Assessing the state of Detroit Red Wings' rebuild

The Detroit Red Wings embraced the dreaded R-word after their most recent playoff appearance in 2016. That season, the Red Wings finished third in the Atlantic Division, setting up a first-round date with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

In that series, the Wings were bounced in five games. That was the final time the Wings made the playoffs. Their aging core featured stars of yesteryear like Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk, and Niklas Kronwall.

A young Dylan Larkin led the team with 23 goals and Peter Mrazek had a respectable 2.33 GAA to go with 27 wins.

But the first-round exit, the third year in a row the Wings failed to make it past the opening round, team management felt it was time to tear down the roster and focus on starting from scratch.

Now, let’s pause here for a moment.

Rebuilds, in any sport, can be a long and painstaking process. However, rebuilds are much more complex in the NHL as compared to other sports. The NHL requires a combination of various high-end players to make a team competitive.

That is why rebuilds can take a decade or more to bear fruit.

Some teams, like the Montreal Canadiens, turned things around in about three years. The Toronto Maple Leafs hit the jackpot with Auston Matthews and returned to the playoffs in a couple of seasons.

Then, there are teams like the San Jose Sharks and Anaheim Ducks who seem in a perennial rebuild.

But for the Red Wings, it’s been nearly a decade since their last playoff appearance and the rebuild doesn’t seem to be close to yielding the desired outcomes. In fact, it’s fair to assume that the Red Wings’ rebuild has taken longer than expected to transform the club into a competitive, playoff contender.

Coaching, scouting, and player development crucial to Detroit Red Wings rebuild

The Detroit Red Wings rebuild began following the 2015-16 season, in which former GM Ken Holland, architect of the latter championship team, began moving pieces in order to stockpile prospects and draft picks.

The Wings already had a franchise player in Dylan Larkin. However, a better cast of characters would be needed to support the budding star. Holland’s tenure ended in 2019 when Steve Yzerman was hired to oversee the next phase of the rebuild.

Yzerman had been successful in Tampa Bay, laying the groundwork for what would become the back-to-back Stanley Cup champions of the COVID era.

The “Yzerplan” went into motion in 2019, but failed to yield results. The Red Wings are on the third coach during the Yzerplan era and have failed to make it back to the playoffs. They have a stable of young stars like Moritz Seider, Lucas Raymond, Alex DeBrincat, and Marco Kasper.

Veterans like now-captain Dylan Larkin, Patrick Kane, and Vladimir Tarasenko have provided balance to the team’s overall young core.

Despite what looks to be a solid roster, the team hasn’t been able to get off the ground. The reason boils down to three areas: Scouting, player development, and coaching.

The first two areas have been largely successful for the Red Wings. They’ve managed to develop young players into bona fide NHLers. But it’s been the coaching aspect that has failed the Wings.

Since Yzerman took over the helm in 2019, the Wings have had three coaches. Jeff Blashill, Derek Lalonde, and Todd McLellan.

In Yzerman’s defense, he inherited Blashill. Lalonde, however, was his choice. Yzerman brought Lalonde over from Tampa Bay after Lalonde served as an assistant under Jon Cooper. Unfortunately for Lalonde, Yzerman, and the Wings, Lalonde was a bust. He was fired last December after the Wings’ terrible start.

Now, Yzerman does deserve some credit as he brought in an experienced coach in McLellan. McLellan turned things around for the Wings, leading them close to the playoffs. Perhaps McLellan is the answer for the Wings moving forward.

But until the Red Wings make it back to the playoffs, the rebuild will not be officially over.

Has the Red Wings’ rebuild taken too long?

The short answer is no. Rebuilds can take over a decade in some cases. In others, teams can be fortunate enough to land good players early on and bring them up to the NHL in a hurry.

Now, the long answer to this question is yes, the Red Wings’ rebuild has taken too long. In particular, we have to look at the draft. The 2023 and 2024 drafts have yet to yield an NHL player for the Wings.

That’s normal.

We have to look at the 2022 draft to find one player, Marco Kasper, who has made it to the club. From 2021, we find Simon Edvinsson and Sebastian Cossa who’ve had somewhat of a role on the team.

The 2019 draft produced Moritz Seider with the sixth overall pick, and the 2020 draft Lucas Raymond with the fourth overall pick. Nevertheless, the Wings have been unlucky in finding players in the later rounds. No one past the third round has played any sort of role for the club.

That’s too bad when looking to forward a rebuild.

In short, the Red Wings’ rebuild would have been much further along had the Wings been more successful in the draft. Those hits and misses, plus some untimely coaching have sown the seeds of what has been a decade-long rebuild.