GLENDALE, AZ - OCTOBER 22: (L-R) Tomas Holmstrom #96, Niklas Kronwall #55, Henrik Zetterberg #40, Chris Osgood #30, Nicklas Lidstrom #5 and Pavel Datsyuk #13 of the Detroit Red Wings stand attended for the National Anthem during the NHL game against the Phoenix Coyotes at Jobing.com Arena on October 22, 2009 in Glendale, Arizona. The Coyotes defeated the Red Wings 3-2 in overtime. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
3 promising prospects who will help turn the Red Wings into annual playoff contenders
The Detroit Red Wings have an elite pool of prospects, and you can expect a few of them to climb into full-time roles at the NHL level next year.
The Detroit Red Wings aren’t just a good team this year with the players that they have; the prospects pool is so good that their top players in the system will open the door for this organization to sustain long-term success.
While Detroit has enjoyed a jump this season to the point they are in legitimate playoff contention, it’s still tough to see them going far in the postseason with their current lineup. Quite a few players who will be UFAs this offseason won’t be with the club moving forward, and for a good reason – they haven’t managed to take the Red Wings any higher than the final wild card spot 69 games into the year.
That said, expect a small influx of NHL-ready prospects to come in and take over, prospects who will be part of the team that will compete and become annual playoff contenders.
If general manager Steve Yzerman surprises us and brings back many of his pending UFAs, he’s hurting his team in the short and long term. But by phasing them out in favor of prospects ready to take the next step, he will build his program better than perhaps any general manager in hockey.
Red Wings are a few call-ups from annual playoff contention
Yzerman spent years helping this organization build its core at both the NHL level and in the prospects pool, and it’s paying off with players like Dylan Larkin signed long-term while Moritz Seider and other pending RFAs can expect quite the payday.
One of those RFAs mentioned in the following slides Yzerman already recalled to Detroit. Another is getting their trial as they look to help Detroit land in the playoffs for the first time this decade. The third player mentioned possesses tons of upside, and they are worth keeping an eye on even if they don’t earn a recall in this final month of the regular season.
