![]() I do think the Red Wings will be a better team defensively - a 41-goal reduction is nothing to scoff at. And it’s probably not going to happen overnight. But that just tells you how much ground Detroit has to make up. The Red Wings are probably hoping for an even larger jump, considering this difference last year still would have made them a bottom-10 team defensively. Detroit cuts its goals against by 0.5 per game I’ll say he does the same in Detroit, helping to tee up Vrana on what should be the most capable second line Detroit has had in years.Īnd by the way, if you’re looking for the last time the Red Wings had five 20-goal scorers, you have to go back to 2008-09. Louis - in 2017-18 with Vegas - the veteran took on more of a playmaking role, with 16 goals and 50 assists for an upstart Golden Knights team. Perron is the most tempting one to include for that reason, but looking back at his last season outside St. ![]() And David Perron has been over 20 in three of his last four seasons - with the fourth being 19 in 56 games in the shortened 2020-21 season. Michael Rasmussen’s late-season push got him to 15, with room for a breakout this year at age 23. Andrew Copp hit 21 last year between Winnipeg and the Rangers. The more specific I get here, the more likely I am to be wrong, but we’re going for bold, so I’ll say those scorers will be: Raymond, Larkin, Bertuzzi, Jakub Vrana and Dominik Kubalik.Īnd the wild thing is, there are some pretty obvious candidates I’m leaving out there. This year, they soar past that, getting to five. Last year, Detroit had just three players cross the 20-goal mark - that top line of Larkin, Raymond and Bertuzzi. The Red Wings will have five 20-goal scorers But Raymond can make plays out of nothing, and the guess here is he takes the leap this season. The Red Wings have moved him around a bit on the power play, so he may need to find his footing at different stations there, and his biggest competition may be from his own linemates, Dylan Larkin and Tyler Bertuzzi. It could take a jump of 20-plus points to lead the team in scoring this time around, so this one is far from a gimme, but Raymond has come back looking stronger and more ready for the demands of an 82-game season. Sophomore slump? Not for Raymond, who burst onto the scene last year with 57 points at age 19. ![]() But in the meantime, here are 10 predictions - at varying degrees of boldness - on the season’s eve.ġ.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |