Which Red Wings Could Potentially Score 20 Goals This Season?
Tyler Bertuzzi
Last Year’s Stats (9 games) – 5 Goals & 2 assists for 7 points
Why Bertuzzi will hit 20 goals – He’s been one of the most consistent forwards on the team and would likely have scored 20 if not for the back injury that limited him to just nine games. As Detroit was going through its brutal stretch of COVID protocol, Bertuzzi was one of the few actually finding the back of the net. In previous seasons, he had 21 goals in consecutive seasons. Along with Vrana and Larkin, I feel like he’s another lock to score 20 if he stays healthy. Beyond that, this will be one of the best offensive teams he’ll be a part of, with some more depth both 5on5 and at the man advantage.
Why Bertuzzi will not score 20 – Injury. There are obviously always unknowns and even head coach Jeff Blashill has urged caution along with optimism in Bertuzzi coming back on time. Other than injury, there really isn’t an argument as to why he won’t hit 20.
Dylan Larkin
Last Year’s Stats ( 44 games) – 9 Goals & 14 assists for 23 points
Why Larkin will hit 20 goals – Like Bertuzzi, Larkin has been the Red Wings most consistent scoring forward. He scored 32 goals in 2018-19, and would have 20 (he had 19) during the God awful 2019-20 season had it not been shut down by Covid. Larkin found himself handcuffed last season by a team decimated by injury, and also missed a handful of games with injuries of his own. If he’s healthy, and if the team stays healthy(ish), expect Larkin to notch 20 goals easily and flirt with 30.
Why Larkin will not score 20 – Injury. Blashill preached caution with his recovery in case things don’t go according to plan after his brutal neck injury last year–courtesy of Jamie Benn. There’s one other part, too, though I’m sure film study has revealed this at some point. Larkin’s patented move is blowing around the defense, curling around the net and then either finding a teammate with a pass or shooting. Last season, teams caught on and essentially valved off the low slot, which forced bad passes from Larkin or weaker shots that were gobbled up by the netminder.
It often felt like Larkin tried to carry the team each night–which unfortunately makes sense when they struggled to score. With some more scoring threats on the roster, this should hopefully not be the case.
Robby Fabbri
Last Year’s Stats (30 games) – 10 Goals & 8 assists for 18 points
Why Fabbri will hit 20 goals – he had 10 in just 30 games last season, and if you extend that out to an 82 goal season, he flirts with 30. In his first season with the Red Wings, he netted 14 on a historically terrible team. The potential is absolutely there. Though he can be a streaky scorer, he was still third on the team in goals and was a much needed offensively when he returned from COVID protocol or injury.
Why Fabbri will not score 20 – Noting a theme here—injury. Fabbri hasn’t been able to stay healthy for an entire season which has robbed him of a chance to finally hit that 20 goal plateau. Simply put, Fabbri sees 20 goals in the season if he can play at least 65 games.
Pius Suter
Last Year’s Stats with Chicago (51 games) – 14 goals & 13 assists for 27 points
Why Suter will hit 20 goals – In his first full(ish) NHL season, he had 14 goals and scored his first career hat trick against, of course, Detroit. Suter will have even more ice time in Detroit as a result of being the second line center, and should find ample time on the power play as well. With more offensive talent this season than in the last three, Suter should arguably hit the 20 goal mark this season.
Why Suter will not score 20 – In that small sample size, Suter had Patrick Kane as a linemate for many of his goals and assists. No disrespect to any current Red Wings, but there isn’t an equivalent on the roster in terms of talent to Kane. Could it be a one off for Suter? Might he struggle on a team without Alex DeBrincat and Patrick Kane on either wing? This certainly is the biggest question mark as to whether Suter will not only match his scoring total from last season, but surpass it as well.
Adam Erne
Last Year’s Stats (45 games) – 11 Goals & 9 assists for 20 points
Why Erne will hit 20 goals – Last year’s barrage of 11, which technically made him the leading scorer for the Red Wings after the trade of Anthony Mantha, earned him a nice raise for the next two seasons. Now, will the organization cash in, too? Erne could be a huge asset up front on the power play and with some more skill on the third line, matching his 11 and building on it shouldn’t be too far out of the realm of possibility. Eight of his 11 goals came at 5 on 5. For a team that struggled to score, it was a huge boost for both him and the Wings. Can it continue?
Why Erne will not score 20 -It was Erne’s highest goal total as an NHL player and came in a burst with nine goals in an 18 game stretch. Erne was one of the unlikeliest candidates to top the team in scoring yet there he was. Not known as a goal scorer, we’ll see if that consistency continues.
Filip Zadina
Last Year’s Stats (49 games) – 6 Goals & 13 assists for 19 points
Why Zadina will hit 20 goals – As echoed throughout this article, there’s a much better supporting cast around him. At times, Zadina would find himself on the third line and well, the linemates there weren’t going to give him the opportunity to score goals as he would on a stronger top 6 line. Zadina stands to benefit greatly from the offensive talent infusion Yzerman has slowly added to this season in Leddy, Suter, and Vrana–the latter being a boon for Zadina when he arrived last April. If there was ever a season to see Zadina make a sizeable jump, it’s this one. As if he needed any more motivation, his ELC comes to an end after this season, giving him a chance at a handsome raise should his scoring numbers increase.
Why Zadina will not score 20 – As he’s progressed with the Red Wings, Zadina has shown strong playmaking skills where at times, he’s looked hesitant to snipe as he was drafted to do. This seems a result of the insistence on a 200 foot game, which is certainly not a bad thing at all. While Zadina has looked stronger on the puck and better on both ends of the ice, he was ultimately drafted to score goals.
Michael Rasmussen
Last Year’s Stats (40 games) – 3 Goals & 9 assists for 12 points
Why Rasmussen will hit 20 goals – If anyone is likely to pull an Adam Erne impression when it comes to goal scoring, it’s Rasmussen. The ninth overall pick of the 2017 draft, Rasmussen finally got to stick with the big club after injuries opened spots and he was stellar in Grand Rapids during his seven games there. He looked stronger on the puck last season and seemed more comfortable than he ever did in Detroit. Rasmussen has always been projected to get the lionshare of goals in front of the net on the power play–which is how he’ll have a shot at 20 goals.
Why Rasmussen will not score 20 – Even in Grand Rapids, Rasmussen never really screamed goal scorer. He had a weird arrival to the NHL–staying with Detroit as a result of not wanting to send him back to Juniors when he was clearly ready for a professional league. It wasn’t until he spent time in the AHL that he looked to grow more comfortable. Of the other players mentioned, Rasmussen seems like the least likely to hit 20 this season–but if he sees a strong season in 2021-22, it could be a possibility later on.
Final Predictions
Of the names mentioned here, it feels like if all goes well without injury eating up significant playing time, Larkin, Bertuzzi, Vrana and Suter seem like the safest bets to hit 20 goals. Zadina and Fabbri seem like fringe 20 goal scorers while Erne and Rasmussen seem most likely to fall short of the 20 goal mark. It’s a crapshoot to even predict, but this feels like the first time in a long while Detroit could have multiple players score twenty or more goals.
In fact, four players had 20 or more in 2018-19 in Larkin, Bertuzzi, Anthony Mantha, and Andreas Athanasiou. Prior to that, you have to go to 2014-15 when Tomas Tatar, Gustav Nyquist, Pavel Datsyuk and Justin Abdelkader hit the 20 mark.
Could this be the first time in a long while multiple Wings hit 20? We’ll see soon.
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