Wings Disappoint Again in 18-19, Retool for 19-20

It's a headline that has become all too familiar in Hockeytown: "Red Wings miss playoffs." The Wings have struggled to string together steady W's under long term head coach John Quenneville, despite entering their contention window way back in 16-17. The powerplay has struggled mightily the past 2 seasons despite deploying some of the top offensive players in the league in McDavid, Kucherov, Panarin, Karlsson, Tarasenko, Getzlaf, Evander Kane, and Couturier. After finishing last season with a disappointing 83 points, the Wings currently sit at 60 points in 63 games, 5th to last place in the league, heading into the MRFHL deadline. With 3 major RFA's to sign, salary concerns, and a losing record, change was demanded. As the season headed into March it became pretty clear that this would be another lost season, so GM Evans acted promptly to shake up the roster, and load up on tradeable assets.  

First, summer UFA signing Eric Robinson was traded to division rival Montreal for a 2020 5th. This trade broke a 4 month trade drought after another summer UFA signing, Louis Domingue, was traded for Nathan Smith and a 2019 4th. Next up former Red Wing prospect Erik Cernak was re-acquired as foretold in a previous article. In exchange the Wings shipped a trio of players to Anaheim: veteran Deryk Engelland, young dman Christian Djoos, and prospect William Lockwood. GM Evans was excited by the move; "Erik Cernak is a big bodied, tough defenseman playing a key role for a top level team as a rookie. Moving him in the first place was a big mistake and we're happy to have him back. I expect him to handle a big role for our defense next season."

After the pair of smaller deals, the Wings began aggressively shopping core players. The first big piece to move was Cam Fowler. His first season wearing the winged wheel was a bit of a struggle and he managed a measely 15 points and -7 rating in 49 games. Fowler was sent off to division rival Toronto for promising young dman Neal Pionk, and a pair of prospects taken in round 2: big defender Matthias Samuelsson and two way forward Antoine Morand. 

Another offseason UFA signing, Spencer Foo, was shipped off to Montreal for struggling AHL goaltender Jared Coreau; When it comes to UFA season ya win some, ya lose some. Speaking of failed UFA signings, Alex Edler, the crown jewel of the Red Wings' summer, was the next to go. Edler just didn't seem to click with fellow Swede Erik Karlsson and managed just 14 points in 48 games with a -15 rating. Edler was shipped off in yet another in-division trade to Tampa along with a 2019 4th for promising young goalie Collin Delia, Wendel's son Kody Clark, a 2019 5th, grizzled veteran shot blocker Dan Girardi, and a random bum named Connor Chatham. Edler was a pending UFA so Red Wings brass was certainly pleased to get a pair of prospects and a pick in this deal. In yet another deal involving a summer UFA signing, promising young goalie Kevin Boyle was shipped off to Anaheim for a 2020 4th.

In a bit of a change of pace, the Wings decided to add a solid, versatile bottom 6 forward. Late bloomer Blake Coleman and his unique contract situation (he's currently in year 1 of his ELC) seemed like a perfect fit for this role, so GM Evans bucked up and sent top youngster Mason Appleton, the recently acquired Collin Delia, and Elias' brother Emil Pettersson to Nashville in exchange for Coleman and a 2020 5th. GM Evans: "Coleman managed 22 goals and 3 shorthanded goals this past season while starting only 38.5% of his shifts in the o-zone, and throwing 225 hits. This is the kind of player the Wings lacked these past 2 seasons."

GM Evans continued to busily work the phones at this point and lined up 3 major blockbuster deals, with the goal of changing up the core and giving the team a bit of a new identity. For whatever reason, Artemi Panarin was unable to repeat the success of his 80 point MRFHL rookie season back in 2016-17, following it up with totals of 53 last year and 37 in 51 pre-trade games this year, so he was a logical target to be shipped out in a retool. In the NHL Panarin managed to set a new career high with 87 points so he was sure to draw interest. Panarin was eventually sent off to Antarctica, I mean Edmonton, along with recently acquired Dan Girardi and prospect Jordan Gross for former 2nd overall pick Sam Reinhart, top 4 defender Jake Muzzin, and recent 2nd rounder David Gustafsson. GM Evans: "Sam Reinhart is a flexible 23 year old forward coming off a career high 65 points. This is a player just beginning to hit his stride in the NHL. Jake Muzzin is a very sizeable two-way defenseman that just recently turned 30. He's under contract for next year at a great cap hit and has the potential to play top pair minutes. David Gustafsson, according to our scouts, is a smart two-way C that's still 18. He should play in his 2nd World Juniors next season." 

The 2nd blockbuster to break was a total reversal from the previous move; the Wings added breakout star Tomas Hertl from the Canucks in exchange for 3 future pieces: hulking offensive defender Nic Hague, Harvard alumnus Ryan Donato, and a 2020 2nd. Hertl is expected to join Connor McDavid on line 1 next year after a massive breakout NHL season that saw the 25 year old dominate to the tune of 35 goals and 74 points in 77 games, shattering his previous high by 28 points. GM Evans had the following to say about his new acquisition: "Tomas has quietly developed his game over the past few years and plays some top notch two-way hockey. He blocked 64 shots this year, took over 1100 faceoffs at a 51.5% success rate, and managed 57 takeaways. Plus he has one of the most team friendly contracts in the league and remains an RFA when his deal expires. Hague has the potential to be one of the top defensemen in hockey after a smooth transition to the AHL, but will need to improve his skating to get there. Ryan Donato seems to have found his game after a move to Minnesota, and looks like a top notch middle 6 forward capable of racking up 50 points."

In the 3rd, and for now, final blockbuster within the month, Detroit shipped out sniper Vladimir Tarasenko along with starter Mike Smith and prospects Nathan Smith and Adam Ruzicka for speed demon Andreas Athanasiou, SJ's 2020 1st, college defender Ian Mitchell, and a pair of cap dumps in Luca Sbisa and Kari Lehtonen. Detroit will eat 50% of Tarasenko's contract which ends this summer. GM Evans: "Vlad was a pending RFA coming off two season of struggles; he had 39 points in 82 games last year and 41 in 63 games this year. For whatever reason something wasn't clicking. Andreas Athanasiou is 24, on the upswing, and managed a career high 30 goals this year. He will fill a top 9 forward role and can play all 3 positions. 20 year old Ian Mitchell is a former 2nd round pick and played at World Juniors for team Canada this past season. 1st round picks are always big chips to acquire and we're excited to see what this pick will become down the road. The Wings now sit with three 1sts next year, on top of the two lottery picks this year."

Lastly, in a pair of much quieter moves, the Wings unloaded another pair of summer UFA signings in Mike Vecchione and Zach Frye in exchange for AHLer Sam Anus (... I mean Anas, it's super different), and then shipped versatile forward Calle Jarnkrok off to Washington for young forward David Kampf and a 2019 3rd. Ironically, Kampf was a top UFA target of the Wings this summer but he chose to spurn the Wings to sign in DC. This Jarnkrok move feels like a perfect time for us here at the Detroit Free Press to bring up demons from the past and take a shot at that psycho GM Evans. How was he acquired in the first place? Well when GM Evans took over Jarnkrok was already on the roster. Then he was traded along with Patrik Nemeth and a pair of 2nds for Alex Edler. Not great... but not too bad right? Well then last season he was reacquired along with Stephen Johns, a 5th, and Christian Ehrhoff for liekly 2018-19 Norris trophy winner Mark Giordano... and a 4th! This is going down in the history books as one of GM Evans' worst ever moves. No wonder there's a 5 year drought!

Edit: Of course, several minutes after this article was released, the Wings struck yet another deal. Veteran Dom Moore was shipped out to Tampa in exchange for grinding bottom 6er Garnet Hathaway. Pending RFA Hathaway is expected to compete for a 4th line role on the team next year after a solid 11 goal, 19 point NHL campaign.

It's been a busy few weeks for GM Evans and his staff, and after yet another failed season he is clearly exploring every possible option to get this club back to the post season. After so many moves it seems unlikely there will be another big trade before the MRFHL trade deadline... but with that GM Evans in charge, you just never know.

-Detroit Free Press, April 2019

Projected 2019-20 Red Wings:
Hertl-McDavid-Kucherov
E Kane-Couturier-Reinhart
Kreider-Coleman-Athanasiou
Raffl-Kesler-Kampf
Scratches: Leipsic, Hathaway

Muzzin-Karlsson
E Gustafsson-Spurgeon
Pateryn-Pionk
Scratches: Cernak, Simek

Murray
Sateri
(Top prospect Hart will likely debut in 2020-21)

Dylan Wilson

I think the question needs to be asked; will Connor McDavid request a trade out of Detroit?

Wings Disappoint Again in 18-19, Retool for 19-20
Playoff drought reaches 5 seasons under GM Evans

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