Red Wings’ Nightmare Offseason Continues With Few Solutions in Site

Now for the 17 million dollar question: Where do the Red Wings go from here? To put it kindly, there aren’t many enticing options left.

As far as free agents are concerned, the only possibilities would be Phoenix Coyotes forward Shane Doan and Washington Capitals forward Alexander Semin. Doan however is a long shot as he will wait until July 9 to see where the Phoenix Coyotes ownership saga stands. If it’s at an acceptable stage, Doan will stay in Phoenix no questions asked. Only if the ship is sinking in the desert will Doan even consider leaving the only franchise he’s ever played for. As for Semin, he’s the ultimate gamble in this crop. He’s an enigma as a player, at times he’ll absolutely dominate and at times he’ll simply disappear. His work ethic is questioned in NHL circles, sometimes by his own teammates. Whether the Wings want to take a chance on Semin is unknown, but at the stage of the game considering the circumstances, they may not have choice but to roll the dice with him.

The Wings’ best options to improve are now on the trade market. Anaheim Ducks forward Bobby Ryan is looking for a way out of southern California and forward Rick Nash badly wants out of Columbus. During the NHL draft a couple weeks ago defenseman Keith Yandle of Phoenix was suddenly being shopped around and Detroit was reportedly involved in dialogue with the Coyotes regarding the 25-year-old. Yandle may be in the same boat as Doan as far as the ownership situation is concerned, he’ll only be moved if the situation looks bleak. Anaheim according to reports wants at least a second line center and draft picks for Ryan and Columbus’ asking price for Nash is through the roof. You have to give up something in order to get something, whether the Red Wings are willing to do that in order to get the services of these gentlemen remains to be seen.

In a span of five weeks, Detroit has lost Nicklas Lidstrom, Brad Stuart, and Jiri Hudler. They’re likely to lose Tomas Holmstrom to retirement as well but he hasn’t made an official decision on that issue yet. They’ve also lost out on their top free agent targets, something that doesn’t happen in this town very often. Red Wing fans must feel like they’re in a bad dream. The problem is this bad dream, is very much for real. General Manager Ken Holland always said in the past that he dreaded the summer that Nicklas Lidstrom finally hung up his skates and walked away from hockey.

I’m sure he and anyone else invested in the Red Wings in any shape or form, would not have ever imagined that the summer that Lidstrom walked away, would start out as bleak as it has.