- Team Outlook from McKeen’s Hockey Guide:The Detroit Red Wings had watched a number of key players walk off into the sunset over the last couple years going into the 2013 campaign, but none was more important than captain Nicklas Lidstrom. With him gone, there were serious concerns about the Detroit Red Wings defense and if they could maintain their postseason appearance streak.
They succeeded however, due in no small part to Henrik Zetterberg’s leadership and a stellar showing from goalie Jimmy Howard. Detroit has made the playoffs for 22 straight seasons; the fifth longest streak in NHL history.
A 23rd postseason berth certainly seems probable too. Although Detroit parted ways with Dan Cleary, Damien Brunner, and Valtteri Filppula over the summer, GM Ken Holland was able to add Stephen Weiss and, more surprisingly, long-time Ottawa Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson. Adding those two forwards gives the Red Wings a lot of flexibility with their lines, including the ability to pair up Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk without sacrificing the potency of their second line.
Their defense remains something of a question mark, but the continued development of Brendan Smith and getting a full season out of NCAA standout Dan DeKeyser should help. Still, much rests on Niklas Kronwall and the hope that he can remain healthy and be one of the team’s prominent leaders.
One other factor that shouldn’t be overlooked when it comes to Detroit is the NHL’s realignment. Moving from the Western to Eastern Conference means less travel time for the Red Wings. Spending less time in the Pacific Time Zone should help keep them fresh. This is a change they’ve wanted for a long time. Now they just have to take advantage of it.
- Team Fantasy Outlook from Dobber Hockey’s 2013-14 Fantasy Guide – Over a 150 pages of fantasy goodness:Dobber’s lowdown on: Jakub Kindl – Progress has been slow for the now-26-year-old, who many keeper league owners drafted seven years ago and subsequently dropped four years ago. But that’s the way it goes with Detroit prospects. Kronwall was 26 before he got past the 22-point mark. After three full AHL seasons that saw small growth in his offensive game and pretty good growth in his defensive game, Kindl was in the press box for much of his first two NHL seasons. And even last year, it was more of the same in his first month. But he soldiered on and by the end he was a mainstay – and a productive one. He looks good for 2014-15, but I don’t completely count him out for this year. Not only is he a dark horse for 40 points, but also 60 or 70 PIM (he had 142 in one OHL season back in 2007).
There were a couple of playoff games in May in which Nyquist was the most noticeable, most effective and most creative offensive player on the team. That’s obviously saying a lot, looking at the roster. But he’s that good. Coach Babcock will shelter his minutes and bring him along slowly, but at some point Nyquist will force the matter.
Abdelkader caught our attention in March with his four-point game. He ended the season with 11 points in 21 games. He showed some chemistry with Datsyuk. That being said, he won’t be playing with Datsyuk this year unless Alfredsson gets hurt.
Smith only had eight points last year but seven of them were in the last 15 games. Add in his playoff production and he had 12 in 29, which is a 34-point pace.
Follow link for more info and stats
Additions: F Daniel Alfredsson, G Jared Coreau, F Luke Glendening, F Stephen Weiss
Subtractions: F Damien Brunner, D Carlo Colaiacovo, F Valtteri Filppula, G Daniel Larsson, F Jan Mursak, F Francis Pare, G Jordan Pearce, F Alan Quine, F Brent Raedeke, D Ian White
Promotion candidates: F Riley Sheahan, F Tomas Jurco, F Martin Frk
Player salaries: $69,850,000 (26)
Cap Number: $69,697,879
Bonuses: $3,010,000
Cap Space: -$2,387,879
Forwards: $45,393,712 (17)
Defensemen: $17,512,500 (7)
Goalies: $6,791,667 (2)
Source: CapGeek
Forwards
Justin Abdelkader – Pavel Datsyuk – Henrik Zetterberg
Johan Franzen – Stephen Weiss – Daniel Alfredsson
Gustav Nyquist – Darren Helm – Daniel Cleary
Drew Miller – Joakim Andersson – Todd Bertuzzi
Mikael Samuelsson – Jordin Tootoo – Tomas Tatar
Defensemen
Niklas Kronwall – Jonathan Ericsson
Jakub Kindl – Danny DeKeyser
Brendan Smith – Kyle Quincey
Brian Lashoff
Goalies
Jimmy Howard
Jonas Gustavsson
Detroit Red Wings Top Prospects
| NHL.com | Hockey Prospectus | Dobber Prospects | Hockeys Future | The Hockey News | |
| 1 | Petr Mrazek | Gustav Nyquist | Gustav Nyquist | Gustav Nyquist | Calle Jarnkrok |
| 2 | Calle Jarnkrok | Calle Jarnkrok | Tomas Tatar | Petr Mrazek | Anthony Mantha |
| 3 | Teemu Pulkkinen | Danny DeKeyser | Petr Mrazek | Anthony Mantha | Tomas Tatar |
| 4 | Tomas Jurco | Tomas Tatar | Calle Jarnkrok | Calle Jarnkrok | Petr Mrazek |
| 5 | Danny DeKeyser | Anthony Mantha | Ryan Sproul | Tomas Tatar | Zach Nastasiuk |
| 6 | Riley Sheahan | Xavier Ouellet | Xavier Ouellet | Danny DeKeyser | Riley Sheahan |
| 7 | Martin Frk | Tomas Jurco | Anthony Mantha | Tomas Jurco | Xavier Ouellet |
| 8 | Xavier Ouellet | Mattias Backman | Teemu Pulkkinen | Riley Sheahan | Martin Frk |
| 9 | Anthony Mantha | Martin Frk | Tomas Jurco | Ryan Sproul | Ryan Sproul |
| 10 | Ryan Sproul | Ryan Sproul | Martin Frk | Xavier Ouellet | Mattias Backman |
Detroit Red Wings 2012-13 Stats
| Player |
Pos
|
GP
|
G
|
A
|
P
|
+/-
|
PIM
|
PP
|
SH
|
GW
|
OT
|
S
|
S%
|
| Pavel Datsyuk |
C
|
47
|
15
|
34
|
49
|
21
|
14
|
8
|
0
|
6
|
2
|
107
|
14
|
| Henrik Zetterberg |
L
|
46
|
11
|
37
|
48
|
2
|
18
|
4
|
2
|
5
|
0
|
173
|
6.4
|
| Johan Franzen |
C
|
41
|
14
|
17
|
31
|
13
|
41
|
6
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
116
|
12.1
|
| Niklas Kronwall |
D
|
48
|
5
|
24
|
29
|
-5
|
44
|
2
|
0
|
2
|
0
|
67
|
7.5
|
| Damien Brunner |
C
|
44
|
12
|
14
|
26
|
-6
|
12
|
3
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
123
|
9.8
|
| Valtteri Filppula |
C
|
41
|
9
|
8
|
17
|
-4
|
6
|
3
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
78
|
11.5
|
| Daniel Cleary |
R
|
48
|
9
|
6
|
15
|
-6
|
40
|
5
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
93
|
9.7
|
| Justin Abdelkader |
L
|
48
|
10
|
3
|
13
|
6
|
34
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
96
|
10.4
|
| Jakub Kindl |
D
|
41
|
4
|
9
|
13
|
15
|
28
|
1
|
0
|
2
|
0
|
76
|
5.3
|
| Jonathan Ericsson |
D
|
45
|
3
|
10
|
13
|
6
|
29
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
34
|
8.8
|
| Cory Emmerton |
C
|
48
|
5
|
3
|
8
|
-1
|
4
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
55
|
9.1
|
| Drew Miller |
L
|
44
|
4
|
4
|
8
|
-8
|
2
|
1
|
0
|
2
|
0
|
54
|
7.4
|
| Joakim Andersson |
C
|
38
|
3
|
5
|
8
|
2
|
8
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
43
|
7
|
| Jordin Tootoo |
R
|
42
|
3
|
5
|
8
|
0
|
78
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
45
|
6.7
|
| Patrick Eaves |
R
|
34
|
2
|
6
|
8
|
-1
|
4
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
42
|
4.8
|
| Brendan Smith |
D
|
34
|
0
|
8
|
8
|
1
|
36
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
33
|
0
|
| Tomas Tatar |
L
|
18
|
4
|
3
|
7
|
2
|
4
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
32
|
12.5
|
| Gustav Nyquist |
R
|
22
|
3
|
3
|
6
|
0
|
6
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
46
|
6.5
|
| Brian Lashoff |
D
|
31
|
1
|
4
|
5
|
-10
|
15
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
26
|
3.8
|
| Ian White |
D
|
25
|
2
|
2
|
4
|
5
|
4
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
27
|
7.4
|
| Todd Bertuzzi |
R
|
7
|
2
|
1
|
3
|
3
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
10
|
20
|
| Kyle Quincey |
D
|
36
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
7
|
18
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
36
|
2.8
|
| Danny DeKeyser |
D
|
11
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
4
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
15
|
0
|
| Carlo Colaiacovo |
D
|
6
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
-4
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
12
|
0
|
| Mikael Samuelsson |
R
|
4
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
-3
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
4
|
0
|
| Kent Huskins |
D
|
11
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
-3
|
4
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
2
|
0
|
| Darren Helm |
C
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
| Jan Mursak |
L
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
4
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
| Riley Sheahan |
C
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
| Player |
GP
|
GS
|
W
|
L
|
OT
|
SA
|
GA
|
GAA
|
Sv
|
Sv%
|
SO
|
G
|
A
|
| Jimmy Howard |
42
|
42
|
21
|
13
|
7
|
1129
|
87
|
2.13
|
1042
|
0.923
|
5
|
0
|
1
|
| Jonas Gustavsson |
7
|
4
|
2
|
2
|
1
|
140
|
17
|
2.92
|
123
|
0.879
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
| Petr Mrazek |
2
|
2
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
51
|
4
|
2.02
|
47
|
0.922
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
Some info, stats and video taken from NHL.com’s 30-in-30 series.