Wow, one brutal season is about to end, and one in which the Red Wings could find themselves at a crossroads. But it’s not just the team, as individual players have reached similar crossroads at this point in their respective careers.
Players who are either the odd men out, who didn’t perform well enough, or are inching closer to retirement age. For a team like the Red Wings that must continue developing its core and finding more talent in their primes, the three players listed below will be packing their bags to make room for such talent.
Below, I got one goaltender, one forward, and one defenseman who are no longer relevant to the team’s plans. Who are they, and why have they worn out their welcome with the Red Wings?
1 - Alex Lyon
I initially had Alex Lyon listed as a steal, but as the season wore on, Lyon seemed to have run out of talent. Or, better yet, his 15 minutes of fame was coming to a close. Entering Wednesday night’s game, Lyon’s numbers were bleak, with an 0.895 save percentage, a GAA of 2.84, and a 0.480 quality starts percentage.
Out of 25 starts, Lyon’s eight ‘really bad starts’ sums up just how much of a struggle the season had been for a goaltender who seems like his only future in the NHL is what we’ve always thought it was: organizational depth as a journeyman. Lyon’s the kind of netminder who can play a few solid games, but he simply wears down as the season progresses.
Plus, he’s the odd man out in the room, with Cam Talbot and Petr Mrazek both under contract for next season. Lyon should head to a city that already has an established starter and one that needs a backup netminder or someone who doesn’t mean logging time in the AHL.
2 - Vladimir Tarasenko
There was a lot of hope in the air when Vladimir Tarasenko signed with the Red Wings, but his rough start snowballed into an entire season’s worth of disappointment. So much, that he wasn’t even worth going to bat for as the season ended.
I’m not saying Tarasenko ran out of talent just yet since he could’ve just been a bad fit for the Red Wings. Still in just his age-33 season, Tarasenko can bounce back from the 11-goal, 32-point disaster of a campaign he struggled through. But if one thing’s certain, it’s that he wore out his welcome in Hockeytown.
It’s never fun when your team brings in an accomplished player with a laundry list of credentials, only to see him falter game after game, week after week. And one who puts your general manager in a position in which he can only seek to cut his losses, and that’s the case with Tarasenko.
3 - Jeff Petry
Jeff Petry missed nearly half the season but provided that steady veteran presence when he was healthy. Never a points producer, Petry’s job was to log second and third-pairing minutes, giving the Red Wings a physical presence and one who could seek out and block some shots.
Still, he was in his age-37 season, and Petry had seen better days. He’s yet another example on the Red Wings who factored in as a decent stopgap who could hold down a spot until a younger, more upstart player was ready to roll.
For whichever player replaces Petry, they’ll need to emulate his positioning. Not only did he get in the way of several shots; Petry had a 92.6 on-ice save percentage at even strength going into Wednesday night’s game. He was also active on the penalty kill, which made the aging blueliner a multi-faceted talent in Hockeytown.