Inside the Article:
The Detroit Red Wings wrapped up their season last night with a 5-0 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning and with the loss, the Red Wings’ record dropped to 35-37-10 for the year. This is the seventh consecutive season the Red Wings have missed the playoffs, the last time they made it was in the 2015-16 season. The one positive from this season is the Red Wings finished with their highest point total since 2016-17 when they finished with 79, this season they finished with 80.
The Bright Spots of the Detroit Red Wings Season
Though this season did not include a trip to the Stanley Cup Playoffs fans were able to see some of the young talent the Red Wings have waiting in the wings. Jonatan Berggren made a debut early this season and made a name for himself forcing Detroit to keep him as he appeared in 67 games scoring 15 goals and adding 13 assists.
Detroit Red Wings fans also got to see the debut of Marco Kasper who played in one game after realizing he had a knee problem that would end his season. Simon Edvinsson also made his long-awaited debut the defenseman got called up and played in his first game on March 18th scoring two goals in the nine games he played. The Red Wings made the smart decision with Edvinsson to have him play in the maximum games needed before his entry-level contract kicks in so he has not burnt a year off his experience.
The biggest bright spot of this season was Michael Rasmussen. Rasmussen grew into the player he was expected to be, he became a force in front of the net and his all-around play helped the Red Wings early in the season. Rasmussen suffered a season-ending lower-body injury that deflated the Red Wings. Rasmussen played in 56 games for Detroit scoring ten goals and adding 19 assists, even with him missing 26 games he still finished in the top ten in goals, assists, and points for the team.
Top 3 Detroit Red WIngs games of the season
3.) March 30, 2023, vs. Carolina Hurricanes
The Red Wings were all but eliminated from the playoffs but they did not give up in a tough game against the second-best team in the league the Hurricanes. Detroit got the scoring started first with Dominik Kubalik finding the back of the net in the first period. Carolina wasted no time tying the game back up just 42 seconds into the second period, then Carolina took a 2-1 lead. Before the second period came to an end Detroit would tie it with a goal from Dylan Larkin on the power play. With time ticking down and the game seeming like it would be going to overtime Jake Walman secured the Red Wing’s win 3-2 with a goal with four seconds left on the clock.
2.) December 6, 2022, vs. Tampa Bay Lightning
The Red Wings got the confidence they needed for the season beating the defending Eastern Conference Champion Lightning. Michael Rasmussen got the scoring started in the first for Detroit. In the third period, the Red Wing’s offense got going with Jonatan Berggren scoring to make it 2-0. Tampa Bay would score a goal with an extra skater but Detroit would answer that goal with an empty netter from Adam Erne, the same thing would happen again a little later but this goal for Detroit was from David Perron to make it 4-2 and that would be the final. The one takeaway was that this game showed Ville Husso could be the guy for the Red Wings as he stopped 44 of 46 shots he faced from one of the best offenses in the league.
1.) December 28, 2022, vs. Pittsburgh Penguins
This is easily the game of the year as the Red Wings showed zero quit and stormed back for a win. The Penguins scored four goals in the first period to take a commanding 4-0 lead after the first 20 minutes. Detroit would cut the lead in half with two goals in the second period from Dylan Larkin and Joe Veleno. In the third period, the Red Wings came all the way back scoring two more goals to tie it with the goals coming from Jonatan Berggren and David Perron. This game would go to overtime and in the overtime period, the celebration of the season happened as Jake Walman scored the game-winner and hit the griddy to celebrate the Red Wings’ 5-4 win.
Detroit Red Wings 3 Stars of the 2022-23 season
3.) David Perron
Perron had a great first season with the Red Wings after coming over in the offseason and signing a two-year deal with the Detroit Red Wings. This season he played in all 82 games scoring 24 goals and adding 32 assists for 56 points. Perron provided experience and leadership to a young Detroit team and that showed throughout the season as you could see players get better working with Perron throughout the season. Perron would rank second on the team in goals and points and he’d finish fourth on the team in assists.
2.) Ville Husso
Husso entered the season expecting to have a 1A/1B goaltender tandem with Alex Nedeljkovic but Husso took the reigns early and led this team and kept this team in games throughout the season. Husso appeared in 56 games this year posting a 26-22-7 record as well as a 3.11 Goals Against Average and a .896 save percentage. Husso would see 1,603 shots this season and stopped 1,436 of them as well as have four shutouts the most of his career.
1.) Dylan Larkin
This season was a roller coaster for Larkin dealing with the contract extension talks for most of the first half of the season, then at the trade deadline, he saw his best friend Tyler Bertuzzi get traded to the Boston Bruins. Larkin still powered through all the adversity and played in 80 games this season leading the team in all scoring categories; goals, assists, and points. Larkin hit a new season high in assists and points and finished tied with his goal total from the 2018-19 season. Larkin will be a Red Wings for the next eight years and each year he continued to improve.
What needs to change
With the season coming to an end and another missed playoff opportunity the Detroit Red Wings will have to make changes to get better. There are young players in the system that can help; Carter Mazur, Amadeus Lombardi, William Wallinder, and Albert Johansson. Sebastian Cossa will also be up in about two years. So the resources are coming but what can the Red Wings do this offseason to get better next season? For starters, they need a scorer in the top six and there will be options via trade but will Steve Yzerman want to trade his draft capital with such a deep draft this year? He may not have a choice or he may have to trade one of the prospects listed to get a top scorer.
The Red Wings will also need a backup goalie with Nedeljkovic and Magnus Hellberg‘s contracts up so who can they go sign this offseason potentially for a one or two-year deal while they let Cossa develop? Once Cossa gets to the Red Wings it will be time to win and he proved at least in the ECHL the Red Wings potentially found themselves a goalie for the future, not it comes down to whether can he perform at the NHL level and what scorers can they get.
