Red Wings Season Review 21-22

When we last checked in back in August 2021, the ‘21 Entry draft had just completed, the prospect pool had been filled up. GM Austin Evans was weighing options, looking to add to a solid core led by phenom Connor McDavid and push this team forward after consecutive 1^st round playoff exits.

Since then, Detroit’s 21-22 season has started and ended, and the Red Wings head into the offseason in similar fashion to 2019-20 and 2020-21… but at least the team put up a fight this year. Let’s take a look back at the season to see how we got this result.

After busy expansion and entry drafts, UFA season was fairly uneventful. GM Evans was in on big names like Ryan Johansen and Brent Burns and pushed hard to sign Freddy Gaudreau for the bottom six, but ultimately ended up signing just depth players: Travis Zajac, Blake Comeau, Ryan Shea, Chris Wilkie, Cole Smith, Cale Morris, Cole Kehler, Dan Renouf, Cam Lee, Zach Sawchenko, Dylan Coghlan, Henry Bowlby, Nathan Sucese, Colton Poolman, Alex Green, Justin Richards, Sean Malone, and Brandon Biro were signed.

Of those signings, only Zajac and Comeau made the opening night roster, both on line 4. Renouf was lost on waivers in preseason, Coghlan provided value but was eventually traded, Biro, Shea, Sawchenko, Malone, Green and Smith were quality additions for Grand Rapids, but it wasn’t exactly a bumper crop.

After striking out in UFA – or maybe hitting a bloop single – GM Evans shifted focus to the trade market to upgrade the middle of the roster.

Erik Cernak was acquired by GM Evans, for the 3^rd time, in exchange for top prospect Tyson Foerster and 2023 DET 2^nd. GM Evans: “This might be the first time in MRFHL history the same GM has acquired a player via trade on three different occasions! I like Erik, obviously, and this time I plan to keep him around long term. He’s a physical, strong, defensive defenseman and he’s the perfect fit as a #3-4-5 dman.”

To follow this up, Zach Hyman and LAK 2023 6^th were acquired for young forwards Lias Andersson, Jonah Gadjovich, 6’8” prospect Elmer Soderblom, DET 2023 4^th, and AHL goalie JF Berube. Not long after, Derrick Pouliot and Stefan Noesen were sent to LA for a conditional 6^th round pick as well. Ironically, Andersson, Noesen, Gadjovich, Pouliot, and Berube would all play key roles in knocking the Grand Rapids Griffins out of the playoffs in June.

In the lead-up to preseason the Red Wings another trio of forwards; Jeff Carter was added for 2022 4^th and 6^th round picks in the hopes of adding some veteran leadership, John Leonard was acquired for prospect Patrick Moynihan and DET 2023 5^th in the hopes that he could rebound in 2021-22 after a strong college career, but a disappointing start to his pro career, and top six forward Bryan Rust was acquired for young sniper Emil Bemstrom and prospects Gage Goncalves and Landon Slaggert to add some secondary scoring at a good cap hit.

In the opening few days of preseason there was a lot of waiver activity and at the end of the musical chairs game, the Red Wings claimed Nico Sturm from Minnesota, but lost Dan Renouf and Shane Gersich to Colorado and Buffalo.
 

Early Season:

In his season opening press conference GM Evans was quoted as saying, “Overall, I really like what we’ve done this offseason. We did a good job adding picks and reshaping our roster ahead of the draft. We had a fantastic draft class, highlighted by Simon Edvinsson. We added only depth pieces in UFA, but we were able to pivot afterwards and add quality players via trade to fill holes.”

“Cernak should compliment either Chabot or Heiskanen well. Hyman and Rust bring secondary scoring to our top 9 and can both play either wing. Carter is a perfect 3C and veteran presence. Leonard is a bit of a flier but if he hits, he could be a 3^rd line scorer. We gave up a lot of quantity in youth and prospects, but I think we returned the right pieces at the right price.”

The Red Wings started off the regular season with a bang, winning 4 of their first 6 and staying near the top of the uber-competitive Daigle division. With the hot start, GM Evans tried to avoid his typical roster tinkering - with mixed success.

Zach Hyman was flipped to the Jets after just 8 games for a pair of top prospects in Nils Lundkvist and Rasmus Kupari. GM Evans: “I had no intention of moving Zach Hyman, but both of these guys were recent 1^st round picks and show a lot of potential. They can both contribute for us as early as 2022-23. Red Wings Nation were probably exasperated to see me deal away another roster piece for futures during a contending season, but I think this deal was a good fit. We have the depth to take this hit.”

Kupari would end up getting flipped in a blockbuster with the Coyotes under a month later. Elite prospect Dustin Wolf, rookie two-way defenseman Alexandre Carrier, prospect Jared Moe, throw-ins Blake Speers and Carter Rowney, and a pair of both 4^th and 5^th round picks in 2022 were acquired from Arizona in exchange for top prospects Rasmus Kupari, Alexander Alexeyev, and Alexandre Kisakov, and depth players Cam Lee, Kyle Clifford, and Martin Marincin.

GM Evans: “This trade has many moving parts but ultimately we are moving three top prospects with a lot of boom-bust for a big lotto ticket in Wolf, a player who helps us now in Carrier, and a good haul of late picks to keep the cupboard full. Marincin has been with us for a surprising amount of time; he’ll be missed too.”

Following the deal with the Coyotes, GM Evans made a pair of smaller deals: Carter Rowney was dumped to Washington for a conditional pick and Zajac was flipped for Artem Anisimov in hopes of upgrading the struggling 4^th line.
 

Mid-Season:

Throughout February and March, the Red Wings continued to be a top 10 team in the league, and GM Evans proved that he was utterly incapable of just sitting on his hands by going on to overhaul the entire middle of the roster.

First, Ryan Hartman and Kevin Rooney were added from Washington in exchange for the recently acquired Anisimov and Moe, plus UFA signing Henry Bowlby, and top prospects Jack Dugan and Jacob Peterson.

GM Evans: “I’ve always been a believer in both Peterson and Dugan, but Hartman and Rooney are low salary players that can help us this year, and Hartman is especially exciting for next season. We see him filling a middle 6 role.”

Next up, The Red Wings made the exact same type of move they’ve made for years; they traded away a major pending UFA, this time Chris Kreider, for future pieces in the middle of a contending season. Adam Beckman, Tyler Madden 2022 COL 3^rd, 2022 CHI 4^th, and veteran Dmitri Kulikov were acquired from St Louis in exchange for Kreider.

GM Evans: “This might be a bit of a dumb deal in hindsight - I’m not sure. Chris is buried in our bottom 6, he hasn’t performed with either of McDavid or O’Reilly. He’s a star player and we have no room to sign him in the offseason, so I had to explore the trade market. Beckman, Madden, and a pair of draft picks around 80-100 overall is a solid return for a pending UFA but it’s a light return for an elite goal scorer.”

In an apparent cap-clearing move, a trio of young defensemen: Dante Fabbro, Lucas Carlsson, and Jayden Struble were acquired from Arizona for Neal Pionk, Matt Kessel, and Justin Richards. Pionk had been a solid contributor for the Red Wings for a few years and was playing top 4 minutes for the team, so it was another confusing move for the Red Wings faithful to digest, and many questioned the logic behind it.

A few days later the fans got their answer when the Wings added another young defenseman in Ryan Lindgren along with 5^th and 6^th round picks in 2022 for Dylan Coghlan and prospect Mason Lohrei.

GM Evans: “I hate to trade a local kid like Dylan Coghlan, but he was blocked by other players here and we waned to give him a shot elsewhere. Pionk and Lohrei are significant losses as well. With these two deals we give up a lot, but we get a pair of RFA aged defensemen. Both are on ELC’s this season, and Fabbro is next year as well. Lindgren can hopefully replace Pionk this season and give our team a bit of a different look. Fabbro could play right now, but I’d like to see him get some AHL time first. Carlsson is a quality player as well and could be in the mix next year. Struble projects as a gritty bottom pair defenseman and could push for a spot in 23-24.”
 

Trade Deadline:

As deadline day approached, the Red Wings sat in 4^th place in the league, battling for a top 2 spot in the uber competitive Daigle division. GM Evans and the front office set out to add the missing pieces without overpaying for rental pieces. In total, the team made 5 deals at the deadline, mostly forwards.

The first deadline deal was a major forward upgrade and was intended to offset the loss of Kreider. Ondrej Palat acquired from the Penguins in exchange for prospect Isaak Phillips and 2023 LAK 6^th.

In their biggest move of the deadline, Timo Meier was acquired from the Bruins for Yegor Chinakhov, Jan Jenik, 2022 COL 1^st, and 2022 DET 1^st.

Thirdly, Kulikov was dumped for Lane Zablocki to clear cap for the remaining deadline additions.

In their penultimate deal of the day, the Red Wings struck another deal with the Bruins, adding Connor Timmins for Reilly Walsh and ARZ 2022 4^th.

Last, but certainly not least, GM Evans struck a deal for star forward Blake Wheeler in the dying minutes of the deadline in exchange for John Leonard and Jayden Struble.

In his post-deadline press conference GM Evans was quoted as saying: “I’m really glad about the additions we were able to make today. I might have gone a bit overboard, but we added a lot of talent. Palat is a strong two-way player; he’ll be given a shot with McDavid and need to play a big role for us in the playoffs. Meier is a stud; he brings size, skill, and physicality. He's a top 6 player in the middle of his prime. Timmins can maybe fill a role on defense and could even be a long term piece if he can recover from injury. Wheeler is a big add, he can be a key piece in our top 6 and on the powerplay. We have at least 14 forwards worthy of a roster spot, which gives us a lot of options but we’ll need to get creative to find the right mix to make it all work.”

Post-Deadline, Detroit struggled to find the right chemistry with their lines, and the team ended up finishing 3^rd in the division with 100 points. The Red Wings excelled at preventing goals but once again struggled on special teams and were a middling team at offense. McDavid led the offense with 91 points in 77 games and Binnington was the team MVP with an impressive 0.921 sv% and 38 wins in 70 games.
 

Playoffs:

Heading into the playoffs, the Red Wings were set to face off against the division rival Toronto Maple Leafs. The Leafs, like the Wings, had loaded up at the deadline and made a big addition in Mikko Rantanen, after adding Giroux and Couturier in-season. The matchup looked pretty even on paper.

Game 1 was a tough contest, and ended 5-4 with a Kris Letang OT goal. McDavid had a 2 point night but the Carrier-Lindgren pairing struggled with a -2 night each.

Game 2 saw the Red Wings bounce back with a 5-2 win, led by a 4 point night by McDavid, and 3 point nights for Palat and Wheeler.

Game 3 was a tough one for the Red Wings. They lost 4-2 and the top players all posted minus ratings on the night.

Game 4 was a tight-checking affair, but the Red Wings came up short, losing 2-1 despite a late goal by Nico Sturm. The Palat-McDavid-Wheeler trio struggled for the second straight night after a big game 2. With a 3-1 deficit, it was put up or shut up time for Detroit.

The Red Wings showed up big in Game 5, with a 4-2 night led by Miro Heiskanen’s 3 point night and a bounce back night for the top line.

With their season on the line again in Game 6, the Red Wings got the game to OT, but saw Jason Spezza end their season just 2:02 into the frame, continuing a season-long pattern of struggles in the extra frame.

One of the keys to the series was secondary scoring; Ryan O’Reilly, Elias Lindholm, Tomas Hertl, Evander Kane, Andrei Svechnikov and Bryan Rust all struggled to generate offense. Additionally, the McDavid line was able to rack up goals but gave up just as many in return. On the plus side, the Heiskanen-Cernak pairing was exceptional and the third line of Svechnikov-Carter-Sturm was very effective.

As we head into another offseason with GM Evans at the helm, only one thing is certain – there will be changes. Here in Hockeytown, we just hope they’re the right ones this time!

-Detroit Free Press
June 24, 2022