For the first time in 20 years the Detroit Red Wings do not look like a playoff team going into the new season, largely because they lost a once in a generation player in Nick Lidstrom and they lost arguibly their 2nd best defenseman in Brad Stuart. This season the Red Wings are going to rely heavily on rookies. Honestly I don't think the Red Wings prospects are as good as the Red Wings and other experts say that they are. (I like Brendan Smith, not sold on Nyquist, not sold on Mursak, not sold on Brunner who TSN predicts will get a top-6 role on the Red Wings). With all that put together plus a condensed schedule in the tough Central Division, I don't think the Red Wings get into the playoffs this year.
That said, I think it's time for the Red Wings to consider rebuilding. And the question facing the Red Wings for the next year and a half is what to do with Pavel Datsyuk. For the duration since the 2004-2005 lockout Pavel Datsyuk has been a world class player. He provides consistancy, stability, and skill in both the offensive zone and defensive zone. Datsyuk arguibly has the best hands in the NHL, what he can do with the puck is incredible. But, Pavel Datsyuk is 34 years old, with only 2 years (including this year) remaining on his contract. During the lockout Datsyuk has expressed intrest in finishing his career in Russia in the KHL. I think it isn't inconcieveable that Datsyuk considers not resigning with the Red Wings at the end of the 2014 season. So the debate rises when any team deals with this issue, do you keep him for the team success and hope he resigns at the end of his contract (at which he'll be 36, Russians tend to lose a step as they age, ex: Molgilny, Federov, Ovechkin, Kovalchuk, even Datsyuk the last 2 years, I know he's battled injuries but at the same time he's battled injuries, he missed a total of 13 games from 2005-2010, he missed a total of 38 games the last 2 seasons.) I think the Red Wings are out of their cup window, they are a fringe playoff team, and I think they lack the talent to get through teams at the top of the Western Conference (LA, Vancouver, Chicago, St. Louis, Edmonton, (in a year or 2 from now), Colorado (see Edmonton), Nashville, Minnesota, Dallas (See Edmonton))
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| Courtesy of CBS Sports |
Let's look at the 2 scenarios the Red Wings are facing
Keep Datsyuk:
Let me start out by saying I think this is a huge mistake. If they keep Datsyuk they keep their chance to make playoffs as a low seed, which in hockey any team in the top 8 can win the Cup, this isn't the NBA. If you keep Datsyuk he can also be a mentor to the youngsters the Wings have coming up the pipeline.
Trade Datsyuk
What can go wrong for the Red Wings the next 2 seasons that they have Datsyuk? The Red Wings don't make the playoffs the next 2 seasons. The Red Wing prospects don't turn out to be as good as they are thought to be and they either struggle or they can't hold down a spot in the top-2 lines. Datsyuk has a serious injury and misses long periods of time. I think there are more realistic scenarios of what can go wrong for the Red Wings the next 2 years than good/best case scenarios that can go right. If the Wings look to trade Datsyuk he can easily bring in 3-4 pieces, I would expect a mid-age roster player (age 25-30), a top tier prospect, 1-3 high draft picks, I would expect a 1st rounder mixed in with a 2nd or a 3rd round pick. This draft year you also have a special prospect in Seth Jones who has the tools to be an elite defenseman in the NHL, both offensivly and defensivly. If the Red Wings keep Datsyuk they take the risk of losing him in the summer of 2014, and the longer they keep him the more they risk a serious injury possibly ending his tenure with the Red Wings.
It's an interesting aspect of what the Red Wings future holds. What the Wings front office and Ken Holland (who collectivly haven't made a mistake in 21 years) decides to do with Pavel Datsyuk will be a test of their ability to manage and adjust to incredible roster turnover in the "New NHL".
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