The Detroit Red Wings may not be done this off-season. But, it won’t be in the free agency market.
The Detroit Red Wings have made a lot of moves in free agency. That was to be expected after a disappointing season. But, the thing that I feel really made the organization take a step back and re-evaluate where they are at in the rebuild process was the incredible season that Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond had.
Lucas Raymond
Lucas Raymond started the season being one of the front-runners for the Calder trophy. But more so than that, he started the year as one of the hottest players in all of hockey. Having recorded four goals and five assists for a total of nine points in his first nine games- there was obviously a lot to be excited for. But it didn’t stop there.
After being a point per game player in his first nine games in the NHL, it seemed almost too good to be true. So heading into November, everyone around the league expected to see him cool off. News flash, he didn’t.
In November he played in 14 games with the Red Wings and he continued to put up great numbers. In those 14 games with the Red Wings he recorded five goals and seven assists for a total of 12 points.
So, to put it in the big picture for you guys- In his first 23 games in the NHL, he was able to score nine goals and 12 assists for a total of 21 points. Almost a point per game. For a rookie, that’s pretty uncommon. But he wasn’t the only rookie showing out in the Red Wings uniform. Defenseman, Moritz Seider, really showed out in his first couple of games as well.
Moritz Seider
Moritz Seider is one of the best prospects we have seen in quite some time. The selection, although surprising at the time, turned out to be one of the best selections we have had in some time.
Seider, who is coming off a Calder winning season, is only going to continue to get better and better which is hard to believe.
This past season, Seider is coming off a full 82 game season. In that, he recorded seven goals, 43 assists for a total of 50 points. It’s important to remember that, although 50 points doesn’t seem great, that he did that as a rookie defenseman. That’s pretty hard to top unless you’re Cale Makar.
Seider really proved to be the Red Wings cornerstone defenseman for years to come. But the question that comes with everything now is where do they go from here?
This Season
After every signing that the Red Wings have made to this point, it had begun to feel like they may have overdone it a little bit. With the signings of Andrew Copp, David Perron, Ben Chiarot, and Dominik Kubalik, it doesn’t feel like there is a whole lot of room left the Red Wings top prospects.
Going into the season, I feel a lot of Red Wings fans thought they’d get the chance to see Jonathan Berggren, Simon Edvinsson, William Wallinder, and maybe another player or two. However, now that they have made many moves in free agency, there isn’t a roster spot for these players. And that leads me to the point of this article: Could they be looking to trade a prospect or two for a player still on the trade block? Here are the three names that should be on their watch list.