Sorry, Detroit – you were booted once again by the Tampa Bay Lightning. While everyone thought you had a great chance to defeat the injury-stricken Lightning, you couldn’t stop a fantastic Nikita Kucherov who had eight points in the five games (5 G, 3 A).
Sure, you went to seven games last year, and went back and forth – you ended up losing Game 7 2-0. Petr Mrázek had 172 saves in the seven game series, and you can’t complain about that – that’s a great seven games, considering he faced 186 shots. Except, Tyler Johnson nailed six of those goals, and assisted one of them – he had a great playoffs.
Throughout the series, Detroit never had a true “leader,” as their top point scorer was Tomas Tatar with three points (3 A). Mrázek made 73 saves on 77 shots. However, Jimmy Howard can be your scapegoat, allowing seven goals on 71 shots in two games.
Detroit has one big player’s shoes to fill: Pavel Datsyuk – who is returning to Russia next season, now that his NHL career is over. You’ll need to fill the following: a 4-time Lady Byng winner, a great passer, a player who is pure class. This is hard to find these days.
Who else you need to add: a solid goaltender – not two meh goaltenders. It’s time to find either a prospect, such as Filip Gustavsson (Sweden), or Evan Fitzpatrick (Canada), who can mature in a couple years and be the face of your net minding; or you trade around some draft picks, and some excess players and get a great or elite goalie.
While there are additions, there are always some deletions that can be utilized: Justin Abdelkader. While it’s nice to have an enforcer to intimidate other teams, and deliver a punch when needed, you need an enforcer who can produce the points as well. When you compare one assist to 35 penalty minutes, you want a more happy medium between the two.
Detroit can nail a decent pick, assuming they keep their first round pick, in the middle of the first round.
No coaching changes look immediate: Detroit made the playoffs, for the 25 time in a row, head coach Jeff Blashill is just continuing that tradition in Detroit.
Detroit ended a strong second half of the year with a 4-1 loss to the Lightning. Games one and two looked as if the Bolts could end it in four, but with one game back at the “Joe,” the Wings looked like a whole new team. Game four was a game changer, as Tampa Bay won as the visitor.
Let’s leave this at a simple statement: Detroit’s power play needs a little work.
As game five went on, both Ben Bishop and Mrázek were brick walls, until the end of the third period. Mrázek got a little risky, and left the crease. While it wasn’t as bad as this one…
…he still left the net decently open. With a nice wrap around and a pass to Alex Killorn, right into a wide open net. Killorn is good at the game-winning-goals, as he scored the Game 7 winner last year against the Rangers.