Detroit Red Wings Wednesday: Fourth of July edition
By Ash Thompson
The Detroit Red Wings have had a busy week. There was a prospects scrimmage, news that was not news on Henrik Zetterberg, and oh, yeah……. Free agency opened
Free agency opened on July first and the Wings were ready. They didn’t land a massive fish like John Tavares, who went to the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Wings didn’t make a blockbuster trade to bring in Ryan O’Reilly, though they did draft a guy named Ryan O’Reilly last week. What they did was grab a few moderately priced veteran players. They made moves that stop them from being forced to play prospects if they’re not ready. The Wings didn’t spend like a win now team, because unless those prospects are better than the players the team signed, they’re not going to win now. The red wings brought in goalie Jonathan Bernier, winger Thomas Vanek, and re-signed defenseman Mike Green.
The Wings added some organizational coaching depth as well. Head coach Ben Simon added Matt McDonald and Brad Tapper to his staff as assistant coaches. Both Simon and McDonald were ECHL head coaches for the 2017-18 season. McDonald will be developing the Griffins defensemen.
The team held its annual development scrimmage, and the high draft picks looked like high draft picks. Fillip Zadina, in particular, had a filthy shootout goal that showed off why the team was ecstatic to get him with the sixth pick of the draft.
The Wings think Joe Veleno is the steal of the draft. Given how high everyone is on the Zadina pick that is high praise. Veleno is saying the right things, that he loves the organization, that he is using the fall in the draft as motivation. Veleno was a team Captain for Canada in international u-18 competition and skates like the wind. He clearly stood out at the development camp.
Nobody knows whether Henrik Zetterberg is coming back yet. The team believes he will, but Zetterberg himself has been quiet. It is not a situation where the player isn’t sure he wants to continue, but the grind of 82 game seasons and repeated playoff appearances earlier in his career have taken their toll. Zetterberg’s back is the main issue standing between him and the 2018-19 season. Let’s all hope that the Wings captain suits up for at least one more season. They could use the veteran leadership with all the incoming talent.
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Enjoy your fourth of July and stay tuned for any more free agency moved the Wings make. The team still has cap space, but the initial period of high-pressure spending is done.