Four Existential Detroit Red Wings Questions Entering the 2023-24 Red Wings Season

From incorporating Alex DeBrincat to the path forward for the team's top prospects, the answers to the following four questions will go a long way to determining the Red Wings' success in 2023-24

The NHL's regular season began last night, and the Detroit Red Wings' season opener in New Jersey is just one evening away.  With a new season looming so large on the horizon, let's consider four existential questions that will condition the team's '23-24 campaign.

15 years ago (almost to the day), in the magazine's NHL Preview edition, Sports Illustrated featured the Red Wings' marquee offseason addition on its cover.  "Hello, Hockeytown" read the headline before the sub-head "Marian Hossa Comes to Detroit to Win the Stanley Cup." 

In the accompanying story, Kostya Kennedy noted that the Slovak winger eschewed more lucrative, long-term offers to sign with the Red Wings on a one-year deal that matched captain Nicklas Lidstrom's $7.45 million AAV.  Hossa wanted only Detroit.  He was the top prize among the previous summer's free agent class, but there were questions.

"For all the riches that were to be lavished upon him, his compelling statistics and the immensity of his skills, Hossa is still viewed by some league evaluators as a complementary star, a rung below the league's elite," wrote Kennedy.

Eight months later, Hossa's Red Wing days were over.  He scored 40 goals in the regular season (a total no Red Wing has since matched), but Detroit fell in a Game 7 on home ice at Joe Louis Arena to the Penguins, one win short of consecutive Stanley Cups.

By 2023, the Red Wings' offseason acquisitions, even the most star studded of them, aren't gracing magazine covers, and instead of chasing a second consecutive Stanley Cup, the team is looking to crack the playoffs in the meat grinder of an Atlantic Division for the first time since 2016.

There persists, nonetheless, a similarity between Hossa's acquisition those 15 years ago and this summer's marquee newcomer, Alex DeBrincat.  DeBrincat could likely have found a more lucrative contract elsewhere, but the destination he preferred was a return to his hometown Red Wings.  Though he was one of the most decorated trade targets of the offseason, there remain questions about just what he is as a player.

Can he be the Red Wing to return to the 40-goal plateau, a mark he has hit twice already in his young career, or are the 27 goals he tallied in Ottawa a year ago a better reflection of the production Detroit fans should expect of him, useful but not to be confused for genuine star power?  What can the 25-year-old winger contribute besides goals?

Throughout the preseason, there were two constants amidst Derek Lalonde's tinkering with the Detroit line-up: Jake Walman and Mortiz Seider on the top pair, and DeBrincat on Dylan Larkin's wing on the top line.

As Lalonde acknowledged yesterday, the chemistry between Larkin and DeBrincat is "growing, so definitely not a finished product" and their line has done a bit too much defending for their coach's taste in the early going.  However, Detroit has stuck with the duo because, in Lalonde's words, "we're not married to it, but we want it to work because we think it's two extremely special players."

DeBrincat concurred with Lalonde's assessment yesterday, telling The Hockey News that Larkin is "easy to play with.  I think he's got a lot of speed up the middle, so a lot of room for his wingers and obviously a lot of skill too."

Based on recent practices, it appears David Perron will join the duo for the season opener in New Jersey, a player who DeBrincat praised for the way he "gets pucks back.  He can handle a lot of different pucks on the boards, a lot of rims and stuff.  He's always making it easier on his line mates with not fumbling it."  It's a triumvirate that shows promise, even as the combination did not quite find its stride in pre-season action at even strength.  

There is also reason for optimism around aspects of DeBrincat's game, even without scoring.  The puck explodes off his blade when he fires a one-timer.  His comfort receiving passes on his backhand allows him to be a dual threat player on his off-wing, not needing to rely on that one-timer to create danger.  His aptitude in receiving passes and his quickness in tight areas help him create space and make inside plays in the offensive zone.  Meanwhile, on more than a few occasions throughout camp, he showed a formidable defensive stick on the forecheck and while back checking.

Still, at the end of the day, it's hard to escape the conclusion that DeBrincat is in Detroit for two reasons: to score in bunches and to help coax Larkin to new offensive heights.  That's the metric by which the trade to acquire him and subsequent extension will be measured, and his success or failure in those capacities will go a long way toward determining his team's fate in '23-24.

When Detroit announced a 23-man roster for the new season (and then reduced it once more to 22 by sending Zach Aston-Reese to Grand Rapids), that roster did not feature a single first- or second-year player.

Simon Edvinsson, Elmer Soderblom, and Jonatan Berggren were among the last to be returned to Grand Rapids, and, particularly with Edvinsson and Berggren, that decision was something of a surprise.

Of Berggren, Lalonde said "He's still raw in his development, and it makes no sense to be sitting here [as the 13th forward] not playing right now.  It's valuable for him to play meaningful minutes."

The words "added depth" have been favorites of Lalonde's throughout the preseason, and that depth has come in the form of veterans who, irrefutably, have made the road to the NHL more difficult for those youngsters.

Though this is a rebuilding team, it is also a team looking to return to the postseason, and that means trusting some of those newly acquired veterans ahead of players who will hopefully play a greater role in Detroit's eventual long-term success.

All of that can change on a single injury.  For Edvinsson, if a any defenseman goes down, he will presumably be Steve Yzerman's first call.  For Berggren, if one of Detroit's scorers winds up on the shelf, the young Swede is the obvious in-house option.  Lalonde noted yesterday that Berggren is not competing with the likes of Christian Fischer for a roster spot, the implication being that he is competing with players like Robby Fabbri and Daniel Sprong.

When it comes to making the final leap from prospect to full-time NHLer, Andrew Copp offered an interesting insight to The Hockey News, saying that a young player needs to get to the point of "Being relied upon and knowing what you're good at and then just doing that over and over and over.  For me, it's hockey IQ, right?  So I'd like to be trusted and find my way onto special teams, and then you go from there, and it's hard to be a guy that doesn't do either.  And I mean, if you're a power play guy, you got to be a really, really good power play guy.  Are you gonna take Larks' spot?  Are you gonna take Perron's spot?  Perron's like top seven in the league over the last four years in points per 60.  You gotta be really, really good at that.  Everybody brings something different.  Those young guys, they're going to be big pieces, but you've got to come in take someone's job."

So, for each of Edvinsson, Berggren, and Soderblom (and eventually for Marco Kasper or for a healthy Carter Mazur), the task at hand is earning Lalonde's trust when an opportunity does come and proving yourself irreplaceable once you get there.  It's hard, and that's why most prospects don't wind up sticking, but it's not impossible, and those chances will come.

At his pre-training camp presser, Steve Yzerman suggested that you can determine a rebuilding team now believes itself rebuilt when it begins to move futures for help in the present.

With that in mind, while it might be a way's away, this season's trade deadline will offer the clearest data point as to how Detroit's management team feels about the group they've assembled.  There are, of course, other variables at play there, not least the progression of the Red Wings' top prospects, but the deadline (which will come on March 8th) will provide the definitive inflection point on the season.

A year ago, Detroit looked on the precipice of being the sort of team that might be willing to add talent before an ignominious back-to-back in Ottawa dispelled that fantasy.

The Red Wings have been cautious in declaring their playoff aspirations throughout the preseason, but they've been adamant about a desire to, if nothing more, remain in the hunt.  The trade deadline will become a measuring stick when it comes to achieving that objective.

This final question is perhaps the most existential of all.  Even if everything else falls perfectly into place, an NHL team can hardly be better than its starting goaltender.

For the Red Wings that starter is Ville Husso, and there are, the very least, questions.  Husso has spent exactly one season as a clear-cut number one goalie, and, to be blunt, it didn't go great—.896 SV %, 3.11 GAA in 56 games.

Context is relevant here.  Detroit didn't intend to use Husso as often as it did, and the team's lack of depth, particularly on the back end, meant it was hardly an easy environment for the Fin.

However, Husso is expected to play about the same number of games this season, and if he can't take a significant stride on both of those figures, the postseason will prove a pipe dream.

Detroit has reserve options in James Reimer and Alex Lyon, but those too come with question marks.  Playing behind an even more woeful defense in San Jose last season, Reimer also couldn't crack the .900 mark, while Lyon was promising in Florida but appeared in just 15 games.

As much depth as Detroit can now rightfully claim at forward and on defense, the depth in net is questionable.  For this season to surprise in its success, the Red Wings will need their bets on Husso, Reimer, and Lyon to come through.