What Can Red Wings Learn From Tigers Success Story?

Last April, while the Detroit Red Wings were making their exciting, yet ultimately unsuccessful run at a playoff spot, there was angst among the Detroit Tigers faithful.

The fanbase of Detroit’s MLB team was chastising Chris Ilitch, who oversees both the Tigers and Red Wings. They felt he was being too tight with the purse strings and no spending enough money to upgrade the Tigers.

Fast forward to the fall. The Tigers are the talk of baseball, rolling through the MLB playoffs with a payroll that is less than some of the players they are facing on other teams.

🗣️ LET’S GOOOOO https://t.co/846Q4aIEXw

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) October 2, 2024

The harsh crititques of Ilitch are no more. No there’s a new question being posed.

What can the Red Wings do to emulate what the Tigers are doing?

Detroit’s NHL team is taking a different tack. Following the pattern established when Steve Yzerman took over as GM in 2019, the Red Wings are signing journeymen veterans, seemingly putting into place an impasse for young talent to get to the show.

That doesn’t mean the team couldn’t create a path for the likes of Nate Danielson, Marco Kasper, or Carter Mazur to grab a spot on the NHL roster. It would require some tough decisions to be made, though.

Red Wings Could Utilize Waivers

There is some speculation that the Red Wings might be considering placing veteran defenseman Justin Holl on waivers to create an opening for a 13th forward on the roster. If this is indeed the case, the question reamins would that be to create a place for a young prospect, or for veteran forward Austin Watson? He’s in camp on a PTO.

Another opting the team could choose might be to place goalie Ville Husso on waivers. They still have two NHL goalies in Cam Talbot and Alex Lyon and again this would open a spot to keep an extra forward in the NHL.

If they were really looking to do something bold, the Red Wings might dangle center J.T. Compher in front of the Carolina Hurricanes. A legitimate Stanley Cup contender, it’s known that the Canes are in the market for a No. 2 center.

Here’s Why None Of This Is Likely To Happen

Well it’s easy to draw up this blueprint, it’s much more difficult to implement. Were they to clear waivers, sending Husso ($4.75 million AAV) and Holl ($3.4 million AAV) to the AHL Grand Rapids Griffins would require the Red Wings to eat a bunch of salary. It would also be suggesting, especially in Holl’s case, that Yzerman made a major mistake signing him to a three-year deal.

The Red Wings have been trending in the right direction! Will 2024-25 be the year they break through and earn a postseason spot? #LGRW pic.twitter.com/mMENxzclXs

— Bally Sports Detroit (@BallySportsDET) October 4, 2024

As for the proposed Compher trade, are the Hurricanes likely to be willing to take him on, knowing he has four more years left on his pact at $5.1 million per season? Not likely.

Finally – and this is the real kicker here – have any of Danielson, Kasper, or Mazur really shown enough in this training camp to warrant an NHL roster spot?

Again, that answer looks to be leaning toward no.

In camp, Kasper is probably looking the closest of the three to being ready to make the leap. That being said, he still has warts in his game. It was Kasper’s mistake on the penalty kill that led to the game-winning goal in Detroit’s Thursday loss to Toronto.

“He probably had his fingerprints on the goal against,” Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde said. “A little bit out of position on the kill, but you need those minutes.

“He’ll learn from it.”

Those are lessons that they’ll prefer for Kasper to learn with the Griffins.

The Red Wings also worry about whether he’ll be able to score enough as an NHLer to be a top-six forward. Kasper is better off spending another campagain in GR. He’ll be playing top-six minutes and performing in all situations, including on the power play.

The Red Wings could certainly emulate the Tigers and make a playoff run this season. If they do, however, it will be by following a much different blueprint.