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What will the Detroit Red Wings defense pairings look like next season?

The Detroit Red Wings have a lot of defenseman, but who makes the cut?

By Anthony Ibanez |
/ Patrick McDermott/GettyImages
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The age-old question with the Red Wings is, "What is the defense going to look like?" which is a weird problem to have when you've used 22 of the 59 draft picks you've had since 2019 were on defense. Nevertheless, the question has to be asked, and this upcoming season likely has more question marks than any previous season.

While Steve Yzerman didn't make a lot of changes to the blue line, there was one big move in particular that has seemingly thrown the entire blue line into a state of confusion. That move was the Red Wings trading Jake Walman to the San Jose Sharks right before free agency starting in the summer. Walman was the lefty next to Moritz Seider for most of last season and was able to produce incredibly well, becoming the first Red Wings defenseman to hit the 10+ goal mark since Mike Green did it during the 2016-17 season.

In addition to losing Walman, the Red Wings also signed defenseman William Lagesson during free agency, while they already had five established NHL defensemen as well as prospects who are more than ready to make the jump to the NHL. In total, they have eight defensemen who have the potential to be on the Red Wings roster next season, and due to the sheer amount of defensemen they now have available to them, we don't know what the defensive pairings are going to be.

Seider/Chiarot likely to be the top pair to start the season

While I know none of us want to hear it, Seider and Chiarot are likely going to end up as the top pair for a good portion of next season. They've been paired together pretty often including Chiarot's first season with the Red Wings. Though, It is pretty clear how many Red Wings fans feel about this pairing in general.

However, after Walman went down with an injury last season, Chiarot stepped up in a big way and did a complete 180 after his pretty abysmal first season. Hopefully, he'll be able to keep up the same level of play that he did last season and be a competent partner to Seider.

Mo, however, is a different story. He and Walman were given the toughest matchups in the entire league last season, and Seider himself was given historically difficult minutes. Playing against the McDavids and the Kucherovs of the NHL is no easy task, and while it ended up hurting his metrics, it's clear that it's having a positive effect on his regular development. At this point, it's just a matter of whether the other defensive pairings can pick up some slack.

Edvinsson/Petry worked really well together at the end of the season

Yes, Jeff Petry is still on the team. He is still on the opening night roster, and he will likely still be on the second pair. Whether you like it or not, Petry worked well with Simon Edvinsson towards the end of the season. Now, this is likely due to Edvinsson being able to cover for Petry better than Ben Chiarot was able to. This allowed Petry to activate more often, and he even improved defensively. Maybe even saved the season a time or two.

It's also likely that having a much younger and inexperienced player next to him made him realize that he needed to tighten things up and play more responsibly. But he wasn't nearly as bad as Red Wings fans would have you believe. Sure, defensively for most of the season, he wasn't what many would consider a "shutdown defenseman," but he was never once in his career billed as that. He was always billed as a "puck-moving defenseman with tremendous mobility" who "protects the puck well and makes good use of his body."

Simon Edvinsson, on the other hand, is a different story. He was brought up late last season due to Jake Walman being in and out of the lineup and was immediately trusted with time on the penalty kill. He also went against other teams' top lines (though not nearly as much as Seider), and he looked good. This shouldn't come as a surprise, as Edvinsson should have been on the Red Wings to start the 2023-24 season.

During his 16-game stint, he quickly proved to everybody that he belonged on the Red Wings all season. He was so incredibly calm and smooth under pressure that anybody could mistake him for a ten-year vet of the NHL. He didn't look out of place at all and didn't play like he had just been throwing in the middle of an NHL team's playoff push where every game counts.

Määttä/Gustafsson to round out the defense

Barring a trade involving Olli Määttä, which is very much still on the table. The odds are that he will be a mainstay on the third pair as the stabilizing presence for his usually more offensive-minded partner. Since joining the Red Wings in the 2022-23 season, Määttä has been partners with Filip Hronek and Shayne Gostisbehere, two of the most offensive-minded defensemen in the entire league.

This upcoming season, he will likely follow the same trend and be partnered up with Erik Gustafsson, another offensive-minded defenseman who will need a stable presence next to him. Määttä seems to be good at elevating whoever he's partnered with. Whether it's because he doesn't have a lot of offensive capabilities and his partners do or since they know that Määttä is such a stable defenseman that they can activate more often without worrying if they'll be covered or not.

Johansson and Holl are probably gonna get cozy in the press box

Albert Johansson is in a weird situation. He just signed a new deal and is no longer waiver-exempt. This means that if he gets sent back down to Grand Rapids, he will have to clear waivers, which he likely won't. Steve Yzerman said he has to make moves to create room for Johansson on the team. While he did move Walman, that open spot was quickly taken by Gustafsson, once again leaving the team with far too many defensemen. Being left-handed also doesn't help, as the team has an abundance of them.

Johansson does have a bit of an artificial advantage over some of his defensive piers on the bottom pair in that he regularly played the right side in Grand Rapids while he was paired with Simon Edvinsson. Now, whether Derek Lalonde will see that and put him there with Gustafsson is yet to be seen. But it's safe to say he will be on the team in the 2024-25 season.

Justin Holl, on the other hand, is a far different issue. Being a right-handed defenseman, he has a bit of an advantage over guys like Johansson and Määttä. Honestly, I would personally prefer Holl on the bottom pair with Gustafsson just so that the Red Wings have all three pairs with a left-hand/right-hand pairing. But he didn't make a great impression last season and was scratched for more than half of it.

Odds are there will be a rotation between Määttä, Johansson and Holl to start the season. The odds of the Red Wings having the same amount of luck remaining healthy as they did last season is low, so at least two of these players will get a fair amount of ice time this upcoming season.

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