Welcome to a new summer series on Last Word On Hockey. In preparation for the NHL Expansion Draft on June 21st, LWOH’s Detroit Red Wings Department will be going in depth on every Wing that is eligible to be picked by the newest NHL squad, the Vegas Golden Knights, who will begin play in the fall. The team will likely follow the seven-forward, three-defensemen, and one goalie format of protecting players, and this series will follow suit with that. For a brush-up on the expansion draft rules, click this link. Without further adieu, we will continue this series with another aging homegrown talent, Darren Helm.
Darren Helm
Center/Left Wing, Shoots Left
6’0″, 196 lbs
Age: 30 (This Past January 21)
Cap hit: $3.85 million, four years remaining
Reasons for Protection
Helm is a case of one of those depth scorers that has had his highs and lows with Detroit. He only played 43 games total from 2012-14 but stayed relatively healthy the past two seasons before 2016-17 scoring 15 and 13 goals respectively acting as one of Detroit’s few depth scorers in the bottom six. He can play wing and down the middle, and is second to Luke Glendening in face-off win percentage (52.1%) among the five regular centers since 2014, minimum 150 games. He did just play 50 games this season and would likely line up as the third center behind Frans Nielsen and Henrik Zetterberg, though Dylan Larkin could very well be in the mix for his job at the World Championships this May. Keeping him gives the Wings center and scoring depth as well as one of the few faces left from the 2008 Stanley Cup Championship team.
Reasons for Exposing
Though Helm is one of many Detroiters who can line up down the middle and win face-offs, his offensive and defensive games declined quite a bit without Pavel Datsyuk on his wing. For starters, he scored half of his eight goals on the year in the first five games of this season and was playing with Detroit’s smartest forward in Thomas Vanek. Post trade deadline he had two goals and six points in the 17 remaining games and had four points in 25 games before that. It doesn’t get much better defensively, as among forwards who played at least 510 minutes for the team this season, he came in last in shots against per 60 (32) and goals against per 60 (2.94). The Datsyuk effect shows, as from 2014-2016, in 1038 minutes with him, he posted a 59.61% Corsi-for percentage. In 931 minutes without, that number dropped to 51.95%. He posted a 48% percentage this season.
Verdict
Expose Him.
Helm feels like he’s way younger that he actually is, but father time is in fact catching up, as is the salary cap and the rest of the league as evidenced by the Red Wings’ performance last season. Vegas may look past the defensive deficiencies and take on Helm as a center who would add some depth scoring and skill in the face-off dot, despite the term and money to shell. Exposing helm leaves opportunity for some younger Red Wings to take on a depth role and could let Larkin practice his craft as a natural center in a top nine role to start the season.
Check back tomorrow as Danny DeKeyser and his topical homegrown pay-stub go through some analysis.
Each link is a gateway to analysis of each player.
Updated Protection List
Henrik Zetterberg (May 25th)
Mike Green (May 26th)
Exposed:
Justin Abdelkader (May 27th)
Niklas Kronwall (May 28th)
Darren Helm
Advanced stats courtesy of Corsica.Hockey.
Main Photo:
