Detroit Red Wings: 3 pressing questions for the 2023-24 season

Detroit Red Wings’ goaltending is a question in terms of performance.

At this point, anyone who has invested even the slightest amount of care into the Detroit Red Wings knows that the men ordered to stand guard between the pipes did a less-than-satisfactory job overall. Yes, Ville Husso performed admirably and, quite honestly, was the best player on the ice most nights.

The organization cut off the fat this offseason and let both Magnus Hellberg (17 GP, 3.29 GAA, .885 SV%) and Alex Nedeljkovic (15 GP, 3.35 GAA, .895 SV%) walk in free agency. Together, they combined for a total of 9 wins in the Red Wings 2022-23 campaign.

While Husso’s numbers were only slightly better at 3.11 GAA and a .896 SV%, his numbers trailed off dramatically after December, which could be explained by overuse and, later on, an abandon ship attitude after the team’s moves at the trade deadline, shipping out a few key players.

In the first three months of the season, Husso failed to drop below a .901 SV% despite posting a 12-10-1 record in those starts. The hope is that Husso can be a mainstay in net for the next year or two and buy time until coveted goaltender prospect Sebastian Cossa is fully developed into a player that can claim the net in the Little Caesars Arena.

This is a very attainable goal for both the player and the team to achieve if at least one viable backup can come in to spell a few more starts away from Husso, giving him rest while not hindering the team’s chances of winning.

Proven veteran James Reimer was signed along with Alex Lyon, formerly of the Florida Panthers. It seems as if Yzerman is putting his eggs in the hope that one of them will take the opportunity to earn a “1B” role in Detroit while simultaneously being the stopgap that they need to wait for Cossa to be the unquestioned starter.

Detroit Red Wings’ powerplay remains a questionable area.

It took merely one season in a Jeff Blashill-less offense for the Detroit Red Wings to improve the powerplay. Even though Alex Tanguay stayed behind the bench and ran the powerplay, he had slightly new personnel. But the jump was more than noticeable.

In the 2021-22 season, the powerplay struggled at a measly 16.3%, ranking towards the bottom of the league. Last season, the team jumped up to a success rate of 21.1% on the powerplay, pulling them up to the league average.

The hope this coming season is that the addition of a natural goalscorer and sniper, Alex DeBrincat, will increase those numbers to above league average. The teams at the top of the league in 2021-22(Edmonton, Toronto, Tampa Bay, Los Angeles, Dallas, Colorado, and New York-R) were all playoff clubs.

Detroit must propel themselves into the conversation for a top powerplay team if they want to accumulate enough wins to make some noise in the postseason. The projected line of Raymond-Larkin-Debrincat should help.

Adding players like Daniel Sprong and David Perron onto the second unit adds depth that the team has lacked for over five years when it comes to goals with a man advantage. But there is still a glaring hole on the back end.

Does Detroit have a true powerplay quarterback? Sure, Moritz Seider has played that role for the time being, but is it really his strength? The addition of Shayne Gostisbehere could just be what the doctor ordered.

“Ghost” is not necessarily known for his defensive shutdown abilities; it seems like Gostisbehere is primed to be used by Tanguay as the offensive shooter that the unit has been thirsting for.

Derek Lalonde’s second season in Detroit leaves room for questions.

It almost seems unfair to bring the coaching of the Detroit Red Wings into question, especially with a staff that has only spent one full season together. In addition to the questions surrounding players like Lucas Raymond and Jonatan Berggren taking the next step in offensive production and overall play, there are questions on whether Coach Derek Lalonde can take another step with the new weapons acquired as he heads into year two.

When initially given control of the lineup when he was hired, Lalonde improved the team’s overall play after being given a few toys to play with from Steve Yzerman in free agency.

This coming season is no different. Lalonde has been given a 40-goal scorer to add to his top offensive talents in captain Dylan Larkin and young hot shot Lucas Raymond. DeBrincat is not the end-all-be-all to the success of the Red Wings, but unfortunately, he will be looked towards to produce in the goals column until the cavalry arrives by way of prospects learning to play professionally in Grand Rapids.

That is a ton of pressure to be put on DeBrincat, who has played next to the likes of Patrick Kane in his career and has never truly been looked to as the main threat on a team’s top line. Can Derek Lalonde put him in situations where that pressure does not become too much to handle?

The success of the team may require the success of DeBrincat. That success undoubtedly requires success from the coaching staff to manipulate matchups and line configurations.