Red Wings expect to remain competitive next season
Detroit Red Wings general manager Ken Holland is not interested in a traditional, drawn out rebuild.
Simply put, that may be too much of a knee jerk reaction to the team's recent slump, which has seen three consecutive first-round playoff losses.
While Holland admits that the Red Wings are "probably not" a Stanley Cup contender, he isn't prepared to throw in the towel. The long-time GM believes his team has several young players ready to take on larger roles this coming season.
"As we sit today, we don't have a superstar in his prime. We have lots of good players. I think we have lots of really good players," Holland said. "How far can they grow? I don't know.
"Pavel Datsyuk came over and scored 11 goals and 12 goals in his first two seasons in the NHL. I don't think we have any Datsyuks, but it's an example that people can grow."
A quick glance through the Red Wings roster will draw attention to Gustav Nyquist (26), Tomas Tatar (25), Riley Sheahan (24), and Teemu Pulkkinen (24). And that's not to forget rookie sensation Dylan Larkin, who recently turned 20 and will likely shift to center this season.
There are also some interesting youngsters on the way, namely Anthony Mantha, Andreas Anthansiou, and Evgeny Svechnikov.
If there are no blue chips left in the prospect pool, it could just be a result of the Red Wings' constant success finally catching up to them. High draft picks and cheap talent are the lifeblood of the salary cap NHL, and the Red Wings have not drafted in the top 10 since 1991.
Detroit will look to its young core, plus its offseason additions, to push the scoring pace, after netting just 211 goals last season, ranking 23rd league-wide. It marked the fewest goals Detroit has scored since 1976-77, when that 16-win squad was limited to 183 goals.
The team hopes new faces Frans Nielsen and Thomas Vanek will help spark the offense. The 32-year-old Nielsen, who signed on for six years, scored 52 points with the New York Islanders last season, while Vanek, also 32, was brought in as a reclamation project after a buyout by the Minnesota Wild.
Following the loss of Datsyuk, who left for the KHL, the Red Wings will surely take on a scoring-by-committee approach this year.
Larkin and Tatar were the only two Red Wings to surpass the 20-goal mark, with 24 and 21 respectively. It was a down season for Tatar, who saw his goal tally drop from 29 the previous campaign, while fellow winger Nyquist also slipped to 17 goals, after reaching 27 and 28 tallies in his previous two seasons.
"Now (Tatar and Nyquist) have three or four years of experience, you factor in their age and experience, you'd like to think they're in the ideal time frame in their career to max out," Holland said.
For a franchise that has qualified for the postseason 25 straight years - winning 4 Stanley Cups over that time - the hope remains that the Winged Wheel can keep the good times rolling.