from Carlos Monarrez of the Detroit Free Press,
So, Lalonde was asked, what is the next step?
“To improve,” he said. “We improved 11 points from last year. We had … six more wins than last year. We took a step. I think that next step is just improving on that.
“What does that look like? I don't know. But you see the growth in this group and the battle in this group. They pushed them. They push this group forward for sure.”
If Lalonde isn’t sure what improvement looks like for a team that missed the playoffs on a tiebreaker to an inferior Washington Capitals team they should have beaten a week ago at home, let me help him.
Improvement is one thing and one thing only next season: the playoffs.
Or put another way: the playoffs or bust.
Or put yet another way: If Lalonde can’t get this team over the hump in his third season and take the Wings to the postseason, it’s time to find his replacement because the rebuild has gone on long enough.
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Hmm. GMY seemed pleased with the overall coaching this year. He did point out they needed to improve their overall defense, either through a defensive scheme restructure or the entire team playing better defense. With Kane, Sprong, and Ghost probably being gone next season the offense isn't likely to improve, what with spending so much time covering defense.
You could see it this year where many times the D would be behind the net in our offensive zone and our forwards would have to take off toward our own end to cover the turnover - thus much fewer scoring chances. You can see this again with our league SCF% and HDSCF% where we were giving up scoring chances like we have been for the past seven years or so, which was some of the worst in the league. In fact, our 5 on 5 SCF% has been bottom 5 in the league for the past seven years.
So I would put the blame on management for signing 3rd line replaceable defensive players and coaching for not getting them to defend. e.g. see Seider's usage (a rookie doing the tough work). We'll see if coaching can manage better defense with Johansson and Berggren up next year. GMY needs to be very creative to replace Kane, or one of our rookies needs to come on the team firing on all cylinders and be a surprise.
Of all of our 2nd round picks, since GMY came aboard, Johansson seems to be ready for the big club only because his waiver exemption has expired. That puts off judging our drafting, again, but defensemen seem to come into their own later than forwards and defensemen seem to have been our focus in the 2nd round (6D, 5F, 1G). Of the non-defensemen 1F has moved on (Mastrosimone), 1F isn't working out (Niederbach), 2F nobody knows about (Buchelnikov & James - 2022), and 1 is in the AHL (Hanas). To put this in a little perspective, only 4Fs in 2020 2nd round have played more than 20 games in the NHL.
So, again, time will tell and this tells us a lot about rebuilds - that they take a while. This may also give us a clue about our next year's prospects of improving. If we improve our defense (from the past seven years) while keeping close to our offense numbers from this year we will be in the playoffs and may win a series or two! After eight years of terrible puck possession I would sure like to see us possess more than we give up.
I don't think Ghost is going anywhere unless he leaves for $$$.
I am not convinced Kane is gone either (I think it's going to come down to Detroit or Buffalo--with a spoiler being Chicago). He's got a tough agent Pat Brisson and if he's instructed the agent he wants stability: it's very possible that Kane was coached on how to make that widely known. I think Detroit may have a significant advantage: they have forwards that will push for roster spots, but none are expected to be significant goal scorers. The Wings drafted two centres that can play 200 feet are more play-makers that will take longer to develop.
I really don't know what you are talking about when you said sign 3rd line defensive players--do you mean 3rd pair defenders because if not: Sprong at 18 goals, Compher at 19 goals, and Perron at 17 goals aren't going to be defense first guys. And Berggren will never be mistaken for that either.
Also the whole point of getting the UFA is to supplement what you can't draft/develop/trade for. Remember also that DeBrincat is essentially from draft capital.
All that said: Mazur and Soderblom could very well win spots out at camp.
...but 7 GWG's and ability to end a shootout for a point regularly...that matters.
When I said 3rd line D I meant 3rd pair D. I hope we keep Kane and Ghost. If we do...great!
It's certainly nice to hear Berggren will be on the team next year, I think he'll be sneaky good for us. Glad we're gonna try and keep Gost. I'd be ok with giving Kane term, too, for the right number -- it'll be interesting to see how management threads the needle on the cap next season.
Also I think this narrative that Lalonde is on a short leash is BS, Stevie himself expressed nothing but confidence in him during the presser. Lalonde is doing a pretty good job with the cards he's dealt in my book.
Lalonde has absolutely mismanaged Kostin (for which Yzerman took on Yamamoto's contract), he put Sprong into dog house (maybe he would otherwise score one extra goal, which would take us to post-season), and, most importantly, he ran Husso to the ground last year and did the exact same thing to Lyon this year. Bold guys who like the term "process" just don't work out...
Totally agree with every word.
Give Kane a 8 year deal @2M per year...he has a built in excuse to go on LTIR...hip pain. And it's a much better excuse than jersey sweat.
It's not like the NHL has punished team for guys going on LTIR and collecting a paycheck after their playing days are over. Chris Pronger was 43 years old still collecting an NHL paycheck (in 2017) and hadn't played an NHL game since 2011. At worst you'll get a slap on the wrist and they'll make you shorten the contract by 3 years.
I'm not sure where everyone gets the idea that Berggren and Johansson will be in Detroit next season. I'm mean yeah, they're no longer waiver exempt, but have they progressed so much that it's their jobs to lose? No. Yzerman said as much. Only Berggren has gotten even a sniff of the big club and didn't look particularly strong. Also, IF Y is serious about bringing Ghost back then where would Johansson possibly fit In?
I wouldn't be surprised if one or both are traded (Berggren more likely).
Yzerman pretty much said they will be in Detroit (as he won't expose them to waivers as he wouldn't expect either to clear).
And unless they play their way out of the organization at training camp: he said it will be up to the players where they will be in the lineup.
They still could be traded--but those contracts for 3rd pair LHD (Maatta's old role) and 4th line winger (Sprong's old role) are what is going to help balance the 6-7M raises to Seider and Raymond (if they go long-term instead of bridge deal).
The problem with Bergren imo is that he is not good enough to be in top 6 and his style makes him rather useless in the bottom 6, but he can definitely take Sprong's spot next year.
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