Red Wings Not The Stuff of Fantasy

For a team that was in the top 10 in the NHL last season in both goals scored and power-play percentage, the Detroit Red Wings certainly don’t appear to be the stuff of dreams when it comes to fantasy hockey.

Though Detroit would score 275 goals last season – 3.35 goals per game – and were hitting at a 23.1% success rate on the power play, you don’t find a Red Wings forward in the top 35 or a defenseman in the top 20 in the fantasy hockey rankings compiled by The Fantasy Hockey Report.

Both of those numbers would slot the Red Wings into ninth spot in the NHL.

Dylan Larkin has the need for speed. 💨

NHL EDGE Speed powered by @Verizon pic.twitter.com/WraXiB1lyb

— NHL (@NHL) February 15, 2023

Then again, when digging deeper into the data, it just might be that Detroit players are being overrated in these charts. Last season, Lucas Raymond led all Red Wings scorers with 72 points. That was 46th-best in the NHL. Captain Dylan Larkin was 33rd in the league with 31 goals.

Moritz Seider ties it up with a BLAST. 🚨

(🎥: @DetroitRedWings)pic.twitter.com/Sio5bRIoAs

— theScore (@theScore) April 16, 2024

Along the blueline, Moritz Seider is Detroit’s top-producing defender. His 42 points last season were only good enough for 32nd overall in scoring by a defenseman.

The Fantasy Hockey Report bases their ratings solely on points. Their rankings are for the next 1-2 seasons, and consider each player’s track record, upside, age, team, injury history and fantasy trade value.

Larkin Highest-Rated Red Wings Forward

Among forwards, Larkin slots in as the top available Red Wings players. He’s giving a ranking of 35th overall. You’ll drop all the way to 49th for the next Detroit player, Alex DeBrincat. Following them, Patrick Kane (66), Raymond (68) and Vladimir Tarasenko (98) also crack the top 100.

Simply basing it on the way he would finish the 2023-24 season with 14 goals over his final 17 games, Raymond would seem a bit low on the list. Kane, Tarasenko and DeBrincat are all past 40-goal snipers. Granted, it’s been awhile since each was reaching that lofty plateau. DeBrincat most recently did in 2021-22. For Kane was 2018-19 and Tarasenko was a 40-goal man in 2015-16.

Gostisbehere Departure Hurts Detroit Defense

Shayne Gostisbehere, was was 13th among NHL defenseman in scoring last season with 56 points, would depart Detroit as a UFA. That leaves Seider likely back in position as the main point man on Detroit’s No. 1 power-play unit.

He’s had 42 points in each of the last two seasons, after a career-high 50-point output in his Calder Trophy-winning season of 2021-22.

Red Wings Goalies Post An O-fer

Detroit goalies would post four shutouts among four netminders during the 2023-24 campaign. They have four NHL-caliber goalies under contract for the upcoming season, and are also posting an o-fer. None of Cam Talbot, Alex Lyon, Ville Husso, or Jack Campbell were able to crack the Fantasy Hockey Report rankings of the to-50 NHL goalies.

It’s certainly serves to emphasize the uncertainty facing the club in terms of their netminders. Meanwhile, both goalies for the Washington Capitals – Charlie Lindgren and Logan Thompson – are part of the top 30. It was Washington that nipped Detroit by one point last season for the final Eastern Conference playoff position.