Red Wings in need of a franchise forward
The Detroit Red Wings looked poised to snap their now-league leading Stanley Cup Playoff drought for the majority of this season, but a late collapse down the stretch kept it alive and pushed it to comfortably over a decade.
Now, general manager Steve Yzerman has his work cut out for him to make the moves necessary to get the Red Wings to a point where they can hold their own in a loaded Atlantic Division.
One area of need is at the top of the forward depth chart. While Dylan Larkin, Lucas Raymond and Alex DeBrincat have been excellent for Detroit, the team is still in need of a true game breaker that can take over games on a nightly basis and carry the Wings through some of these tougher showdowns against the defensively stout teams in the division.
On Wednesday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, host Tyler Yaremchuk and co-host and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton were joined by Max Bultman of The Athletic to discuss why the Red Wings still need a true top-level forward if they’re going to take a leap toward Stanley Cup contention.
Tyler Yaremchuk: One of the projects you’ve been working on, the Stanley Cup checklist… when I look at the one you guys posted today for the Red Wings, and it’s free to read on The Athletic… I see that a lot of boxes are kind of checked here, but that franchise forward one isn’t. I mean, that’s the daunting task here for the Wings, isn’t it? That area still remains kind of unchecked.
Max Bultman: Yes… it’s the hardest to find, forward, and there’s more forwards, right? So do they have guys who I think could fill some of those holes? It’s possible. I think there’s still certainly a chance Lucas Raymond can elevate himself to become kind of that franchise level. Certainly each of the last two years, right around the half to two-thirds mark, he’s been tracking toward 90 points. And then both times, international tournament, comes back and there’s kind of a dip at the end. That’s something that they’re gonna have to solve late in the season. He’s been a late-season player before two years ago. I thought he was their best player when they nearly made the playoffs on the tiebreaker. So I think that’s in him, but maybe it’s overwork. Maybe there’s something to being banged up. I don’t know, but he’s a guy they’re gonna need to elevate and even when he does, then it opens another forward hole. So I think that speaks to two things. They need some of their prospects and young players, whether it’s Marco Kasper, Michael Brandsegg-Nygard, Nate Danielson to elevate and get to that really impactful level as soon as possible. And I think more importantly, they need Steve Yzerman to go out this off season and find a way to bring in some talent to supplement their forward core.
You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…