The Detroit Red Wings Stock Exchange: Week Seven

Since our last stock exchange the Detroit Red Wings have went 1-2, with a blowout loss to the Avalanche, a win over the Islanders and a loss to the Hurricanes. Let’s take stock of some player performances in that stretch.

Trending Up

Gustav Lindstrom

After a short injury-induced break, Lindstrom was quite good in his return to the ice this week. He’s obviously not at Seider’s level as a defenseman, but he’s a quietly effective defender that doesn’t make a lot of mistakes. Lindstrom can also make surprisingly good tape-to-tape passes in transition, pushing Detroit deep into the neutral zone or into the offensive zone.

Michael Rasmussen

Based on his trajectory, this week was pretty shocking for the struggling forward. After the fanbase buried him, Rasmussen came out and had a very solid week of play, highlighted by a confident wrister that would end up being the Wings game-winner against the Islanders. He’s still not anywhere near his projected draft status, or even preseason expectations, but it is good to see big ‘Ras finally stop his free fall. Now, let’s see if he can keep this up (of course, he was placed on COVID-protocol right after the game he scored in).

Trending Down

Thomas Greiss

Alex Nedeljkovic is very comfortably the starting goaltender on the roster. Greiss made only one start this week, and he was pulled in the first period. The German goaltender gave up three goals on seven shots against the Avs and was eventually replaced by Neddy. He currently has a sub .900 save percentage and his GAA is 3.67. It’s been a rough start to the season for Greiss, and the competition is just going to get harder from here.

The defense

The goaltending isn’t the only problem in Detroit. The defense has been downright bad of late, missing assignments and failing to win battles along the boards (those struggles seem to be highlighted on the road). The Red Wings give up an average of 3.40 goals per game, which is the sixth worst in the league. Essentially, the only thing that has been carrying the team is the top line and the goaltending. One when doesn’t show up, the results aren’t great. When neither show up, the results are disastrous.

Holding Steady

Filip Zadina

Zadina’s stock is very, very close to trending down. In terms of assists and goals, Zadina has been extremely disappointing, with just four goals and six assists through 30 games. However, I’m hesitant to say his stock is heading down just yet. To anyone watching, it’s been pretty clear that Zadina has played good hockey, he just can’t seem to find the back of the net. In his past three games, he’s notched 15 shots on goal. With his shouts of frustration, it’s clear that the person most disappointed in Zadina is himself. If he can’t find some points this week, you might see him on the “trending down” portion of the Stock Exchange. Forwards are often measured by points in this league.

Lucas Raymond

Raymond had a solid week, collecting three assists in the three games. His best play was a beautiful flip-pass to Dylan Larkin to create a breakaway (Larkin cashed in on the opportunity). Raymond didn’t increase his already ridiculously high stock with his performance this week, but it also didn’t decrease. Raymond is still the leading rookie scorer and the best winger on the roster.