NHL Preview 2019-20: Detroit Red Wings

(This year again, I will twin-post with my Collectibles Blog and write about a player who is related to my Preview post here. Today, it's hard-hitting defenseman Niklas Kronwall, who announced his retirement earlier tonight.)

GM: Steve Yzerman (since 2019). 9/10
Coach: Jeff Blashill (since 2015). 5/10

2018-19 record: 32-40-10, 74 points (7th in the Atlantic Division, 14th in the Eastern Conference). Third consecutive season outside the playoff picture.

Departures: Martin Frk (LW), Niklas Kronwall (D), Luke Witkowski (D), Thomas Vanek (RW) Wade Megan (C), and GM Ken Holland.

Arrivals: Valtteri Filppula (C), Patrik Nemeth (D), Calvin Pickard (G) and GM Steve Yzerman, fresh from making the Tampa Bay Lightning perennial contenders.

Top forwards: Dylan Larkin (30 goals, 70-80 points), Andreas Athanasiou (30 goals and 50-60 points), Anthony Mantha (30 goals and 50 points), Tyler Bertuzzi (45-55 points), Michael Rasmussen (30-40 points), Evgeny Svechnikov (30-40 points), Filppula (30 points), Frans Nielsen (30-35 points), Luke Glendening (20 points).

Must-improve forward: Rasmussen is still young and will grow into a regular contributing role, but at this point, you'd have to think Jacob De La Rose can smell he's at a crossroads between a middle-six role, a bottom-three assignment, or going back to Europe. If he keeps insisting on contributing less than 10 points per season and finishing in the minuses, there will be no room for him in the NHL when he reaches the age of 25 in a year and a half.

Top defensemen: Mike Green (30-50 points, depending whether he misses 15 or 35 games), Danny DeKeyser (30-35 points), Filip Hronek (25-35 points), Dennis Cholowski (20-30 points), Trevor Daley (10 points).

Goalies: Jimmy Howard (83/100), Picard (79/100), Jonathan Bernier (79/100).

Top rookies: Taro Hirose (23 years old, LW), Filip Zadina (19, LW/RW), Axel Homstrom (23, LW).

Analysis:
With Niklas Kronwall's retirement, that frees up one space on defense to mold a youngster into an NHLer for when the Wings are ready to aim at the playoffs in two or three years.

Most of the "bad contracts" at the forward position will expire at the end of the 2020-21 season (Darren Helm) or the following year (Nielsen), while those on the back end expire next summer (Green, Jonathan Ericsson, Daley), so the team is in a position to restock on young talent quickly and proceed to better days with the young veteran core of Larkin, Mantha and Bertuzzi already in place, and one hopes Zadina, Rasmussen and/or Svechnikov will also become a star forward, leaving Detroit rich in high-end talent for the better part of the next decade - provided Stevie Y. doesn't go overboard and overpay for these kids.

This will, however, have to happen with a better coach. Maybe Yzerman's waiting for Jon Cooper to be available if/when Tampa chokes in the playoffs again, but he missed out on quality candidates like Alain Vigneault and Joel Quenneville this summer, so you'd have to think the next crop of recyclable coaches will be of lesser quality, probably featuring the likes of Claude Julien, Bruce Boudreau and Peter Laviolette. Then again, Guy Boucher might get the call; refusing to go ahead with the Ottawa Senators' joke of a teardown last year with the only assurance being that he'd be out of a job the following month showed a decent amount of spine and balls.

Prediction: 7th in the Atlantic Division, 27th overall.