The Red Wings’ goaltending was average in the 2023-24 season. Should they try to improve their goalie room, or do the solutions lie elsewhere in the roster?
The Red Wings’ goaltending was average in the 2023-24 season. Should they try to improve their goalie room, or do the solutions lie elsewhere in the roster?
Is it really that bad to be average? From a statistical perspective, average is alright — something that’s average is neither good nor bad, but it isn’t the root of a team’s problems. But from a philosophical perspective, average always leaves room for hypothetical mores. What could happen if there were more in the tank? What could be if average elevated to elite?
These are questions the Red Wings need to ask themselves about their goaltending this offseason. On one hand, Alex Lyon, James Reimer and Ville Husso played well above expectations during the season. But that goaltending was also a glaring weakness in some critical games when opponents scored with ease. As much as Lyon’s 43 starts were impressive for a journeyman backup, and Reimer’s timely wins kept the season alive at multiple junctures, Detroit’s goaltending wasn’t so much an advantage as it was an average. Despite a few individual highlight plays, the Red Wings’ goaltenders rarely stole games. Many of their wins required sizable run support.
Detroit’s goaltenders, in the sum of the season, were average — not stellar but also not a liability. While it’s hard to assign any blame to the goalie room for how Detroit’s season ended, quality goaltending matters in the NHL, especially in the playoff caliber echelon where Detroit wants to assert itself. Of the top 16 teams by goals against per game, 12 made the playoffs. This contingent includes the Washington Capitals team that narrowly beat Detroit for the final wild card spot. All of the divisional first-seeds ranked in the top eight.
Allowing among the fewest goals is almost a requirement to being a playoff team, and the Red Wings didn’t have that this season. They checked in at 24th with 3.33 goals against per game — 0.92 goals per game more than the first-place Florida Panthers. In save percentage, Detroit ranked 13th at 90.2% (about 1% off the league lead) but allowed the sixth-most shots. Goaltending wasn’t terrible, but it also wasn’t a true strength.
So where do the Red Wings go from here?
“It's an interesting position right now around the league in goaltending, that everyone is looking for a goaltender whether it's a one or two or three — and most teams needed three goalies,” Detroit general manager Steve Yzerman said. “All three of those guys at different points in the season had a very positive impact on us and played games that helped us win and put us in a position to almost make the playoffs. But having said that, they need to be better, we need to be better in all aspects of keeping the puck out of our net. Not only with our goalies, but our play defensively, collectively not just our D corps, our forwards as well. I think it's really my job — and it's not a headline making statement — but to try and look to see if I can improve our team in any which way, and I will do that at every position.”
Parsing through the coach-speak, it’s clear that Yzerman realizes how imperfect goaltending can hold his team back. The play of the team in front of his goaltenders didn’t make for an easy assignment most nights, but that doesn’t outright excuse a lack of results down the stretch. That Detroit got 41 wins with its starter hurt for half the season, riding a third-stringer making less than $1 million backed up by a 35-year-old veteran is downright impressive. But it’s not ideal.
If the Red Wings are going to win, they need a more permanent solution. Right now, they’re slated to run back a Lyon-Husso goaltending tandem dependent on the latter’s ability to recover from a season full of lower body injuries. But if Yzerman’s assessment is true, they still need another goaltender in the mix?
Might they find one in Sebastian Cossa? The 21-year-old netminder has played some of the best hockey in Grand Rapids history since the calendars flipped to 2024. He’s 17-3-6 since Dec. 27, with a .921 save percentage and 2.02 goals against average. For a record 19-game stretch, he didn’t lose a game in regulation. He’s done about everything the Red Wings could ask of him to earn an NHL tryout except for having more experience. With a summer’s worth of development and a strong training camp, maybe Cossa could battle his way into the starting role. But with Lyon and Husso ahead of him, Cossa will have to earn that spot without a shadow of a doubt. Like Yzerman has done throughout the rebuild, he’s hellbent on not entitling rookies to spots on the roster based on potential. They’ve got to earn them with performance, and Cossa will have to prove his merits closer to October. If he’s just average, Detroit will keep him in the minors to develop more. If he’s better, he could supplant an established veteran.
If Lyon and Husso end up as Detroit’s goaltenders next season, the Red Wings will still want improved production from where they ended the season. In his first full season at the NHL level, Lyon started 29 more games than any other in his career, and he showed the result of an overextended workload. He lost 10 straight starts through the end of March, including eight straight starts with a save percentage below a .900 save percentage. His teammates’ defensive struggles in that stretch didn’t help him, but he also let in a number of goals he wanted back. Consistency is key for Lyon next year. For Husso, simply staying healthy would be a massive improvement. He played in one game from Dec. 18 on, hampered by two separate lower body injuries that timed him out of the season. Such a complex injury situation begs the question as to what player Husso will be upon his grand return, again showing a flaw in the Red Wings’ goaltending situation for next season.
“I cannot talk any more strongly about our goaltending,” Derek Lalonde said Friday. “It ended up being a huge positive for us in a really tough circumstance. All three of our guys battled. … Those guys gave us everything and then some. Not only were they battling as hard as possible, they were winning games down the stretch.
Lalonde understands that some of the counting stats weren’t there for his goaltenders, but ultimately they found a way to win. That’s what matters in the end. “So of course you can look at underlying numbers — I don't know exactly where our goals against and save percentage are at. I'm guessing it's not going to be in the top half of the league,” Lalonde explained. “But the win percentage of those guys — even Ville’s numbers were drastically down from a year ago but his wins were not. He won a lot of hockey games for us. So I cannot stress any more how proud I am (of) our goaltending and battle. They lifted our group.”
The way Detroit’s management portrays it, the issue isn’t a goaltending issue so much as a goals against issue. Solutions don’t start and stop with the player between the pipes. Lalonde and Yzerman both stressed the need for better team defense in front of their goaltenders. Forwards with better defensive instincts, who lay out to block shots and don’t give up turnovers would be a solid start. Defensemen blocking more shots and clearing the net front would benefit them, too.
While Lyon and Husso aren’t the kind of elite game-stealing goaltenders becoming of a contending playoff team, they haven’t done anything to lose their jobs, so to speak. And the cap situation also significantly handcuffs what Yzerman can do. Detroit will already be against the cap this season in order to bring back some of its UFAs, and goaltending would be another expense piled on an already tight checkbook.
Right now, the Red Wings have to settle on average. There are a lot of teams that would love to be in their shoes regarding goaltending, but those are also teams Detroit is trying to move past. It doesn’t want to be average — it wants to be elite. But until it figures out how to allow fewer goals, it’s going to be difficult to get there.
Also from THN Detroit
After Enduring a Difficult Season, Dylan Larkin Enters Offseason with Playoffs in Focus
Around the League: THN Detroit Picks Stanley Cup Playoffs Brackets
Red Wings Season Provides Fun & Optimism Despite the Stinging Conclusion
Yzerman's Prospect Update: On Traverse City, Sandin Pellikka, Berggren & Johansson, and Cossa
With Lucas Raymond, Moritz Seider Set for Big Raise, Red Wings’ UFAs Hang in the Balance
"We're Not a Finished Product": Lalonde, Yzerman Keep Focus on Process Over Playoffs
After Injury Filled Season, Ville Husso Aims to Return Next Season