from Dom Luszczyszyn of The Athletic,
That’s been this franchise’s mantra since Steve Yzerman took over in 2019 understanding that rebuilding a once-proud franchise would be no small task. By then the Red Wings had already been around the bottom five for three straight seasons, but there wasn’t much of a vision for how to turn things around. Yzerman changed that and although little progress has been made in the standings, it’s obvious Detroit is in a much better position now than it was two years ago.
At some point, it has to start leading to results though because patience in any sports town is not infinite. That patience needs to be rewarded with something tangible. But that reward is very likely not coming this year....
He looked like the real deal, but 23 games is not a lot of data to go off and there’s plenty of reason that a smart team like Carolina would walk away from Nedeljkovic. The model doesn’t include any data outside of the NHL, so all it knows is what Nedeljkovic showed last season. Even after a heavy dose of regression he comes in as a top 10 starter for next season, which is obviously a bit ludicrous. It could be onto something — the best indicator of goalie ability that I have seen is heavily slanted toward recency — but there’s still plenty of risk involved betting on a goalie after just 23 games of action. There’s every possibility the clock strikes midnight and Nedeljkovic turns into a pumpkin.
But even if he is as good as expected here, it’s probably not enough to make Detroit competitive next season. There are still too many holes in this lineup and too many things that need to go right in order for that to happen. The biggest thing this team still needs is more franchise-level players and that probably means staying at or near the bottom for a little while longer. With the roster that’s currently assembled, it’s not like the Red Wings have much of a choice.
muxh more (paid)
from Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press,
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