Detroit Red Wings with lots of questions to be answered this offseason
By Mike Rizzo
The Detroit Red Wings wrapped up their awful 2016-17 season with a win. Now the long off-season begins with a lot of questions about the future.
The Detroit Red Wings won the final game at Joe Louis Arena two weeks ago 4-1 and ended the season and the Joe on a good note. Now comes a tough offseason. A lot of questions have to be answered this offseason, starting with their first lottery pick in decades.
The Red Wings finished with the sixth worst record in the league which puts them in great position to get a top five pick. Unless the Red Wings are in a position to draft Nolan Patrick they would be better off drafting a defenseman.
The DraftSite.com Mock Draft has the Red Wings selecting Timothy Liljegren a Swedish defensemen. He’s listed as one of the top defenseman in this draft. Since Nicklas Lidstrom retired the Red Wings have needed a top defenseman badly. Drafting a one looks like a better shot than signing or trading for one.
Right before the draft though comes the Expansion Draft, where the Red Wings will lose one player. Here are the rules for the Expansion Draft.
Some mock drafts have the Vegas Golden Knights taking Darren Helm, which if they do, would get rid of one of the bad contracts this team has.
Ken Holland has crippled this team with these bad contracts. Darren Helm, Danny DeKeyser, Justin Abdelkader, Frans Nielsen and Jonathan Ericsson.All of them are locked up until at least the 2020-2021 season.
With the Grand Rapids Griffins once again going farther than the Red Wings this season, it’s time for the Red Wings to bring up some of the Griffins full time. Evgeny Svechnikov and Tyler Bertuzzi should be brought up next season. With the Red Wings going into next season the cupboard isn’t bare but it’s not overflowing with talent.
Anthony Mantha, Dylan Larkin and Andreas Athanasiou are the future of this team. Petr Mrazek I believe will have a rebound season. Other than that the cupboard is pretty empty. The Red Wings have average to below average defenseman, some terrible contracts and a lot of declining players.
Here are some important dates for people to remember this offseason, starting with April 29th.
On April 29th the NHL will hold their Draft Lottery. The Red Wings have the seventh best odds at getting the number one pick at 6.7%.
After that the Red Wings will know their where they will be drafting in the 2017 draft.
June 21st is the NHL Expansion Draft when the Red Wings will lose one player to the Vegas Golden Knights.
June 23rd -24th is the NHL Draft and the Red Wings have 11 picks in the draft.
Finally, July 1st is Free Agency day. Kevin Shattenkirk is the best defensemen available but will command a lot of money.
With all the bad contracts the Red Wings have, I don’t think they need to have another one for a guy that isn’t a top tier defensemen in my opinion.
Jeff Blashill is coming back for his third season as coach. Ken Holland was also given a vote of confidence by Chris Illitch but his contract is up after next season.
If the Red Wings have another horrible year I think Illitch lets Holland walk. Which I think it’s a year late but oh well.
I don’t have faith that Holland is the guy to turn things around and I’m sure I’m not the only that doesn’t have faith. Hopefully he proves us wrong.