Detroit
Notable UFA’s: Taro Hirose, Sam Gagner, Carter Rowney, Marc Staal, Danny Dekeyser, Thomas Greiss
Notable RFA’s: Filip Zadina, Mitchell Stephens, Olli Juolevi, Jake Walman
Draft picks: DET 1RD, DET 2RD, WAS 2RD, DET 3RD, DET 4RD, COL 4RD, VGK 4RD, DET 5RD, DET 7RD, LA 7RD
Why did they miss the playoffs
The Red Wings had high hopes for this year but couldn’t overcome a few obstacles and are going to miss the playoffs again. Their first problem I think is their recent collapse in the second half of the season as they started well but have played poorly as of late. For the first half to 2/3 of the season the Red Wings were the team that was closest to a playoff spot even though the east already had their eight teams almost solidified for the playoffs, but since probably the start of March or at least the trade deadline the Red Wings have played awful and this awful play made them slip from being the team who was closest to a playoff spot to one of the teams eliminated and while I don’t think there was ever hope for Detroit to make the playoffs their second half collapse did derail what looked to be a promising season. Also the Red Wings didn’t have a good defence but especially as of late. The defence has been atrocious this season as the Red Wings have not improved their defensive game this seasons and it is hurting them as they can’t defend and it wasn’t hurting to much in the early parts of the season cause they could score their way out of trouble but with a bit less offense their defensive troubles are showing and it has gotten really bad since late February but I think since they traded Stecher and Leddy at the deadline because especially Leddy was their best defensive defensemen but with him gone it has really exposed some bad defence in Detroit in my opinion. And lastly I believe that the Red Wings were a younger team that was bound to have hiccups this season. The Red Wings Lindstrom and Seider who were playing their first full NHL season this year and after Leddy was moved who was Seider’s partner for most of the year the defensive game just broke down and they also had a young goalie in Nedeljkovic who wasn’t a rookie but a younger player who was bound to make mistakes, and on top of that Lucas Raymond played in his first year and 7 of their 12 regular forwards are 25 years or younger so when they were trying to catch Bostoni thought they were overachieving a bit and now they are about where I had them before the season, but a 2nd half collapse as well as a bad defence and young roster I think helped stop the Red Wings to make the playoffs this year.
How I think they can improve in the offseason.
After their brilliant start to this season they got derailed and fell off a cliff but I think they are closer to getting back to fighting for a playoff spot. First their goaltending and Nedeljkovic has done a great job as the Red Wings starting goalie but will be entering the final year of his deal and he has showed that he can be the starter so getting him signed has to be a priority. Meanwhile they need a backup with Griess a UFA so either they go with a internal option and I would guess they consider bringing recent 1RD pick Sebastian Cossa in as backup but if they feel that he needs another year I think they will go out and get a more older backup for Nedeljkovic either in free agency or via trade. For their defence they’ve got some addressing on the left side to do the way things are right now. The Red Wings got a big boost this year with how well rookie Moritz Seider played and got another productive year out of Filip Hronek and with young rookie Gustav Lindstrom becoming a full time roster player the Red Wings right side seems solidified but they need help on the Left. They had Nick Leddy on the left side but as a valuable UFA they moved him for picks, and Danny Dekeyser and Marc Staal who have also played a majority on the left sid are both pending UFA’s so with only Oesterle (who’s a year away from free agency) the only left side defensemen signed past next year they are going to need some upgrades. First I think they bring up at least 1 of their young defensemen who play on the left side whether it is 2021 1RD pick Simon Edvinsson or 2020 2RD pick William Wallinder, I think that one of these will sign and start their NHL career next year probably on the second pair with Hronek, but they will need to sign or trade for a partner for Seider. They could look to free agency this year to get a guy like a Mark Giordano, Calvin De Haan or Ben Chiarot who i think would all fit with Seider or go to the trade market to get a guy like a Brendan Dillon, Alec Martinez or Travis Sanheim, but i believe adding a top end left side defensemen, getting a depth defensemen and bringing up a rookie will help this team a lot. And as for their forward group they will have a few questions to ask themselves. Now they have a couple of young players like Raymond, Rasmussen and Veleno who are all young players who have had terrific seasons especially Raymond and all look at least to me like very important pieces of the future for Detroit. Now they Red Wings are going to have to make some decisions on some players who are entering the final year of their deal. Erne, Sundqvist, Suter and especially Larkin and Bertuzzi are all going to be entering the final year of their deal and I could see any one of them be moved. Now Suter, Erne and Sundqvist are all bottom 6 forwards so not only are they not urgent to resign but are also not so hard to replace so I am not to worried about them even if they are dealt Larkin and Bertuzzi are going to be big players. Larkin is the Red Wings best player and their captain while Bertuzzi is no doubt there best goal scorer so my solution for this is if they are able to sign them then keep them but if the season nears and they aren’t signed then at least consider trading them more Bertuzzi then Larkin cause Bertuzzi was already mentioned in Trade rumors and Larkin is a number 1 Center but these two are big question marks for Detroit this year. Also the Red Wings will have to decide on what to do with Zadina cause after a couple productive years things his a snag this year and with him playing more bottom 6 minutes I could see him being moved for something else like maybe another underperforming forward but I could definitely see him moving especially with guys like Vrana and Fabbri signed for the next few years and also Jonathan Berggren who had a brilliant season in the AHL this year could challenge for a NHL spot next year, and while they could sign some bottom 6 forwards, if they are considering moving Larkin, Bertuzzi or Zadina them I believe they will get a top 6 forward to help with their offense. But is they can do enough this year and return to early season form then I 100% think they could make the playoffs next year.
Buffalo
Notable UFA’s: Cody Eakin, Vinnie Hinostroza, Mark Jankowski, Drake Caggiula, John Hayden, Colin Miller, Will Butcher, Mark Pysyk, Malcom Subban, Dustin Tokarski, Craig Anderson
Notable RFA’s: Victor Olofsson, Arttu Ruotsalainen, Brett Murray, Jacob Bryson, Ukko Pekka Luukkonen.
Draft Picks: BUF 1RD, FLO 1RD*, VGK 1RD*, BUF 2RD, BUF 3RD, BUF 4RD, NJ 5RD, BUF 6RD, CAL 6RD, BUF 7RD
Why did they miss the playoffs.
There are Definitely a couple of reasons why the Sabres missed the playoffs and these are my three reasons why. First I would say that their defence was definitely subpar and became a problem right away this season. With no Jake McCabe or Rasmus Ristolainen this year they new they would have trouble this year defending this year after they acquired depth defensemen Hagg and Butcher and signed Pysyk. They used Hagg, Pysyk, Butcher and Miller all in the top 4 at some point and they are 3rd pair defensemen at best, as well as Casey Fitzgerald, Mattias Samuelsson and Jacob Bryson who are all new to having full time NHL roles and were inexperienced, so with the only two legit top 4 defensemen Dahlin and Jokiharju they were bound to be a badly defensive team but they were definitely one of the worst teams defensively in the league. Another problem was their goaltending and probably not for the reason you’d expect. Craig Anderson and Dustin Tokarski were the tandem that Buffalo went with to start the season and they are still the tandem now but they haven’t been the tandem for the entire year. These two have both had difficulties staying healthy in the lineup and there was one point where Anderson, Tokarski, Ukko Pekka Luukkonen and Malcom Subban who were their top 4 goalies, were all injured at one point in the middle of the season and playing with so few healthy goalies for a period of time this year was really a problem and led to a lot of losses in the middle of the season due to poor goaltending and while Anderson and Tokarski are both healthy there absence really hurt the team. And finally a simple thing that led to their poor play and that is their construction of their roster. Just like the Kraken and Coyotes the Sabres were one of the teams who moved talent for picks and depth pieces as they new they weren’t going to do a great job this year and the fact that Anderson had done a great job in goal, Dahlin had a very nice season, and once the got Alex Tuch in the lineup a top line of Tuch, Skinner and Thompson worked as good as any top line in the NHL but they actually have already done better then my pre season prediction so while they didn’t do good this season and especially not good enough for a playoff spot, I do believe that the future is bright and they will just have to wait a few years.
How I think they can improve in the offseason.
After a pretty decent where I thought there was no way they didn’t get the 1st overall pick and they proved me wrong but here is what I think they can do to improve in the offseason and I will start at the goaltending position and it is kind of cloudy. Out of all the Sabres goalies on their roster right now, none are signed past this year and Ukko Pekka Luukkonen is the only RFA so they will need to bring in another goalie for next year. Now with top prospect goalies Devon Levi and Erik Portillo both heading to college for another year next year I believe that they will only need a goalie for one more year then they can have their young goalies battle for the starting position. Now there has been rumours that the Sabres would be willing to bring back Anderson for one more year and I could see them going with a Anderson-Luukkonen tandem next year but with his age Anderson could elect to retire so the Sabres may need to find another veteran goalie and they could look to free agency for a guy like Koskinen or Korpisalo who have lost their mojo or take on a goalie in the trade market such as Reimer, Varlamov or Quick amongst others but I believe they will have a veteran goalie tandem with Luukkonen next year. As for their defence most players including Pysyk, Butcher and Miller are all UFA’s and are probably going to leave via free agency so they will need some players to help them. Now I believe that Dahlin and Jokiharju would make a good second pair and they could use Bryson and Samuelsson as a 3rd pair or could sign a depth defensemen to help them maybe even one of their pending UFA’s but with Power now here they need to find him a partner. With Power being a left side defensemen they will definitely be looking for a top 4 defensemen on the right side who can still be a productive player but is more of a defensive defensemen probably, so they can go to free agency and try to get a player like Josh Manson, P.K Subban or Justin Schultz, or get a player via trade as I have said right defensemen like Jeff Petry, Nikita Zaitsev and Damon Severson are all guys who I could see traded and could find a home in Buffalo but I believe getting a partner for Power in the offseason is a big need. And finally with their offense they need to improve at least a bit as they did have a decent offense this year but there is definitely room for improvement. Now they have had a great showing from the Tuch-Thompson-Skinner line that has been fuelling the offense and have some veterans like Okposo and Girgensens, and a lot of younger guys who played prominent roles this year like Krebs, Mittlestadt, Cozens and Asplund who should fill in some spots on their roster next year. They also have young players John Jason Peterka and Jack Quinn who have had phenomenal AHL seasons should both at least challenge for a roster spot and I think should get them. Now two players who I could see being dealt due to poor play is Victor Olofsson who is a Pending RFa and Anders Bjork, both have underplayed their contracts right now and I feel as though fresh starts for both would be good as Bjork is a definite bottom 6 forward and Olofsson is a 3rd limer who can play on the power play so finding these guys new homes I think would be good and lastly I am not saying it has to be a huge name but getting another top 6 winger either via free agency or trade would help the Sabres a lot and I think they would definitely benefit from a older top 6 winger. So all in all I believe these moves will help the Sabres immensely and that if they do enough right in the offseason I could definitely see them challenging for a playoff spot in the as early as next year.
Comments
Post a Comment