Are the Detroit Red Wings Ready to End Their Long Playoff Drought?
Steve Eisermanman continues to look for ways to get the Detroit Red Wings back into the playoffs. But were the moves he made this summer enough? Brian Fischer of Locked On Red Wings is here to talk about that and a lot more coming up on today’s Locked On NHL podcast. [Music] You’re Locked on NHL, your daily podcast on the National Hockey League, part of the Locked On Network. your team every day. Gil Martin here. Welcome everybody to the Monday episode of the Locked On NHL podcast. We are part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. I want to thank everyone who makes Locked on NHL your first listen every day. Don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts so you never miss an episode. This episode is brought to you by Monarch Money. Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code locked on NHL at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. It is my pleasure to welcome back to the show the co-host of Locked on Red Wings, Brian Fiser. And uh Brian, you know, it’s been an interesting off season in Detroit. I know there was talk that Steve Eisermanman wanted to make a big splash move. The fans certainly wanted him to make a big splash move, but what do you think of the moves he did make this off season? Well, I think he avoided missteps. um he when when the free agency market dwindles the way it does before noon on June 1st even hits, a lot of NHL GMs and Eerman himself has even done this in the past, I feel, will rush to give out bad contracts to players in an effort to get whatever’s left. Eisermanman committed to not doing that this year. So, the players he did sign, I like. Uh, Jame James Van Reedike is going to bring a netfront presence to the bottom six. Uh, he’s, you know, he’s older now. He’s not the James Van Remdikeke of old, but he’s going to be able to deflect a lot of shots down low. He’s going to be able to get to the net, get to the dirty areas. He’s going to bring a scoring touch to the bottom six that they did not have. Mason Appleton has a guy who can move the puck up ice. He shoots the puck a lot. Uh, he’s, you know, play a little bit of special teams. Just a bottom six body. Again, another guy you’re not overpaying for. Uh, Jacob Bernard Docker I actually like a lot. I think he’s probably the sleeper acquisition of the off seasonason. A lot of Buffalo Sabres fans were not thrilled when uh they let him walk as a they didn’t qualify him. So, as an RFA, they just let him walk out the door. He has an offensive upside to his game, which could come in handy on the third pair. Uh, but you know, you Travis Hamick, the newest guy on the block, like one year$1 million dollar. He’s probably gonna be uh I would I would hope is like an AHL callup guy to compete and maybe compete for the third pair. But the the problem isn’t while I like the signings they made, he he was he stayed calm. He didn’t overspend on guys that were middle of the lineup, bottom of the lineup players, they got marginally better in those areas because of those acquisitions. likely they also didn’t get the needle moving guy and that’s not 100% his fault, right? This this offseason with the rising cap, everyone had the money to keep the players they had. A lot of a lot of teams decided the Demons that we know are better. Um the grass is not always greener on the other side. Pick an analogy, right? Uh so Brock Besser stayed, you know, Aaron Ecklad, who I know I had heard the Red Wings had interest in, Windsor native right across the right across the pond, so to speak, from the Detroit Red Wings. uh he stayed, Sam Bennett stayed. Like all the guys that you would want to pursue as big- time free agents, didn’t leave or in Mitch Martner’s case were dealt to another team and signed before free agency hit. So, I’m not upset about this free agency in a vacuum. It’s more about the entirety of the work that is kind of bothersome to me at this point because this team still has massive holes and in an incredibly competitive division like the Atlantic is with Ottawa and Montreal both making the leap back to playoff teams last season, you need a needlemoving move to ensure you are comfortably in that conversation. Another addition they made, obviously John Gibson coming in to add depth to the goalending situation. How are you feeling about that acquisition? I mean, Gibson’s comfortably the best move that they made all all off season. You you look at what they gave up. They gave up Peter Morazzic, who they got at the deadline beforehand. He was all right before he got hurt, but this team really needed to stabilize goalending. Now, this isn’t John Gibson of a decade ago where he was getting uh Vzna votes. Uh, and I know he’s gone through some es and flows since then, battling injury and then also being on a very bad Ducks team, but this last season showed a lot of reason to believe that there is still a little bit of old John Gibson in there. He had a very impressive season. I think a 917 save percentage in a year where the save average save percentage was like 9005. Uh granted in a in a smaller sample size, I know he was the backup goalie to Dol, but if he can come in here and give the Red Wings 47 games at a 95 910 clip somewhere in that range, then he will have done his job and come in here to solidify the net and allowing Cam Talbot because part of what made Cam Talbot falter last season was that the Red Wings had no choice but to overwork him because Alex Lion wasn’t up to snuff. Peter Morazzic wasn’t up to snuff, but they wore Talbot into the ground. So, if Gibson can come in, alleviate some of the pressure pressure from 38-year-old Cam Talbot, that as a whole should make their goalending a lot more consistent. And that in alone in of itself could offer the Red Wings two, maybe four more points next season. And we know that five points was all they missed the playoffs by. So, you’re you’re on your way there. Gibson definitely has the biggest upside, but I also think that he has probably the biggest downside of all of the players that they acquired if he can’t stay healthy or if last year wasn’t a true return to form and rather a flash in the pan. What are your biggest concerns? You talked about this team still having many needs. Here we are about a month away from the start of preseason action. What are the biggest concerns you have about this team? biggest concern right now is definitely defense. You know, we talk on the podcast too about needing one more. You need a topline left wing. You just do not have it right now. You have five top six forwards, but honestly, the biggest need of them all is second pair. Because of the fact that this team lacks defensive depth so bad, you were forced to split up Edmonson and Cider to just give your second pair a chance at being decent. And Edmonson was very good. But I mean, I do think similarly to Talbot near the end of the season, cuz remember Edmonson last year was a rookie, functionally a rookie. Technically, he wasn’t, but it was his full first full season in the NHL and he was playing with another rookie in Albert Johansson. So, by the end of that season last year, they were kind of getting caved in cuz they they weren’t used to that long of a season, that big of an assignment at the NHL level. I do think it’ll get better this year as both of them take a step forward. Um, but you look at it and I Albert Johansson is a nice player. I think he’s their best option right now on the right side of the second pair, but in a playoff team, he’s probably a good third pair defenseman. So, I I you don’t want you want in the long term do pair upsider and Edmonson 2. So, and Cherat is honestly not a top pair defenseman. He’s being asked to do I know he’s one of those players that the Red Wings fans also like to kind of rag on. He’s being asked to do way more than he should at this point in his career. But they just they don’t have any other options. That’s and that’s why it’s the biggest problem. You have one pair that can play top pair minutes and you have to split them up in order to make the second pair playable which then makes the first pair work. And God bless Morits Cider because he’s tasked to do with some of the hardest minutes, hardest deployments and basically do it on his own on the top pair. Um but you just you miss on Keandre Miller because that was a player that they were really in the conversation with. But Carolina offered a slightly better package. So you missed out on that. Brent Burns, who I was even at 41 years old, one-year deal I’d have taken him just as a as a filler piece, a band-aid, went to Colorado and then that Gabricov knew he was going to New York Rangers a month ago. Like there there just was no one available. Aaron Ecklad stayed in Florida. Like they missed out. They they didn’t even have the opportunity to miss out on all these best all these players with the exception of 41-year-old Brent Burns. So, it’s just they have huge holes and if they don’t make the playoffs, it’ll be because of the defensive core, I feel, more than anything. There’ll be a lot of different reasons. It’s not all ever one person’s fault, but I think that’ll be the big eyesore, the big sore spot for them. And I don’t know how Eisermanman fixes it. sitting here on August 17th as we record. I don’t know how Eiserman fixes it because he said at the end of free agency um when he was done, you know, like a week later, he’s he had his media availability. He says, “I’m going to, you know, reconvene with the other GMs and see what their needs are to be filled.” But this is the downside of the rising cap. Teams aren’t in Capal. They’re not forced to shed players. So, to get a player from a team, you’re going to have to massively overpay. and Eisermanman with where this prospect pool is at, he’s not going to do that and I wouldn’t want him to do that because there’s a difference between, you know, being aggressive and being stupid. So, it’s there I’m not not trying to make up excuses for Steve Eiserman because this is the team of his own making at this point. It’s been since we just talked about it before we hit record since 2019. This is his roster. He this he has blame on his shoulders for where this roster is at, but in the vacuum of this off seasonason, I understand how hard it is to make this team better. You know, there’s 30 teams in the NHL on July 1st that were asking how did we make our team better through free agency and there’s two maybe two teams that can say yes, we did. Yeah. Not not an easy thing as we enter year seven of the plan. Brian, why don’t you tell our viewers and our listeners where they could find the podcast and where they could find you and your co-host on social media. Uh, you can find the podcast on YouTube, Spotify, Apple, Odyssey, anywhere you listen to podcast. It’s locked on Red Wings, obviously. Uh, you can find me on social media on X or Blue Sky, Brian Fishischer, Lor Rw for both. Scotty is at Bentley Scotty on both. Uh, yeah, please give us a listen. And uh we’re doing player previews right now. So we’re talking about every single player on the roster. Peak peak offseason form right now. Talking about every player on the roster and what you can expect hope to expect from them in the 25 26 years the Red Wings try to break their playoff drought. All right, Brian, thank you so much. Of course. Thanks for having me, Gil. Today’s episode is brought to you by Monarch Money. Most people can’t name all their financial accounts or even what they’re worth, whether it’s 401ks, properties, or investments. And when you don’t have the full picture, you can end up leaving money on the table. That’s why there’s Monarch Money. It’s an all-in-one personal finance tool that brings your entire financial life together in one clean, easy to use interface on your laptop or on your phone. Monarch does the heavy lifting for you. You can link all your accounts in minutes, see clear data visuals, get smart categorization of your spending, and finally feel in control of your money without ever touching a spreadsheet. 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The Detroit Red Wings are looking to end their long playoff drought but has Steve Yzerman put the right pieces together?
Brian Fisher of Locked On Red Wings breaks down the offseason moves made by the Wings and what it will take for them to reach that elusive playoff berth.
All this and more on today’s Locked On NHL Podcast with Gil Martin.
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