strength of the 2016 Red Wings, and the past few seasons as well, has been their depth. This has been true on offense for some time now, but this year could apply to the defense as well. And depth is great for a team that has the goal of simply making the playoffs, and the way that playoff streak is regarded around Detroit maybe simply making it is good enough for some. But if Detroit wants to still be around in May and June, the roster still requires some upgrades.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; the Wings are full of players who are second-line forwards and second pairing defensemen. Good players that lots of teams would love to have, but not quite talented enough to be an alpha dog on a Cup contender.

The recent teams to hoist the Cup had guys like Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane, Anze Kopitar and Drew Doughty, or even Patrice Bergeron and Zdeno Chara. Top contenders from this year have Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom, P.K. Subban and Carey Price (when healthy), and then the whole mess of talent that Dallas has as well. But who does Detroit have?

I’m assuming that before you even finished reading that last paragraph, the thought of Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg entered your mind. You might have even started to scroll to the bottom of the comments section to call me a moron because I disregarded the Eurotwins. But this isn’t 2008 or 2009 anymore, when both were top 10 players in the league.

This is seven whole years later. The fact that they’re still in the NHL playing at a “good” level is saying something; lots of guys enter their prime, play at an All-Star level for a bit, and leave their prime all in a seven-year window. That Datsyuk and Zetterberg are still strong players this late in their career is incredible. They used to play at that All-Star level and can still show flashes from time to time, but can’t be the 1a and 1b on a Stanely Cup Champion at this stage in their careers.

But what about the guy who actually is an All Star this year, 19-year-old Dylan Larkin? I don’t think a negative thing has been said about the kid since training camp opened, and for good reason. He’s young, fast, smart, and exciting. He’s definitely the future for this Red Wings team, and may even be their best player in the present as well.

All signs point to him being Detroit’s next great superstar, but he’s not there yet. For all the talk, he’s currently 64th in NHL scoring and is only slightly above average in puck possession. He’s fun to watch and will likely be a top-tier player in this league soon enough, but not in 2016.

Same case could be made for Petr Mrazek as well. At 23 years old, he’s an old man compared to Larkin, but the situations are similar. Mrazek had played sparingly in the NHL prior to this year, but like Larkin 2016 is his first full season on the Red Wings’ roster. And he’s been outstanding.

Mrazek is fourth among goaltenders in even-strength save percentage, and #1 among goalies who have played 30 or more games. But it’s 30-some games, less than half a season. Lots of goalies can have a strong month or two, but that doesn’t mean they are among the league’s elite. Goaltender is such a hot-and-cold position that we should wait a little longer before we put Mrazek in Carey Price or Henrik Lundqvist’s category.

Aside from those four, who else on Detroit’s roster would you say could lead them to a championship? And an even scarier question, who else even has the potential to do so? We know that elite defensemen isn’t currently on the Wings’ roster (ask me about Marchenko again in a few years).

Gustav Nyquist and Tomas Tatar seemed to be on that path when they first came into the league, but they’re careers seemed to have plateaued in the last year or so. They are still talented players, but at 26 and 25 years old respectively I wouldn’t count on them to be the next Datsyuk and Zetterberg. Looking in to the crystal ball, I don’t see them meeting with Gary Bettman at center ice and receiving the silver chalice anytime in their careers. They’re more likely to be one of the guys it’s handed to.

The rest of the roster is a group of complimentary players. And those are great to have. Each of the last teams standing this year will have a solid third and fourth line, and probably four or five strong defensemen as well. But those contenders always have a strong first line to lead them. A player or two who other teams gameplan for, and can take over a game or a series all on their own. In 2016, Detroit does not have those players.

A few weeks ago, a rumor leaked that the Red Wings were talking with the Tampa Bay Lightning about a trade involving Steven Stamkos, and my fellow writer at Octopus Thrower, Natalie Longroy, addressed the possible trade here. In a nutshell, it’s Stamkos and former third-overall pick Jonathan Drouin to Detroit in exchange for Nyquist, Marchenko, Riley Shehan, top prospect Anthony Mantha and a two first round picks.

When I first saw that possible exchange, I laughed at the cost and immediately dismissed the idea, thinking that price was way too steep. But the more I think about it, Detroit has such a deep team and farm system that replacing Nyquist/Marchenko/Shehan wouldn’t be as much of an issue as it might appear at first.

Detroit could easily groom some young players to replace those three. But grooming someone to become someone of Stamkos’ quality might never happen. Losing Mantha and the draft picks would hurt too, but you have to give up a lot to get a lot. And Stamkos just might be player who moves Detroit from “playoff team” to “Cup contender”. He did just play in the finals only last year.

Next: Detroit Red Wings Have A Jonathan Ericsson Problem

It was just a rumored trade, nothing appears imminent. But in order to get back to where this team was back in the days of Steve Yzerman and Nick Lidstrom, they need to find another player just like those two. A Hall of Famer might be a luxury, but perennial All Star is a must. Without one, we can get used to more early playoff exits in Detroit’s near future.