t’s clear that the Detroit Red Wings don’t have an “it” guy in their system. Nobody outside of the Detroit Red Wings fandom would go out of their way to talk about Lucas Raymond, Dylan Larkin, or Moritz Seider if they aren’t required to—maybe if the teams are playing one another, there will be passing comments flown around. However, they’re never mentioned in the top players in the league discussion.
I will say that ESPN was pleasant to listen to against the Florida Panthers Thursday night. They were gushing over the Detroit Red Wings power play, Moritz Seider, and new coach Todd McLellan’s impact. It was wild to hear as us Detroit Red Wings fans are used to hearing how bad the team is or all about an opposing team’s star players. It’s a new world it seems.
Since their rebuild likely bottomed out in the 2019-20 season, the Detroit Red Wings will not likely hit a high draft pick. It seems Lucas Raymond at fourth overall is the pinnacle of our rebuild. Unless we get a late-round surprise, what we see is kind of what we get. No Superman is coming to save the day, but that might be okay. They’re building a committee of players who can get roles on a team fulfilled and fulfilled well. It still brings up the question:
Is a superstar required in the National Hockey League (NHL) to win a Stanley Cup? More specifically…
Do the Detroit Red Wings need a superstar in their organization?
I guess the first step is to define the term superstar.
It likely has a different meaning for everyone. Within those meanings, we all have various interpretations of who we consider superstars in the NHL. I assume there are a few names that would appear on everyone’s list: Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, and Auston Matthews. Outside of these consensus top picks, I’m sure most people would list Sidney Crosby (not mine, because in my book, superstars don’t forget to shake hands with the opposing team’s captain, but what do I know?), Quinn Hughes, Cale Makar, Nikita Kucherov, and Kirill Kaprizov to their short list of superstars (interchanging, adding, or subtracting as one’s biased insists).
To me, I think a superstar is someone who elevates his team. Basically, this person carries the team forward. Regardless of any players not pulling their weight (or even worse, pulling the team backward). They might steal a game net, score at the most opportune time consistently, and heighten their game as the pressure rises. To some degree, they should have elite talent in their repertoire, otherwise, I think they’re just a high-end or above-average player rather than a superstar.
Now that we have established a semblance of a baseline for what a superstar player is in my book, let’s dive into my overall view of having a superstar player on one’s favorite team.
I know we’d all love Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews, or Kirill Kaprizov on our team. Even a Rasmus Dahlin would be something to behold. Yet, their robust contracts make it difficult to build a surrounding team.
Shoot, I just poured my thoughts into an article about Elias Pettersson and if the Detroit Red Wings even had the pieces to trade for him. In some fans ‘ books, Pettersson might be considered a superstar player, while he might not be in others. He is considered a superstar-level talent when he’s at the top of his game and oozing confidence. He also has a superstar-sized contract.
In many ways, having a superstar hinders an NHL team.
Guys like Auston Matthews ($13.25 million), Nathan MacKinnon ($12.6 million), Connor McDavid ($12.5 million), Artemi Panarin ($11,642,857), and Pettersson ($11.6 million) all make bank. Rightfully, so. However, these contracts don’t make it easy to build a team around. Most of these players take up over 14% of their team’s cap space.
Creating a team with 86% of a total cap is challenging for any brainiac. The cap is already so small, all things considered, that it creates so many problems. As my dad would say, these are great problems to have, but it doesn’t make them any easier to maneuver through.
No matter how good a player is there will always be some form of jealousy if a guy is getting paid a lot while others get mere pennies. It’s just the way humans operate for the most part, unfortunately.
This situation can create riffs that don’t need to be there. Especially if a player or team is going through a down part of the season. The blame game gets easier the higher the contract a player makes. With the more money he makes, a player has those high expectations that are impossible to achieve consistently throughout the season (except if your name is Pavel Datsyuk, then maybe it’s doable but for everyday folk—even a McDavid or Matthews, there’s going to be ups and downs in any given season). Realistically, it’s difficult for anyone to make up 14% of the production/output for a team setting in anything anyone does.
It’s the honest trouble of getting into a salary-cap league. The highest-paid players likely aren’t making the amount they deserve, but at the same time, the team cannot expect to get the value in accordance with the cap and the overall team’s output (especially in a game where so much can only be dictated by one player, hockey players are quite limited no matter their position on how much of an impact they can have on a team).
So, there is bound to be resentment within a team’s structure.
Teams must work to get higher-value contracts, which usually come from guys who are desperate to win a Stanley Cup or are young players first breaking into the league. If a team has a superstar-level talent signed to a deal that reflects the superstar-level status, then they’re likely in their Stanley Cup window and aren’t likely to have many rookies or young guys (likely traded away top draft picks or pick later in the drafts for hopes of making a Stanley Cup run), thus causing even more of an imbalance and problem for general managers.
Sometimes, teams get lucky and go on a run like St. Louis, with the highest-paid players earning $7.5 million that year (Ryan O’Reilly and Vladimir Tarasenko). Usually, though, a team has at least one or multiple superstars who win the Stanley Cup each season and are earning their lion’s share of the salary cap.
With all these headaches of a superstar-level talent, I ask myself the question again: Do the Detroit Red Wings need a superstar to win the Stanley Cup?
At least as the current roster and organizational depth are now, I don’t think so.
Of course, we have our own version of superstars that include the likes of the big three:
Dylan Larkin
Moritz Seider
Lucas Raymond
Maybe they’re not considered superstars by everyone’s standards, but I consider them superstars for a variety of reasons we’ll get to in just a bit.
Everyone else in the organization and free agent signings are extras in this rendition of the Detroit Red Wings chasing Lord Stanley.
Hopefully, as the team fills out, young players will grab hold of spots and free agents will sign for high-value contracts. The dreams are big here, as nothing is for certain. We have seen monumental steps forward from players like Simon Edvinsson and Marco Kasper. Coupled with the exciting play of Sebastian Cossa, Axel Sandin Pellikka, and even someone like Jesse Kiiskinen who is showing really well both on the international stage and in the Finnish Liiga.
There is a possible chance we see Dmitri Buchelnikov before 2027, but we shall see. He’s played phenomenally well in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). Of all the prospects remaining outside of the NHL, Buchelnikov has the most mystery and possibly the highest upside. He’s a high-octane, offensively-minded forward who possesses a wicked shot and high-end to elite playmaking skills. Although he leans more on the playmaking side, teams have to respect both his passing and his shot, making him all the more dangerous. When he arrives, likely as a 23-year-old KHL veteran, he will probably have the highest-value contract (as Edvinsson and Kasper would likely be due for raises at that point).
It will be interesting to see how the in-between players fare. Specifically, I’m looking at guys like Michael Rasmussen, Joseph Veleno, Jonatan Berggren, Elmer Söderblom, and Albert Johansson. I think the biggest question marks remain about their future contracts (or current ones in terms of Rasmussen and Veleno) in both dollar figures and length. Edvinsson and Kasper could be lumped into this grouping.
If general manager Steve Yzerman is confident in the young player’s performance and future with the team, he’s not shy about handing out lengthy contracts like with the big three. On the other hand, those are the only long-term deals he’s handed out. Realistically, the only two from that grouping that I could see getting long-term extension are Edvinsson and Kasper, as the other ones are too green to fully sign off on long-term (and I’m sure they want more runway to show their skills for a higher payout as well).
In the short term, it might greatly benefit the Detroit Red Wings by having so many question marks if they can get these players at high-value contracts (meaning low dollar amount and short term for the best flexibility that players out-perform). This timeframe is when teams can get the most out of players for the cheapest amount possible.
I think it’s as likely the big three might outperform their contracts. Right now, they might seem like a steeper price to pay (though if you watch the Detroit Red Wings on a regular basis, I think you would agree that at the very least those three players are consistently our best players on the ice and that alone might be worth those dollars and years in contract). Larkin may taper off as the length of his contract goes on, but I think Raymond and Seider’s will more than compensate for the possible outdated value of Larkin’s contract.
Additionally, the hardballing that Yzerman played with Larkin came in handy when signing everyone else’s contracts. There haven’t been players, outside of Raymond or Seider, who have demanded a similar contract to Larkin. Seider, I think we could argue, has the best case to be the highest-paid player on the team, but the fact that he does not have to make it one of the highest-value contracts in the entire NHL. No matter your thoughts on Seider or if you think he’s not as good as everyone raves about, a number one right-handed shooting defenseman for $8.55 million per season is insane (Larkin is making just a touch more at $8.7 million). This aspect alone makes me think that Larkin is the internal cap, and rightfully so.
Who on this Detroit Red Wings team is going to stand up and say, “I deserve to get paid more than Larkin?” Nobody. They all know what he means to the team, city, and even the people who are so busy drinking their koolaid they pop off with a Jared Goff chant. I can assure you, if Goff had to wait since 2015-16 to start building a team around him, lose all of his heroes on the team, watch helplessly as his best friends are traded away in favor of free agent signings who supposedly want to be here mixed with young guys who don’t know what they’re doing half the time on the field, I assure you—he wouldn’t. Larkin is borderline crazy for sticking with the Detroit Red Wings organization for so long. Only Yzerman has that craziness built into his DNA.
Larkin should be the face of Detroit, Michigan, for everything he’s done and continues to do for this city. Goff is great, he’s helped the Detroit Lions in unimaginable ways, he’s just not Larkin.
Our captain’s perseverance alone makes him a superstar in my book, but the fact that he’s not asked for a superstar-sized contract is even better. Would he have made that much in free agency? Maybe not, so maybe it’s a slight overpayment on the Detroit Red Wings part. For all he’s been through, though, I think those dollars are more hazard pay than anything else. I do have to wonder, though, there are crazy teams out there that throw ridiculous sums of money at players just to get them, so who knows? Maybe he would’ve seen more. From my perspective, everything is working out well for the Detroit Red Wings and Larkin relationship/contract.
Then, we have the baby of the group. Raymond might be the most underrated of these three. We have the minute and body munching Seider, then the number one, high-flying centerman in Larkin, and Raymond is kind of different.
He’s still working on honing his skills and impact on each shift. When it’s all said and done, though, I can’t help but wonder if Raymond tops out as the best among the three. With Larkin and Seider, I think we have seen some of their best hockey. Maybe consistency is something that’s needed or a more robust supporting cast for them to play with, but I’m not sure that their games will elevate that much more.
When I look at Raymond’s history, though, I see a player who feeds off of pressure. The higher the stakes, the higher his game. Some former Detroit Red Wings players were touted as such, then traded for a first-round pick, and didn’t do all that much in said playoffs. I don’t think we ever have to worry about that with Raymond.
He’s invested in both the Detroit Red Wings and winning. Whatever it takes, Raymond is ready. Even more impressively, there is hardly a flaw in his game.
Larkin, sometimes he’s a bit emotional and takes a bad penalty. Seider, sometimes he does too, or is called for a ghost infraction (one that didn’t actually exist where a player falls or embellishes a play), but I question more of the offensive side of things. He’s coming along nicely and there is hope that he pans out as a guy who can produce as well as he defends. However, the jury is still out on those hopes.
In contrast, Raymond has had a question mark about how defensively sound he can be in the NHL. At least for me, I figured his offense would come and that, defensively he might always be a bit of a liability. However, he’s sure up his defensive game enough to get tapped for penalty kill duties. Now, you might ask if that’s just a victim of circumstance, as our penalty kill needed some warm, lively bodies. Even still, I think Raymond has performed very well, all things considered. It’s to the point that I don’t see a weakness in Raymond’s overall game or toolkit. The fact that it only elevates as the pressure does is scary to think about in some ways but thrilling.
I just keep circling back to Brad Krysko’s assessment of Raymond from his draft profile. He’s the jack of all trades, but not in a bad way. Raymond’s kind of like the five-tool player in baseball, he can do everything and do everything so darn well. Raymond’s better than advertised, and the hype train went off the rails with his draft profile. It’s a blast to see how far Raymond has come (and far he has yet to go).
At any rate, the Detroit Red Wings have a great foundation to build from. They have their number one center, number one defenseman, and number one winger. Those pieces are crucial for a rebuild. Based on their play, reasonable trajectory (and possible drop-off), I think this foundation has what it takes to make a Stanley Cup playoff run. It won't be this year or likely even next season, but in about three to five seasons, I think the Detroit Red Wings will be a Stanley Cup contender with their own definitions of superstars leading the mix.
The future looks bright and we’re bound to get lucky with a few more of these prospects (and young players currently on the team).