Inside the Article:
The regular season for the Detroit Red Wings which began with higher expectations has come to a close after being unable to clinch a playoff spot for the first time in what is now a full seven seasons. Their last postseason appearance against the Tampa Bay Lightning (a quick five-game series loss) in 2016 when current captain Dylan Larkin was a rookie seems way more than a distant memory now.
We’re going to go ahead and review the season that was by handing out grades to each player, as well as head coach Derek Lalonde, who just wrapped up his first season on the job after replacing Jeff Blashill.
Detroit Red Wings Report Card for 2022-23
Forwards
Dylan Larkin: A
The Michigan-born Red Wings captain put up a career-high 79 points this year for Detroit, who saw fit to extend him with an eight-year contract extension. He’s the face of the team, and he’s here for the long haul.
Lucas Raymond: C
Raymond certainly went through the dreaded sophomore slump at various points this season for the Red Wings, managing just 45 points after his rookie output of 57 points earned him consideration for the Calder Trophy. Considering that he just became of legal drinking age in the USA, there’s still plenty of time for him to develop a consistent offensive touch.
David Perron: B
The 2019 Stanley Cup winner provided valuable veteran leadership to a young Red Wings team and posted 56 points, one more than his total of last year with the Blues. He’s signed for one more year.
Andrew Copp: C-
Copp started off the season behind the 8-ball for the Red Wings after having missed all of training camp and the preseason. While his 42 points were the second-highest output of his career, fans (and management) were understandably expecting him to score more than just nine goals given his AAV salary of $5.625 million.
Filip Zadina: Incomplete
GM Steve Yzerman gave Zadina a vote of confidence by signing him to a three-year extension last summer. But in the nine games he played before an injury that kept him out long-term, he didn’t register a single point. Look for next season to be a make-or-break year for him.
Joe Veleno: C
One of two Red Wings 1st round Draft selections from 2018, Veleno skated in a career-high 81 games this season but managed to post only 20 points. He’s a pending RFA this summer.
Pius Suter: C
While he didn’t come close to matching his point total of last season, Suter played a key role for the Red Wings on the penalty kill as well as in the faceoff dot. A pending UFA, he may or may not be offered a new deal by Yzerman.
Robby Fabbri: B
Perhaps no player in recent memory has been hampered more by lower-body injuries than Fabbri. He missed the first half of this season for the Red Wings after recovering from ACL surgery, and while he was productive upon his return, he would end up right back on the shelf with a leg injury that kept him out of the last several games of the year.
Dominik Kubalik: B
The former Blackhawks forward started out the season on a tear, but would eventually considerably cool off. He finished with 45 points, one shy of his career high of 46 set in his rookie year. He’s under contract with the Red Wings through next season.
Michael Rasmussen: A-
Detroit’s 1st round draft pick from 2017 truly started to come into his own in the second half of the 2021-22 season, and proved it wasn’t a fluke this year by providing offense and a physical presence while also playing defensively responsible hockey. However, he was felled by a broken kneecap after blocking a shot against Tampa Bay in late February, and his absence from the lineup was immediately felt.
Adam Erne: B
The grinding forward bounced in and out of the lineup, appearing in a total of 61 games while racking up 18 points. Don’t expect to see him offered a new contract for next year.
Jonatan Berggren: A-
The Swedish rookie forward showed that he belonged in the NHL after he was summoned up from the AHL in November by posting 12 points in 21 games. He finished the year with 15 goals and will be looked to by the team to provide more offense next season.
Austin Czarnik: C
He appeared in 29 games this year, playing mostly on Detroit’s 4th line while scoring five points.
Alex Chiasson: B
While he only came to Detroit in the second half of the season, he proved himself to be a valuable commodity on the power play unit, scoring five of his six goals with the man advantage.
Defensemen
Moritz Seider: B+
Just like his fellow teammate Lucas Raymond, Seider experienced a few bumps in his second NHL year that many a player has gone through. He led the team with an average of 23:08 of ice time, and he once again began to thrive after being paired with Jake Walman later in the year.
Jake Walman: A
Walman provided an instant jolt upon his return to the lineup from offseason surgery in November. The defensive pairing of him and Seider was among the NHL’s elite by analytical numbers, and he would be re-signed by Yzerman in March to a three-year contract to keep him in Detroit through 2026.
Ben Chiarot: D+
This is a classic case of a player who is overpaid and under-delivers. Chiarot’s initial defensive pairing with Moritz Seider didn’t work the way the team had envisioned, and he was often caught flat-footed and out of position. However, the good news is that he provided a physical punch. Look for him to focus on a bounce-back year next season.
Olli Maatta: B
The two-time Stanley Cup champion veteran brought a steadying presence to Detroit’s blue line and was rewarded with a two-year contract extension. Not known for his offense, his six goals were the most he’d tallied since 2016.
Jordan Oesterle: B
The local product performed as well as anyone could have hoped for the Red Wings this season in a depth role.
Gustav Lindstrom: D
The 24-year-old defenseman, who is now the only other right-handed blue liner on the team aside from Seider following the trade of Filip Hronek, only played in 36 games and wasn’t impressive. He’s a pending RFA, and with several defensemen waiting in the wings in Grand Rapids, it would be surprising to see him back next year.
Robert Hagg: C-
Signed as insurance following the freak injury to Mark Pysyk, Hagg appeared in 38 games with the Red Wings and was largely unimpressive.
Goaltenders
Ville Husso: C
Husso first arrived in Detroit last summer after being acquired via trade with the St. Louis Blues, and would eventually appear in a career-high 56 games this season. As far as his performance is concerned, it can truly be described as hot and cold. There were many a night where Husso stole two points for Detroit, while there were several other nights where he found too many pucks getting by him.
He’s under contract for two more years.
Alex Nedeljkovic: C-
The man known by teammates and fans as “Ned” struggled heavily in the first half of the year for Detroit, who decided to send him down to the AHL. Upon his return following an injury to Husso, Nedeljkovic played well and looked more like the goaltender from the first half of last season. He’s a pending UFA.
Magnus Hellberg: D
The journeyman suited up for three teams this year, bouncing back and forth between Seattle and Ottawa before returning to Detroit for a second go-around. He became the defacto backup after Nedeljkovic’s demotion to the AHL, and while there were games in which he performed well, he was nowhere near consistent enough to earn a more permanent role.
Coaching Staff
Derek Lalonde: B-
There are going to be growing pains for anyone who takes over as a head coach for the first time, and it was no exception with Lalonde. The talent disparity between the Lightning and Red Wings was obvious right off the bat; there was also the matter of having to play with a depleted roster thanks to the losses of Tyler Bertuzzi and Jakub Vrana after just the second game of the year, not to mention the multiple trades Detroit made at the deadline. It was a learning experience for the man nicknamed “Newsy”, and he’ll be better for it heading into next year.
Alex Tanguay: C+
Tasked with running Detroit’s power-play unit, the former rival with the Colorado Avalanche was able to oversee an improvement of the Red Wings’ play with the man advantage from 26th overall (16.3%) last season to 16th overall (21.3%) this season.
Bob Boughner: C
In his first year behind the Red Wings bench in charge of the team defense, Boughner was able to oversee Detroit’s goals-against drop from 31st overall in the NHL last season to 22nd overall this year, a modest improvement.
