InjuredChoker
Registered User
And that's why our team sucks.
Look at the LA Kings - they improved their win percentage from 0.438 to 0.604 and are in the postseason.
Their big offseason additions? Alex Edler, veteran UFA defenseman, and Philip Danault, veteran UFA center and traded a 2nd and a 3rd for Viktor Arvidsson. They also got a solid rookie performance from Sean Durzi, a breakout year from Adrien Kempe and got a few goals from Andreas Athanasiou when healthy. He even finished a plus 7 this year!
How many of these moves were ground breaking, earth shattering moves? Not a single one of them. But what it DOES for the Kings, a team that was in the same boat as the Wings were in 2020-21 and with a prospect pool just as deep, is allow for their youth to come in and play 3rd and 4th line roles or 4th/5th/6th defensemen roles. Or when their kids DO play up the lineup then they're paired with a really savvy vet instead of serial loser Sam Gagner.
I'm not saying go out with a blank check like the 2002 wings and try to build a winner via free agency, but you fill in a couple of gaps because it will help the rest of the lineup play to their appropriate level. That's when you'll see more improvement out of the middle of the lineup where the Red Wings are hurting the most.
kings are further ahead on their rebuild. if we had a guy like byfield on our system, i'd be for similar moves. we don't. and if byfield doesn't pan out, their ceiling probably won't be much higher than what it is now. bubble team/first round fodder.
well maybe second round this year. they are playing against mike smith after all.
their youth actually had to play much higher roles than 4th/5th/6th defenseman. if i'm not mistaken, their whole day 1 starting line up on D was injured for a quite a while. they could handle it as they're pretty stacked with young defenseman.