Realistic Moves Red Wings Could Make To Change Trajectory

The Detroit Red Wings are not on a good trajectory as the team expected to improve upon just missing the playoffs last season and get in this season. Not much has gone according to plan, and along with a poor off-season, the team doesn't look great, production-wise or contract-wise.

The team has been relatively quiet and suffered in silence this season, even keeping their head coach Derek Lalonde behind the bench for this long. While this season might not be salvageable, the team, with the young talent, has to at least start to improve.

The core of the Red Wings is Dylan Larkin, Lucas Raymond, Alex DeBrincat, Moritz Seider, and Simon Edvinsson. Other than that, there are players who haven't become core pieces yet or the rest of the experienced group that are expendable.

Cam Talbot has proven he should be kept around until at least his second and final year of his current deal. But behind him, there are too many goalies in the system. Sebastian Cossa is the next in line to take over the starting job in Detroit, but that may still take a couple of years. The organization also has Trey Augustine who's playing in the NCAA. But veterans Alex Lyon, Ville Husso, and Jack Campbell are taking up space in the organization. All of those three should be gone by the end of this season. Only Lyon holds any trade value though and a team has to be in need at the right time for the Red Wings to be able to pull off a trade.

Ideally, the defense gets an overhaul and somehow the Red Wings move on from Jeff Petry, Justin Holl, and Ben Chiarot, but that's tough to do in the next eight months. I think Petry isn't able to be traded and hits free agency in the summer and one of Holl or Chiarot is bought out of the final year of their deal.

The decisions to bring them in/keep them and move on from Jake Walman this past off-season looks horrible now. Even Erik Gustafsson has not fit in or filled the power-play hole left by Shayne Gostisbehere. Gustafsson's cap hit is lower and he may be given the chance to rebound in the final year of his deal. Seider and Edvinsson are the only stable things going for Detroit on the back-end and the team has to build around them quickly. William Wallinder can hopefully come in soon and Axel Sandin Pellikka soon after.

Scoring is not in abundance either. Only Raymond hasn't disappointed. Larkin and DeBrincat have more to give and veterans like Patrick Kane and Vladimir Tarasenko just aren't producing like they have in the past. It may be tough to move Tarasenko with another year left on his deal, but Kane decides where he goes and is on a one-year deal at a fair cap hit.

The team needs more from Marco Kasper, Michael Rasmussen, Joe Veleno, and Jonatan Berggren, but they also need more responsibility and opportunity to match. With a veteran or two moved on from within the next year, that should become a reality.

Christian Fischer can't be on the third line with his next to no production. At very most, he and Tyler Motte should be extra forwards at this point. Both are on expiring deals and no team will want them, so expect the pair to hit free agency next off-season. I would argue that Joe Snively should just be given a shot over one of them. He put up 59 points in 69 games in the AHL last season, he's just as experienced as both Fischer and Motte playing pro, and he has 10 goals and 21 points in 29 games this season. The production couldn't get worse in that spot in the lineup.

I believe that both Amadeus Lombardi and Nate Danielson should at least see a small bit of NHL action by the end of the season. Both are playing solid hockey in the AHL and are part of the future. The Red Wings will likely be out of the race too, so there's no harm in doing so to prepare for 2025-26.

There should be a lot of moving parts, but I'm not sure just how effective the "Yserplan" actually is and if the GM of the Red Wings will be able to do what is necessary. It has been a long rebuild that looks to be extending past time it should have.