NHL Postseason Dissection: Sharks, Red Wings Look To Future

The NHL postseason is upon us unless you’re the Detroit Red Wings or San Jose Sharks. What went wrong with this pair?

With less than a week remaining in the National Hockey League regular season, the Stanley Cup playoff spots have been clinched. The race in the Eastern Conference has pretty much been over since the All-Star break, while the final spots in the Western Conference may come down to the last few games.

With most of the teams that are mathematically eliminated playing out the string, it is a good time to see exactly why they ended up on the outside looking in. We look at one club that is going through a slow and patient rebuild and another burdened by declining veterans with big salaries.

Detroit Red Wings

What went wrong?

The Wings were never expected to be in the Eastern Conference race, but the club stayed within shouting distance of a playoff spot in the first half with an assemblage of promising youngsters and veteran hole-pluggers. Their defensive issues (31st in the NHL with 309 goals allowed currently) killed that progress in the second half.

What went right?

Detroit two prized rookies (defenseman Moritz Seider and forward Lucas Raymond) had excellent first seasons and both are legitimate Calder Trophy candidates to build around. Veterans Dylan Larkin and Tyler Bertuzzi had excellent seasons, as did Jakub Vrana after returning from injury, and goalie Alex Nedeljkovic proved to be a workhorse.

GM Steve Yzerman continued to be active in the market, acquiring young players like Mitchell Stephens and Olli Juolevi via trade and moving out veteran rentals Nick Leddy and Vladislav Namestnikov at the deadline for draft picks at the deadline.

What will they do?

It may be too soon for Yzerman to make a big move in free agency to make Detroit more competitive, but with a large amount of available cap space, the Wings could be players in the trade market with teams looking to shed salary or who are incapable of signing a player to their second contract. It is likely that Yzerman continues to add talent through the draft (10 picks in 2022) and add a free agent here or there, but the methodical pace is going to take them at least two or three more years before they become viable playoff contenders.

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San Jose Sharks

What went wrong?

The Sharks have been killed by the NHL’s flat salary cap and bad contracts to aging veterans like Mark-Edouard Vlasic and Brent Burns, and Erik Karlsson’s inability to stay healthy. The Evander Kane sideshow proved to be a distraction that was finally remedied by terminating his contract, but the grievance on whether that was lawful is still under review by the league. Following the buyout of Martin Jones, San Jose hoped that the tandem of Adin Hill and James Reimer would give them a chance to be in the mix, but that plan did not work and at the deadline, they traded with Minnesota for Kaapo Kahkonen.

What went right?

San Jose has developed some under-the-radar prospects like Kevin Labanc and Mario Ferraro into NHLers and turned long-term project Jacob Middleton into a tradable commodity to acquire a potential goalie of the future in Kahkonen. The best move made by interim GM Joe Will was getting center Tomas Hertl signed to an eight-year extension before the trade deadline, giving the Sharks strength up the middle with him and Logan Couture. Timo Meier had a career year, leading the team in scoring and reaching the 35-goal mark for the first time.

What will they do?

San Jose gave 2021 top pick William Eklund a look at the start of the season before sending him back to the SHL, but it is likely that the 19-year-old will be given every chance to make the NHL roster. The Sharks will be doing a thorough search for a new GM after the departure of Doug Wilson, and first on the agenda may be whether to buy out Vlasic with four years left on his contract or see if there is any interest in a 37-year-old Brent Burns.