Fantasy season preview: Detroit Red Wings
Every year experts and pundits talk about how the Detroit Red Wings are too old to contend and every year the Red Wings prove them wrong. Although Detroit was not able to get to the Stanley Cup Finals last year they did make the play-offs and work their
way out of the first round. With a healthy club behind them many are predicting Detroit to rebound and travel all the way to the finals in 2010-11.
The Red Wings are a fantasy goldmine and can provide you with some of the best rotisserie pool players in the entire League. Up front they have a large cast of contributors, while at the back end they own several household names.
Forwards
Up front the Red Wings are as deep as ever. However, this season they offer a great deal of bounce-back potential as several veterans are now healthy and ready to challenge for the Western Conference title.
The guaranteed top selections at forward for the Red Wings are Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg. Datsyuk is a rotisserie pool superman as the guy simply does it all. 2009-10’s 27 goals, 70 points, plus-17, and 9 power play points (PP) were slow for the
centre. Expect Datsyuk to get back up around 90 points this season, while bringing his plus-minus back to above 20. Zetterberg can be expected to post similar numbers, having tallied 23 goals and 70 points last season, to go along with a plus-12 rating and
six game-winning-goals (GW).
In addition to the guarantees of Datsyuk and Zetterberg the Wings have a couple potential bounce-back players in Tomas Holmstrom, Dan Cleary and Johan Franzen. Holmstrom was limited to 68 games last year but still managed 25 goals and 13 PP. Cleary also
suffered an injury and only played in 64 games, but is still a solid mid-draft selection, as he recorded 15 goals last season. Finally Franzen was only able to play 27 games last year, but made the most of his time, notching 10 goals and 21 points, with six
PP.
Defence
At the back end the Wings are equally as stacked with Nicklas Lidstrom and Brian Rafalski expected to lead the way as the number one pairing. Lidstrom seems ageless as he potted 49 points last season, while going plus-22 with five PP. Rafalski is likely
to fill Lidstrom’s shoes as the number one defender when the Swede retires, as the American managed 42 points last year, while going plus-23.
The most likely candidate for a bounce back season on defence is Niklas Kronwall. The 29-year-old missed all but 48 games last season and still managed 22 points, a plus-5 rating and three PP. However, do not expect him to slip too far in the draft as he
has acquired quite a bit of notoriety.
Goaltending
The Red Wings have found a bona fide number one in youngster Jimmy Howard. The 26-year-old accumulated 37 wins last year while earning a .924 save-percentage and a 2.26 goals-against-average on his way to being nominated for the Calder Trophy. Howard is
a top pick between the pipes because of the protection Detroit provides the youngster. The likelihood of Detroit finishing near the top of the Western conference immediately places Howard’s name among the top ten net-minders in the League.
Backing him up will be Chris Osgood who struggled in his 21 starts last season. There has been a clear changing of the guard in net for the Red Wings as Howard now takes over as the team’s number one. Nevertheless, Osgood should get close to 25 starts next
season, which could provide you with a couple easy points.
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