When the Detroit Red Wings traded Pavel Datsyuk and his $7.5 million cap hit to the Arizona Coyotes at this year’s NHL Entry Draft, the entire hockey world thought the same thing: The Red Wings are going to make a run at Steven Stamkos. However, the Red Wings should not pursue Stamkos, as that is not a wise move for them.
Why Not Stamkos?
Why shouldn’t Detroit pursue Stamkos? The Ontario sniper is only 26 and has already scored 312 goals in his career. He has eight years of experience and has played in a ton of big games. The team that lands Stamkos will become better, you can take that one to the bank. However, Detroit’s greatest needs are on the blueline and between the pipes.
Detroit’s Core
Clearly, the Red Wings core now and in the near future is at the forward position. Henrik Zetterberg may be 35 but he is the team’s leading scorer, can still play at a very high level, and is signed for five more years with a $6.083 million cap hit.
On the main roster after Zetterberg, the core also includes Tomas Tatar, Dylan Larkin, Gustav Nyquist and Justin Abdelkader. Larkin showed that he has an excellent chance to be a first line forward who nets 30-goals-plus a year, as he had 23 goals in his rookie season at age 19. The Wings also hope 24-year old right wing, Teemu Pulkkinen takes the next step after his introduction to the NHL in 2015-16. Pulkkinen was rated number 26 on Hockey’s Future last top 50 prospect rankings.
Detroit’s top three prospects are also all at the forward position in Anthony Mantha (1st rounder 2013), Evgeny Svechnikov (1st rounder 2015) and Andreas Athanasiou. Mantha has an excellent chance of being at least a top-six forward and 19-year-old Svechnikov has big time skills, as he scored 32 goals in 50 games last year for the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles. There is a lot of current and potential goal scoring firepower in the Detroit organization. Detroit’s focus must be addressing the other areas of their team.
Defense & Goaltending
There are two tough questions all Red Wings fans must face: Does Hockeytown have a number one goalie for a contending team and do the Wings have a sure-fire top-four defenseman?
Petr Mrazek at 24 years of age is coming off his first full season, where he had a 2.33 goals against average and a .921 save percentage. To be fair, Mrazek has to back up last season’s performance before he is called a number one goaltender for a contending team. Also, keep in mind that as well as Mrazek played last season, the Wings did look to Jimmy Howard come playoff time. The 32-year-old Howard’s best days are behind him and he’s signed for three more seasons with a $5.3 million cap hit.
On the blueline, Detroit’s top four defensemen are Danny DeKeyser, Jonathan Ericsson, Mike Green and Niklas Kronwall. Kronwall is 35, Ericsson is 32 and Green is 30. That’s a lot of age on the blueline. Quite honestly, that is not going to cut it in terms of the Red Wings being a contender in the Eastern Conference. Adding salt to the wound is the fact Detroit entered this year’s draft without a top prospect on defense in their pipeline. It is not a coincidence that General Manager Ken Holland selected defensemen with four of his first five picks at this year’s draft, including Dennis Cholowski in the first round. Mrazek might be a number one goalie, but where are the top defenseman in the Detroit organization?
.@DetroitRedWings GM Ken Holland makes argument to keep Jimmy Howard https://t.co/OA8e1M9SWY pic.twitter.com/AgbjKbVLVf
— NBC Sports Hockey (@NBCSportsHockey) June 20, 2016
It’s a Cap World
The Red Wings cap currently sits at $54.0 million. They still have four restricted free agents to sign in Mrazek, Pulkkinen, DeKeyser and Alexey Marchenko. If the Red Wings were to sign Stamkos, that would likely take them to the brim of the NHL 2016-17 salary cap ceiling of $73 million. How is Detroit going to improve the blueline ? What if Mrazek is not a number one goalie? Do the Wings really want to use up all of their cap dollars over the next number of years by bringing in Stamkos?
Signing Stamkos would be a big splash and create a lot of excitement. But are the Red Wings problems up front? If anything Detroit’s forward situation looks very promising, and it’s the play in their own end that will decide if they are a contending team in the near future.
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