NHL Hockey Season Previews – Detroit Red Wings
Looking for 2019 Detroit Red Wings predictions? The Detroit Red Wings were flat out bad in the 18-19 season and will be looking for better with a completely overhauled defensive lineup. Steve Yzerman knows hockey, and although he got some flack for his decisions in the draft, it is not hard to give him the benefit of the doubt given his expertise and experience. If the Red Wings are going to be in playoff contention in March those draft picks will need to have fired from the start, but will they?
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2019-20 NHL Hockey Preview – Detroit Red Wings
Head Coach: Jeff Blashill
2019 Record: 32-40-10
Detroit Red Wings Odds to win the 2020 Stanley Cup Championship: +8000
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With the NHL season just around the corner it is coming time to have some questions answered about this edition of the Detroit Red Wings.
2019 Detroit Red Wings Predictions: Team Strengths
Obviously at +8000 the bookies don’t expect the Red Wings to be much better this year and that is certainly possible, but one of their biggest strengths is the new defensemen they brought in to sure up the blueline. First of all the Red Wings put defense in the forefront of their draft plan taking 3 defenders in the first 2 rounds (4 total picks).
The highest, and most controversial of the bunch, was Moritz Seider who was taken 6th overall and will have a ton of hype to live up to early on given he is only 18 years old. He may not, however, get that chance early on as it is most likely he will be sent to the Red Wings Affiliate to develop further before he gets a chance with the big club.
That likely ends up being the right move, should that be their decision as he is so young and likely still needs to adjust to the smaller ice.
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They also drafted Antti Tuomisto who is another strong blueliner in the second round with the 35th overall pick and it is unlikely he sees much ice time for the Red Wings in this first season as he also either heads to college or the affiliate program given he is also 18 years old and only has experience in the Finnish junior league.
They also picked up another defensemen as a free agent in Patrik Nemeth who was signed to a 2 year 6 million dollar contract. He should help this defensive unit greatly as he is really gritty and should help out a ton on penalty kills.
2019 Detroit Red Wings Predictions: Team Weaknesses
The main team weakness, once again this season, will be putting the puck in the back of the net. They struggled mightily scoring last year and I don’t expect much to change here as center Dylan Larkin is once again expected to lead the team in both goals and assists. He was one of the few bright spot in an offense who just seemed to never get going.
Justin Abdelkader was a massive disappointment last year on the left wing as he only tallied 6 goals in 71 games out on the left wing. It is possible he puts it back together and has a bounceback season, but I am more inclined to believe the 32 year old may be at the tail-end of his career.
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Frans Nielsen also looked like he was toward the tail end of his career only amassing 10 goals and 25 assists in 72 games. The assists were at a normal level for him, but it was his lowest goal tally since an injury riddled 2012-2013 season.
With no real key signings and an aging core along with a draft that was focused on the defensive end of the ice it is hard to imagine this Detroit Red Wings team scoring many goals.
Detroit Red Wings Prediction: 28-47-7
This is not a team who will be in the playoff hunt this season, they are in complete rebuild mode and although I believe their rookies will be pretty awesome, they will not be making much of an impact this season. Not only do I not see improvement this season, I think their will be a significant drop off even from last year.
They will have so much trouble scoring goals and even if their defensive rookies end up making the big club it is hard to see even an improved defensive performance being enough to make this team much better. Like I said before the addition of Patrik Nemeth will help greatly on the defensive side of things, but he also doesn’t add much going forward.
Their goaltending is average-good with Jimmy Howard coming off a decent season last year with 23 wins and a .909 save percentage. He likely will have another decent season, but it won’t be enough for this team to make any kind of splash whatsoever.
Look for the rebuild to continue here in the 2019-2020 season with Red Wings fans thinking about 2021-2022 by Christmas time.
What do you think about our 2019 Detroit Red Wings predictions? Please leave us a comment below telling us how you think they’ll do in 2019!
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