I will be rating each team on three different areas which of course are goalies, defensemen and forward. The ratings are from 1 to 10. The rating consists of his personal ability and his importance to the team. This means that a player who scores way more points might get the same rating as someone who does not. There are two categories that i will rate: Every position as whole and then every single player. I will also put in the lines that i think/hope they will play next season. Then last i will give a grade to the whole team.
Detroit Red Wings
Goalies
Jimmy Howard: Howard is a good goalie, but not among the best in the league. It can be questioned whether his good stats are due to his personal abilities or the strength of the lineup in front of him. One thing is for sure and it is the fact that he is not an elite goaltender. Rating: 8
Ty Conklin: Served as backup in St. Louis and will keep his role as backup in Detroit. Was a natural acquisition after the retirement of Chris Osgood, since the Red Wings and Conklin have worked together earlier. Rating: 7
Howard will keep on putting impressive statistics, due to the fact that Detroit´s defense is really good. Conklin should handle the starts he get well and so there should be no problems in the goalie departement. Rating: 8
Defensemen
Ian White: Good player who should fill the gap left by Brian Rafalski´s retirement. Good in both ends of the ice. Will fit well to the strong Detroit blueline. Rating: 9
Brad Stuart: Much like White a really good player in both ends of the ice and much. Stuart has a career high of over 40 points in a single season which shows that he is a true offensive asset. Rating: 8
Nicklas Lidtrom: He has represented Detroit for 19 season. Detroit has made it to the playoffs every single year he has played in the team. Coincidence? I don´t think so. Lidstrom posted 62 points last season at the age of 41. He has scored over 1100 points during his career, something that most forwards never even come close. He is a divine player and a leader. I just wonder how Detroit what Detroit will do when he retires... Rating: 10
Niklas Kronwall: Kronwall is much like Lidstrom. He has never played anywhere else than Detroit, he is a really good player in defensive and offensive aspects of the game and he is Swedish. A really good player. Rating: 9
Jakub Kindl:Kindl got an opportunity to prove himself and he played well, but sadly he is part of arguably the best defense in the entire league and he will find it hard t find playing time. Rating: 7
Jonathan Ericsson: A good player, but not as good as his salary allows people to except. He will have to improve, otherwise Kindl and new acquisition Exelby will gladly take his spot. Rating: 8
Mike Commodore: Also a really good player, but unlike other Detroit players he mainly excels in defensive play.
A really good defensive line-up. I still struggle to understand how Detroit managed to concede 7h most goals in the entire league last season still having a goalie with solid statistics. Good team with some NHL capable players still in reserve so admirable depth also. Rating: 9
Forwards
Henrik Zetterberg: Fantastic left winger who can split any defense with his passes or just shoot since he has a nice wrist shot as well. Has gathered 555 points in 586 points in games which is really impressive. Forms one of the most intimidating offensive pairs with Pavel Datsyuk. Rating: 10
Jan Mursak: Young left winger played 19 games and scored one goal in them. Mursak is 23 and is a former 6th tound pick so expectations on him are not exactly sky high. Rating: 6
Drew Miller: Really good bottom line player. Added points on a quite nice pace considering the minutes he plays. Little off-topic, but Drew Miller is the brothr of Buffalo goalie Ryan Miller. Rating: 8
Jiri Hudler: Gifted center played point per game pace in Russian KHL, but did not get to the same speed in the NHL. Hudler is a really good player and hopefully will be better next year. Last year was, at least for me, slightly disappointing. Rating: 7
Tomas Holmstrom: An aging Swedish player who has played his whole career in Detroit... Not a rarity at the moment. Holmstrom is a good player and has been a loyal servant to Red Wings, there are not many years on his career left. Rating: 8
Darren Helm: Has been improving a lot during the couple of last seasons and hopefully will keep on doing so. He is an incredible penalty kill center and a bottom 6 forward. If he can still improve his output in points i see no reason why he could not be a top 6 forward in the future. Rating: 8
Johan Franzen: Franze is a really big player who is, perhaps one of the best players in front of the goal. He creates a good mask fort he goalie who will have hard time seeing where the puck is coming from. Also Franze is a gifted scorer proven by his 28 goals last season, most in the entire Red Wings squad. Rating: 9
Valtteri Filppula: Filppula is a good center for the second or third line. He is not an outstanding deker like Datsyuk or a quality playmaker like Zetterberg, but he plays well in both directions and rarely gives up on ice. Rating: 8
Cory Emmerton: The youngster appeared in a couple of games last season, but really is not going to play much more this year if the Red Wings squad stays healthy. Rating: 6
Patrick Eaves: Bottom line right winger. Has been a solid 10+ goal scorer per season which is quite well for a small role player. Rating: 8
Pavel Datsyuk: One of the best players in the league. His stick handling skills are are incredible and if there is a player who is bond to make the highlight reel this is him. He is an admirable player with his skills and behavior on and off the ice. Even with really high scoring years he is always one of the frontrunners to receive the Frank J. Selke Trophy which is given to the forward who demonsetates most skill in defensive aspects of the game, in Datsyuk mainly takeaways. Rating: 10
Danny Cleary: Cleary had a career high season in goals and points at the age of 32. If he can keep up last seasons pace he will be a very valuable asset as he finished second in scoring in Red Wings squad with 26 goals. Rating: 8
Todd Bertuzzi: Once a near 100 point scorer is still a good player, but like so many others he is getting old. Has scored 44 or 45 points in three last season so i would except something similar next year. Rating: 8
Justin Abdelkader: Bottom line winger, but good as one. Abledkader had the best +/- out of the Red Wings forwads with 15. Good player and highly undervalued in my opinion. Rating: 8
Detroit has a really good offense, with some of the best players in the entire league to solid bottom line perfomers. Their offense is well balanced and every single line they have poses a threat to the opposition defense. Rating: 9
Lines
Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Franzen
Holmstrom-Hudler-Cleary
Miller-Filppula-Bertuzzi
Abdelkader-Helm-Eaves
Lidstrom-Kronwall
Stuart-White
Ericsson-Commodore
Howard
Detroit is still a very good team, but they have entered the retirement spree. Osgood, Rafalski and Draper decided to hang the skates now and Lidstrom, Holmstrom, Bertuzzi or Conklin don´t have too many years on top of the game or even in it. Still Red Wings should enjoy what they have now. Overall Rating: 9
Key factors
+Some outstanding players
+Solid from top to bottom
-Howard is not a world class goalie
-Old team
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