End-of-season Thoughts

I was going to wait to put together my end-of-season thoughts but I realized that I don’t expect to have any further clarity next week or next month than I do right now.

I feel like the end of last night’s season-ending game against the Toronto Maple Leafs really sums up the season for the Detroit Red Wings.

With Detroit up by one late, Toronto pulls the goalie. Simon Edvinsson gets the puck and chucks it 180 feet to try to close the game out, missing the Maple Leafs’ net and somehow avoiding an icing on the play. Then, just a bit later, Edvinsson carries the puck into the Toronto zone and seems to stop to look for Patrick Kane to get Kane his 60th point of the season instead of taking the shot at the net himself again. Edvinsson is stopped and the puck comes the other way. The Leafs tie it with seconds remaining and win in overtime.

It was one more example of a game where Detroit needed to just close it out and failed to seal the deal. Whether it was because of mistakes or getting too cute or just not being good enough, that’s my big takeaway from the season.

That’s not to say there weren’t bright spots.

Marco Kasper – once he got his call-up – proved that he can play in the top-six, whether as a wing or as a second-line center. Lucas Raymond – even with a drop-off following the 4 Nations Faceoff – looked fantastic. Edvinsson grew into the top-four defender the team needs him to be. Albert Johansson also took huge steps forward in his rookie season. Elmer Soderblom returned to the form he showed during his first stint with the Red Wings rather than subsequent call-ups.

Aside from Raymond, perhaps, all of those players have room for continued growth. And Detroit needed those players to be able to step up. They can’t keep plugging holes in their lineup through free agency, the kids need to show they can do the job themselves.

And I loved that about this season, despite the outcome. I love that Soderblom – who it would have been easy to overlook given his lack of progress in Grand Rapids – did get another chance and did make much of it. I love that Carter Mazur was going to get his chance before he was injured two shifts into his debut.

I’m okay with the streak of missing the playoffs if it looks like there’s a way out of it.

But, despite those positives, I’m not sure I see the way out of it with this lineup. Or maybe it’s more than the lineup.

This is several seasons in a row now where the wheels have just absolutely fallen off in February and March. Different goalies – it wasn’t Alex Nedeljkovic or Ville Husso’s fault this time. Different coaches. Same result.

Maybe – maybe – we can blame the 4 Nations Faceoff this year. Dylan Larkin drives this team and he – as well as the aforementioned Raymond – didn’t look quite the same after the tournament.

Maybe we can blame the injury to Andrew Copp. I think if you’d suggested that he was that important to this lineup a year ago, you’d have been laughed at, but he was finally looking like the second-line center the Wings needed him to be at the time of his injury.

Maybe all it takes to sneak into the playoffs is Copp holding down the second line, with Kasper able to stay on the top line with Larkin and Raymond. But if that’s all it would have taken, it shows just how duct-taped together this roster is.

And I’m not sure how to fix that with the pieces Detroit has to work with.

The team seems set in goal for next season with Cam Talbot and Petr Mrazek – for a certain definition of “set” at least. Talbot looked solid to start the year and through Detroit’s January hot streak but then February and March happened. Mrazek looked surprisingly good after re-joining the Red Wings at the trade deadline but, given his play in Chicago, “surprisingly good” is an extremely low bar. It’s hard to believe either of these guys are the answer but they could be good enough to get the Wings back into the playoffs and “the answer” is hopefully Sebastian Cossa anyway.

On the blueline, I’d like to see the team stand pat this summer. Let Jeff Petry ride off into the sunset and save his roster spot for Axel Sandin-Pellikka. I’m not saying that ASP will be ready out of camp next fall but, as I said, I want to see the kids play so I want there to be a spot for him just in case. That gives a blueline of (in no particular order) Moritz Seider, Edvinsson, Johansson, Ben Chiarot, Erik Gustaffson, ASP, and Justin Holl. Holl can be the seventh defenseman in that scenario if Sandin-Pellikka makes the team. But for that to be an upgrade over what we saw this year, the kids need to keep taking steps forward, so there’s risk involved.

Up front I have no idea what to do.

I’m not against bringing back Tyler Motte but 30-year-old fourth-line forwards are a dime a dozen. Dominik Shine could fill that role coming out of his first camp with an NHL contract. Or it could be a healthy Mazur.

I think you bring back Soderblom. Do you bring back Jonatan Berggren? He seemed to show a little promise at the end of the season and you probably at least qualify him but maybe flip him if a deal is there to make.

Let’s say Motte and Berggren and Soderblom are all back. So your bottom six is some combination of J.T. Compher, Copp, Michael Rasmussen, Soderblom, Vladimir Tarasenko, Berggren, Motte, Mazur, and Shine. Obviously that’s more than six. Some of these guys might play up and some are going to end up in Grand Rapids.

If Kasper is back on the wing in the top six, you’re looking at Copp or Compher to move back up to the second-line center role. If Kasper is your 2C, maybe you’re still looking at one or both of that pair on the wing in a top-six role. Rasmussen could also play up but probably shouldn’t be counted on to do so.

I look at it and see that the Wings’ bottom six are set but I don’t know how to get more scoring into the top six. The only roster spot currently held down by a  pending free agent is Patrick Kane’s and do you really let him walk at this point? Unless you’re bringing in Mitch Marner, who’s the upgrade available? Brock Boeser? John Tavares?

It just doesn’t seem like there’s an obvious play to improve the Red Wings’ offense short of hoping for growth from within. Is that Michael Brandsegg-Nygard? Is it Nate Danielson? I don’t see it.

So we’re back to trotting out a mostly-unchanged lineup and hoping for the kids to take a step forward. And somehow figuring out that February and March slump thing that keeps coming up.

I don’t know. This is the day after the end of the season. A lot can change between now and the start of training camp. I definitely didn’t see some of the stuff that happened last summer coming. We’ll have to wait to see what this summer brings.