Transcript of Detroit Red Wings 2024-25 NHL Season Preview | The Steve Dangle Podcast

The Detroit Red Wings. Detroit. That is actually how Bob Cole used to call them. Detroit Red Wings. Detroit. Now, the Red Wings had... They had 91 points last year.

Who did?

The Detroit Red Wings. Detroit. They finished fifth, which sounds great, except that they were out of the playoff hunt by seven points.

At the three-week mark of October, The Winged Wheel podcast was celebrating popping champagne because the Red Wings started off so hot and we're looking like just pea-lining for a playoff spot.

If I'm not mistaken, Hall started really well.

Yeah, they had a really hot start last year. They did have a great start, but it faltered towards the end of the season. So what do the Detroit Red Wings do now without really too many major ads, except in one area. And as of this recording, this is the most insane thing that you're ever going to see. So first off, you had Billy Hussle. You also have Alex Lyon, who you also had last year.

Nhl goalie.

You also have Cam Talbot.

Nhl goalie. Literally an All-Star last year.

You also have Jack Campbell.

Played NHL games last year.

You also have Gage Alexander.

I don't know who that is.

You also have Sebastian Cosa.

Really good prospect.

You also have Carter Guylander. Guylander.

That's made up.

No, it's a real... That's not a few.

How many names into the list until we're like, Adam, you're lying?

I know. And that is how many goalies. That's seven goal tenders right now. And As of this recording, they haven't cut any of them.

No, I don't think their plan is to cut any goal.

How do you carry... Do you just not dress? Do you dress a top four on defense and a top nine on forward? How do you do this?

A few years ago, the infamous Ian Tulak in fantasy hockey was doing really pooh, and so he just decided to hoard all the goalies to screw with us. And I think that's what the Red Wings are doing right now. That's crazy.

That's a crazy amount of goal. They did hoard a lot of mid goalies. It's crazy. Now, Cam Talbot, I'm not taking anything away from Cam Talbot or Billy Hussle or Alex Lyon. All of them have had spurts of success. The problem in Detroit is they haven't had sustained success.

If anyone's taken anything away from them, it's the Detroit Red Wings. They're taking games played away from them.

Yeah, but it sounds like Detroit really doesn't trust any of them yet.

No. But then isn't that the problem? If you have to have... This is the second year in a row that they've had four goaltenders who can play NHL games because last year, Jack Campbell was just James Reimer. He was on their roster, and then they had the other three. So they've replaced one old leafs goalie with another old leafs goalie. And if you have four goal tenders because you can't trust any of the goal tenders, that seems like it's a problem with your goal tender.

A bit of an issue.

By the way, That's a big issue. I've been right about a lot of things. But one thing that I called out right as it was happening is when Jack Campbell started playing well last year, no one gave a damn. They just wanted to It was the Britney Spears effect. It was like, Can you believe this train wreck? And he got sent down, and he's doing poorly in the AHL, and everyone's like, Let's point and laugh at this guy. Jack Campbell ended the season in the American Hockey League, Bakersfield Condors, with a 18, save percentage in a record of 18, 13, and one. So would I want him to be my team starter? No. Those days have passed. Could he play NHL games for you and it not be a disaster?

Yes. Totally.

Absolutely. Well, I think the story was the fact that he wasn't an NHL goalie, and then all of a sudden seemed not to be.

Well, he was like an 8, 70.

Hey, listen, we can't relate to Toronto Samsonoff.

I think I said in there, Camp Talbot was a Red Wing last year. He wasn't. He was a king. That's That's right. But yeah, they're the three goal tenders. They had Hussle and Reimer in there.

Name a goalie. Say they were a Red Wing last year. It was a solid chance. You're right.

That's right. Solid chance. It's going to be fascinating to see who the starters are. It feels like Husso, Talbot, and Lion are the leaders.

That's three guys.

Which of the three gets kicked. You can't have three guys. Right. And a lot of teams that are looking for goalies are watching the Red Wings like, Okay, which one are you putting on waiver? Because I'm grabbing that one.

Well, last year we said that, and then they were just like, Okay, fine. We'll keep them. I think they're going to do it again.

Now, they have an interesting defense setup because you have Mo Cider. When you have Mo Cider, sign to a new contract. You're in good shape. That's a great place to start.

That contract's crazy.

You know what you need to do?

It's so good.

Pair him with Ben Sherratt. And then your next guy after Mo Cider is the ghost of Jeff Petrie.

Hey, Adam, he also might play with Olimata.

I'm sorry. You're right. Or maybe Simon Edmondson. Listen, there's so many options. But I'm saying that Cider- That would be a better option than the two old guys. Petrie and the underrated, I'd say Eric Gustafsson, are your right-hand side? Yes. I think Gustafsson is taking Petrie's spot by the end of the season. Gustafsson is not known for his defense. End of the month. Yeah. Gustafsson is a big points getter. He's a guy just hammer. Good fantasy pickup for your bench.

He was tagged as a guy who's all offense, can't defend. And the Leaps didn't hold on to him after acquiring him at the deadline. He was pretty good on the Rangers. I liked him last year.

And he plays on the right side, which the Leaps needed last year. But let's not get into it. Sherrott, Edmondson, and Oli Madder are your left side. And listen, I know within the league, Ben Sherrott has his... I mean, Iserman has got to be one of them. He signed on that contract. But this is... It feels like you're doing more each side a bit of a... You're doing them dirty here.

That 2021 thing, you stick him with Shay Webber. You have him be the Mark Mathata Eric Carlson. Man, that's a few years ago now, and he wasn't very fleet of foot then. I don't love that situation for Detroit.

And the situation up front is this.

It looks really... Before you move to pass by the defense, Edmondson, 2021 draft pick, sixth overall. He's going to be really good. I like him. He's going to be a stud in this league, and that could be your top pair of Edmondson and Cider one day for a long time. It's just three through seven. Yeah.

They have a really good record of drafting defenseman sixth overall. Right.

It has to be okay. I would be thrilled if they put Sheraht and Petrie together just for the lulls. In the minors? What about Justin Hall.

He deserves that.

Well, Justin Hall does not currently project to be in the top six. He might get waived. This is what's interesting.

How much is he making?

3.4 million dollars, which was the exact same amount of money Jake Wallman was making before they gave him up for next year.

And he's not making the roster at three point something million dollars?

Well, maybe they'll claim there's a rotation again like they did last year. And they said, Don't worry, guys, this is totally normal. We signed a UFA to only play 50 or 60 games, not the full 82.

Yeah, but Red Wings fans, when they were chirping us about that, had the swagger, and they had it, unfortunately, beaten out of them.

Right. And I- Buy their own team. There are values for a guy like Justin Hall, as we saw. Good penalty killer. That's what I kept hearing in Toronto. Good penalty killer.

It's the National Hockey League, and you got to be good at more than one thing. I'm so sick of hearing that about a player. Oh, they're good at it. No, you got to be a good overall player or get off the team.

And if you're a Red Wings fan, remember, we had Justin Hall in the top four, and many were proud of it.

And some nights with Morgan Reilly. Yeah.

Tortured. Dibrincat, Larkin, Lucas, Raymond. That first line is fucking unbelievable.

Well, so the Red Wings put a very interesting line in the sand this summer, where Raymond and Cider both had their contract demands, and the Red Wings said, We are not paying you more per year than Dylan Larkin.

They Jason are not. Well, yes.

And if you look, though, at how the Red Wings did down the stretch without Dylan Larkin, there's an argument. I guess people forget because Detroit, it almost became an afterthought after being this juggernaut for years and years. Dylan Larkin might still be underrated at 8.7 million bucks. He was such an important part of that team, and they just weren't able to overcome his absence.

If you look at their record and when Dylan Larkert went out towards the end and then to the end of the season, it's because he went out, and they didn't have the depth around him to fill that spot, to maintain where they were in the standings. But he was their whole team at that point, and he went out and they collapsed. The goal tending also wasn't there. Both goalies just hovering around 900 for that entire season.

Maybe you shouldn't Can't have a three goalie set up. Is that part of the reason why they struggled?

904 Alex Lyon, 904 James Ryan, or 892 Vili Hussle. You can't win like that. Plus your star player goes out. It was a recipe for disaster.

Now, I'm looking at Tarasenko, Comfor and Kane on the second line. Tarasenko is obviously the big ad up front, can still put up numbers, as can Cain. If you look at Patrick Cain's numbers, they're actually sneakily very good. Fifty games, 47 points, 20 goals in 50 games.

A point of game player, there's nothing sneaky about it.

He was great. I think with Tarasenko being able to connect with Cain, listen, I'm not expecting Tarasenko to be on any video game covers anytime soon the way he used to be. But would you be shocked if he got 30 goals?

I don't think so. Two of those guys were on the cover. That's right. I would... That top six is fine. It's A-O-K. It's not going to be a one-man army. And Lucas Raymond took such a step last year.

That's a really good player. Now, Rasmussen, Kopp, Christian Fischer is at least the projections right now. Eder Kopp, good serviceable NHL player.

It's just like, if you're asking me to look at that and be like that bad, I'm not going to do that, but that don't get me excited.

And what about Jonathan Bergen, Joe Valeno and Tyler Mott? Bergen. Bergen, sorry. And Joe Verlano and Tyler Mott.

That gets me a lot more excited. I'd almost like switch the two places. The third line is built a little bit more like a line, and the fourth line is built a little bit more like a third line. When you have that fourth line down that far in the depth chart, it's not a fourth line as much as it is a, here are our other three forwards. And I just don't know if that works. And I mean, the way the roster is constructed or the cap situation is constructed, I wonder how many nights they're like, you know what, 11-7. We have the defenders. Yeah.

Well, and I look at a guy like, and as of this recording, he's not been cut, but the ninth overall pick in 2023, Nate Danielson. I'm wondering if he gets a look this year. When he was traded, he was with the Brandon Weekings for parts of four seasons, traded midway through the season last year, and went from a point a game to two points every game. Is that good? That's good. And again, he's 20. But does he get a look in the first nine games of the season? And they do need some depth scoring on that center position. Can you afford it?

You got six goalies to feed. I just keep going back to the same thing. No, that would be good for the Red Wings to explore, I think. I don't really know what you're risking by having them do that. And like, Man, over two points a game. It's funny. When you take a step in the NHL, it's like, oh, you went from okay to good or very good. You can't dominate players in the NHL the way you dominate them in the WHL. Like, WHL, the is this guy's a really good player to no one else on the ice can hang, which is... I mean, two points a game is ridiculous.

91 points for the Red Wings last year. The over-under is 90.5. So it's a spicy over-under. I'm sure Steve will hammer the over anyway.

I know. I've hammered the over so many times.

If you've been following along with all of the previews, Steve has been hammering the over on every single team.

And not just a little.

It doesn't really make sense.

Someone tracked it on our Discord. What was that?

When we were 24 at episodes in previews, and you were at 19 over.

I took the under on the sabers, so that's 19 out of 25. And you know what? It's now 19 out of 26. I got the Red Wings finishing sixth, and I'm going to hit the under There's no one there.

Yeah, but you're just doing it because you want to be over guy.

No, because the division is really good. Last year, it felt like there was a dog fight for that final spot, and I just have the sends above them.

Jesse, you shouldn't have told them.

I know. I I should have told you once we did them all so I could see if you were like 30 out of 32 over.

Just wait for Boston. Everybody's going to get more points. Jesse.

I'm under sixth place. I don't think this team is done either. You just did the same thing as me. I don't think this team is done. I think there's some tinkering to be done by Isermann. I think they can easily be a playoff team. But right now, as it's constructed, they're sixth to me.

Is it funny for me to say that even with all their goalies, I still feel they could use some goal-tending help. And I mean that. They need a star goalie here.

No, quantity over quality. That's his plan.

We're going to do this by committee. I don't know.

That's going to be quite the committee. It's a big committee. I'm absolutely saying under on Detroit. I'm really low on the wings this year. I think they're a seventh-place team. I don't see any reason that... Okay, first off, you got the top four teams in this division, and then you've got Ottawa, who I think should be much improved. Travis Green is the coach. O'mark is the goalie. Then you got the Buffalo Sabers. I just don't see how they can finish higher, even if they get out to a hot start and people are dunking on us early in October. I'm not a fan of how this team is constructed. I think there's some good pieces, but I almost wonder if guys like Kane and Tarasaco are going to be trade deadline father.

I say it every Atlantic team video. I don't think there's a bad team.

There is.

It's Montreal. Yeah, but somebody has to finish 6, 7, 8. I know. They can all be good, but somebody has got to be in those positions.

That's why I said I'm not trying to insult Detroit, but I do think that Buffalo and Ottawa at this point are more complete teams. I just do. Maybe Ottawa's defense, but we'll figure it out. Anyway, that's your Detroit Red Wings season preview. Feel free to hate on in the comments..