Detroit Red Wings Season Predictions from the OT Staff
By Nate Brown
With our season preview to be tomorrow morning prior to the Detroit Red Wings’ first regular season contest, here are the predictions from our staff regarding different topics for the season. With Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider making the roster, it certainly will be of the more anticipated seasons in recent years.
Will that transfer into wins during the season? We’ll find out.
What do you expect from the Red Wings this season?
Chris: The Detroit Red Wings will be a much more balanced team this year. Led by Dylan Larkin and the newly acquired Pius Suter, the Red Wings have two lines that can score. The additions of Suter and rookie Lucas Raymond, and improved health of Larkin and Tyler Bertuzzi, should provide the Red Wings with an improved power play. The team also has depth that has been missing for several years. Joe Veleno, Jonatan Berggren and Taro Hirose are all forwards who will start the year in the AHL with Grand Rapids, but players who can fill in if injuries begin to plague the Detroit forwards during the season.
On defense, the Red Wings have not only more depth, they have more skill. The additions of Nick Leddy and Moritz Seider will provide the Red Wings with a legitimate top pair. Filip Hronek will play with the healthy Danny DeKeyser as the number two defense unit. In goal, Thomas Greiss will be joined by Calder Trophy finalist, Alex Nedeljkovic to form a solid 1-2 goaltending duo. The additions to the team should allow the team to be more competitive on a nightly basis which should lead to more wins on the season.
Alex: Well, that was a fun off-season. From the draft to the preseason, it’s been a busy few months for the organization, which seems to be finally trending upwards. The breakout success of Lucas Raymond in the preseason and Moritz Seider’s inaugural season as a Red Wing are perhaps the most exciting aspects of the team’s improvement. But don’t forget about free agent Pius Suter, or newly acquired goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic, or Seider’s mentor, Nick Leddy.
It’s a pretty fresh roster in 2021-22 and the Red Wings rebuild seems to have turned the corner, but they need to improve this year to validate the moves of the off-season. The team should progress on both defense and (especially) offense, as well as special teams – the power play cannot struggle as much as it did last season. An improvement in the standings should come as a result of a better roster, but don’t expect playoffs just yet.
Nate: I expect more excitement from the fanbase as the younger players make their way up to Detroit. Having Raymond and Seider on board is one thing, but imagine if Veleno stays up the remainder of the year and Berggren has a cup of coffee, too. What about Donovan Sebrango getting a look, especially if Yzerman deals Leddy at the trade deadline?
This felt like the first big push made by Yzerman to move the needle forward with the aforementioned trades Alex wrote about. He also signed a gem in Suter, and is keeping his first two first round choices on the roster. Blashill finally has some talent to work with, and now, excuses about the team “not having the talent” will be met with more skepticism should there not be improvement. I don’t think they’ll be a playoff team, but I think they’ll certainly take another step forward–this time with a lot of younger players leading the charge.