Red Wings Preview: The Potential of The Third Line
By Evan Mead
The Detroit Red Wings season will be a surprise no matter what happens this off-season. I don’t think many people will go in with a concensous opinion as to what they should expect. One thing I think they should know though is we’ll be three lines deep this year.
The Detroit Red Wings have a lot of good, talented, young fowards, currently on their roster. This past year we got to experiance what It’d be like to have a fast, young, sniper on the wing in Lucas Raymond. In return for Raymond’s top tier production, he was able to make his way onto the first line alongside Tyler Bertuzzi and Dylan Larkin.
That first line did pretty well when you consider everything that it took to get to that point, and as Raymond grows as a player, that line will continue to improve. But, as we all know, this game isn’t about just having one line. You have to have multiple.
The Red Wings second line fluctuated a lot this past season, which is more due to former head coach, Jeff Blashill than not being capable.
Jakub Vrana and Filip Zadina this past season showed signs of being the Red Wings elite goal scoring tandem. Which, wasn’t much of a surprise to many. When you have them on the same line, it is going to be dangerous for any opponent.
The only problem with the second-line is that they don’t really have someone capable to man the middle line. However, that isn’t going to stop Vrana and Zadina from dominating and carrying the second line to a big year. Now, onto the third-line.
This, in my opinion may be one of the best lines that the Red Wings have. Now, I know you may call me crazy for that statement and you may be right. Nonetheless, they do have all the pieces needed to become the Red Wings most complete line.