We were so close to making the playoffs last year, and while it’s still early, I don’t see where we have improved anywhere on the team.
In fact, we have probably gotten a little worse.
I really didn’t expect the Wings to sign a top tier FA. Do what you can to sure up the defense.
We haven’t, but we did just sign another goaltender. Go Yzerman
Yeah, the pretty concerning part is that between Ghost, Perron, Sprong, and Walman the Wings are losing almost 25% of their point production from last season and I’m not sure how they make it back up. I guess you hope Raymond continues to grow, Kane stays healthy, Larkin doesn’t get killed, and Berggren can do more than the .5 ppg he did in limited time last year. Otherwise, I feel like we’re looking at reverting to previous seasons were the Wings were bottom 10 in offensive production and not top 10.
Gus is better defensively than Ghost, but not nearly as good offensively. He does have 73 points over the last 2 seasons, but that is a far cry from the 56 Ghost put up last season.
The defense is still pretty horrid and will make any goalie look terrible. Chiarot, Holl, Maatta, Petry? Woof.
This signing really makes me scratch my head.
Wings essentially traded….
Jake Walman… a 28-yr LHD
Andrew Gibson (6’3” tall RHD prospect from 2nd round in 2023)
for……
Erik Gustafsson… a 32-yr journeyman LHD
Jesse Kiiskanen (5’11 RHW prospect from 3rd round 2023)
~ $1.4 million in cap space…. and
“future considerations”
This looks terrible.
A year ago they spent a 2nd round pick on Gibson…
who as a RHD player fits a huge need in the prospect pool…
and they give him and Walman away for a downgrade on defense.
Good job with that breakdown. I was actually in the process of trying to figure that all out.
If Yzerman doesn’t pull a rabbit out of his ass, this whole offseason has been a disaster.
Resigning Kane was pretty huge.
Other than that I agree.
At this point….
I would have rather not signed anyone but 1-yr dealsand just let the kids play.
Then again… maybe the 2-yr deals are a sign they know there is no chance of competing in playoffs for another 2 years.
Heck… re-signing Kane looks to be more about selling rickets this year than anything else.
Wings and Tigers dont like to spend. I just wonder who owns both of them.
But NHL you have to spend either way.
Sure the CASH amounts are different every year.
But NHL. Your guaranteed to spend 70-90m every year.
Right on.
It’s all about who you spend it on.
True but Yzerman spent it dumb.
A lot of FA that i thought would be wings targets ended up signing for way more money and/or way more years.
Signing those kinds of deals would either block these promising rookies or wind up habing to buy out or trade them away for pennies on the dollar.
I mean, signing Kane to a great 1 year deal when he wanted a 3 year deal was a masterful move by Yzerman. 47 points in 50 games…can’t forget Illitch isn’t his dad…who knows how much he is controlling things behind the scenes.
Did they get better or worse this offseason
NHL teams that are rebuilding don’t work miracles with limited budgets.
Wings have to re-sign their own young guys…
and hope they develop the rest of the way.
They need to stop shipping out 2nd round picks to save a little money for free agency…. like trading away a Walman to save $3.4 million to get a 32 year old journeyman defenseman….
and sign a few old forwards (Kane & Tarasenko) that won’t be around by the time this team might be able to compete.
The moves the Wings didn’t make this offseason worry me far more than the moves they did make.
I agree.
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