The Detroit Red Wings Need to find Depth Production
By Bob Heyrman
In the salary cap era of the NHL, General Managers need to balance long-term contracts along with being vigilant as to who makes the big bucks on your club. The Detroit Red Wings finally may have impact players on rookie deals set to play in Motown.
In today’s NHL bottom six forwards along with players on rookie deals need to produce. The Detroit Red Wings have struggled to find this balance.
The Wings could be rolling out a 10 million dollar fourth line. That is inexcusable. A potential line on the horizon that includes Darren Helm (3.85), Justin Abdelkader (4.25), and Luke Glendening (1.80). That is just way too much money owed to bottom six forwards in a salary cap NHL. I wonder if they could find similar production with Givani Smith, Dominic Turgeon, Evgeny Svechnikov or Matt Puempel? Any three combined accounts for Less than 2.5 million per season total. Moves like that create salary cap flexibility. It creates an opportunity to sign better top 6 forwards or a top 4 d-man.
The Detroit Red Wings have been running Darren Helm along with Frans Nielsen and Gustav Nyquist at times throughout the preseason. To me, that is not exactly an appealing second line. Nielsen has expressed his excitement to have Helmer on his line. The idea of having two reliable defensive forwards on a line isn’t exactly a bad idea, but it limits the offensive upside. Nielsen makes 5.25 million on a long-term deal and only achieved 33 points last season.
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The Detroit Red Wings need to start rolling out cheap talent throughout their line-up that produces and this finally seems like the season we will begin to see that happen. Michael Rasmussen, Filip Zadina, and Evgeny Svechnikov will all have cap hits under 1 million. Tyler Bertuzzi only makes 1.3 million per season.
The Detroit Red Wings have been so used to burning rookie contracts in Grand Rapids in the past. That is the “old school” way to do things. By the time players are considered “Detroit” ready, Ken Holland already has to pull out the big feathered pen and sign these guys to long-term deals before getting any NHL production.
Dylan Larkin came through quick for the Wings, but don’t forget we were begging for Mantha much before Holland was.
It is time Ken Holland, and the Detroit Red Wings get young production throughout their line-up and not worry so much about hurting these veteran players feelings. Look at Ottawa; they placed Zack Smith who makes 3.25 per on waivers. To some, it will be considered a dumb move, but Ottawa is merely trying to clean out the closet. They have a lot of problems, but a couple of similar issues that are quite familiar to us here in Detroit, a few long-term bad contracts.
I can’t imagine Ken Holland making a bold move that may not be so popular. Imagine Ken Holland placing a player like Justin Abdelkader on waivers? Or something like putting Jonathan Ericsson on waivers. A move Red Wings fans would applaud, but don’t expect Holland to do that.
Next. The Detroit Red Wings should move on from Luke Glendening. dark
Libor Sulak, Dennis Cholowski, Filip Hronek and Joe Hicketts would all be better options for the Detroit Red Wings over Jonathan Ericsson and Nick Jensen. Two will start until Green returns; then it will only be one. Two or three of these d-men deserve a regular shift as an NHLer this year. Does Ken Holland see this too? I urge you to not hold your breath; you may suffocate.