As October creeps closer, another NHL season creeps with it.
In the seventh of a series of team-by-team summer reviews and season previews, here's a glimpse at the ...
Detroit Red Wings
The Red Wings had a handful of positives from their final season at historic Joe Louis Arena, winning all nine shootouts they contested for and getting a third straight 20-goal campaign from rising winger Tomas Tatar. But the good was largely overshadowed by the bad -- goalie Peter Mrazek slipped considerably in the net, general manager Ken Holland started auctioning off pieces at the end of February and the team saw its 25-year streak of postseason appearances come to an unceremonious halt.
Rather than embrace sweeping changes to jump start Detroit's return to the playoffs, Holland and Co. will enter a new home, the video-screened mammoth that is Little Caesars Arena, with just a few tweaks to their roster. Tatar is locked up after an apparent scuffle with the front office and little else has changed in Motor City, for better or worse.
The moves
Key additions: D Trevor Daley (Penguins), D Luke Witkowski (Lightning)
Key losses: F Mitch Callahan (Oilers)
There's not a whole lot to see when it comes to Detroit's offseason activity. Outside of Tatar's four-year, $21.2 million extension, the salary cap-strapped Red Wings largely stayed clear of the headlines in free agency after luring Daley from the repeat Stanley Cup champion Penguins. Make no mistake: Daley's addition is a low-risk, decent-reward move for Holland, giving the veteran an opportunity for more playing time and the Red Wings some much-needed top-four blue-line help with offensive potential. Witkowksi, meanwhile, figures to add some grit to both sides of the ice in an increased role with the Red Wings.
Unless longtime minor-league goalie Tom McCollum, landed in an early-July trade with the Calgary Flames, breaks out in his return to Detroit, there isn't a whole lot more to say about Detroit's quiet summer, which is OK in one sense but a little concerning in another considering the Red Wings are still financially tied down by some aging vets like D-man Jonathan Ericsson and the goalie combo of Mrazek and Jimmy Howard.
The verdict
The Red Wings are just a year removed from 25 straight seasons of playoff contention, so it's hard to immediately lump them in with the worst of the NHL's hopefuls, even if their defense ranked among the bottom six teams in 2016-17 and their salary cap is about as disappointing as the team's performance in its sendoff campaign at Joe Louis Arena. After all, most of their core is intact. Tatar is over any contract dispute that may otherwise have lingered and the troops in front of the net should be a little edgier thanks to Holland's couple moves in free agency.
Still, question marks remain. Howard and Mrazek should be better in the crease, where the Red Wings have tossed an awful lot of money, and the offensive production could be upped ever so slightly if Tatar stays consistent and Daley chips in from the blue line. But most of the contributors aren't getting any younger, either. Unless big first-round pick Michael Rasmussen makes an immediate impact, the team still seems a little shorthanded for a serious run at the playoffs, especially if 18-goal rookie Andreas Athanasiou takes his restricted free agency leverage right to the Kontinental Hockey League.
Detroit remains hindered by its cap, so more adjustments could still come before October. It's unlikely that any of them can stop the Red Wings from facing an uphill battle back into the postseason picture.
