While I’m not backing down on my stance that the Red Wings rebuild isn’t ending unless they land a Tier I superstar player, they also need help in the middle of their lineup. If there’s something they lacked this past season, it was depth scoring. For a visual, let me share the top five scorers on the team last season:
- Alex DeBrincat: 39 goals
- Dylan Larkin: 30 goals
- Lucas Raymond: 27 goals
- Patrick Kane: 21 goals
- Marco Kasper: 19 goals
Want to know who finished sixth on the team in goals scored? Jonatan Berggren, who finished the season with 12 goals. After that, it was three players with 11 goals apiece, and finally, Andrew Copp, who found the net 10 times in 56 games.
Had Copp played in another 20 contests, he’d have finished with between 13 and 14 goals if he continued on the same trajectory, which still isn’t what you want to see from depth scoring. Copp was valuable, but if the Wings top five can again average hitting the 27-goal mark next season, I’d like to see a depth scorer put the puck into the net at least 20 times.
So, if the Wings want to help themselves win the offseason, they must find that 20-goal scorer who can log between 13 and 15 minutes per contest.
Red Wings tried and failed with one name this past season
I was convinced Vladimir Tarasenko would pick up the slack here, but I was wrong after he finished as one of those 11-goal scorers. He was way off the mark, converting just 8.3 percent of his shots on goal, so it was a swing and a miss on Steve Yzerman’s part.
Okay, so Tarasenko was a bad fit, joining the umpteen other free agents that failed to get much going in Hockeytown since Yzerman took over. So, the pressure is on for Yzerman to get this right and trending north again, and he can’t afford to test his captain’s patience again.
Still, the numbers don’t lie, and I wouldn’t want to go into 2025-26 putting my faith into Jonatan Berggren and Andrew Copp, even if the latter has proven his value to be part of this lineup. Maybe there’s an up-and-coming prospect who could catch on in the same way Kasper did, but I wouldn’t place all my hopes into it.
What would another 20-goal scorer bring the Red Wings?
Assuming Copp returns as the player who can put up between 14 and 15 goals, plus another 20-goal scorer? Assuming all things remain equal, that would give the Red Wings a solid 259-260 goals next year - five more for Copp, 20 from Player X, 27.2 average from the top five scorers this season, plus all other things being equal, if you wanted a rundown of the formula.
This past year, the Wings scored 235 times, good for just 22nd in the league. That number would’ve put the Wings between 11th and 12th in the NHL this season, and they probably would’ve gotten away with a few more close games. Heck, even if you swap out Vladimir Tarasenko for a 20-goal scorer and a healthy Andrew Copp, add another nine goals (Tarasenko’s 11 plus nine from Player X), and you get between 248 and 249.
It still puts them in the top half of the league, so you can see how well one proven depth score would’ve benefited Detroit. So, if nothing else, Steve Yzerman must go out there and find that depth scorer. The Wings and their fans will thank him.