Helene St. James

Detroit Free Press

For the Detroit Red Wings to be competitive again as soon as next season, their captain emphasizes it will have to happen from within the locker room.

Henrik Zetterberg included himself as he evaluated what went wrong for the Wings, who are out the playoffs for the first time in a quarter century.

“We have to be more consistent, we have to be better,” Zetterberg said. “We saw this season we can be a good team when we play well, but we were also very bad for stretches.”

Zetterberg added “we want to be a playoff team next year” and that making that happen “is up to us. Some will leave, and we will get some new ones, but most will be the same.”

General manager Ken Holland has told forward Drew Miller he will not be offered another contract by the Wings, but otherwise, everyone else is either under contract or restricted. The Wings could use some upgrades – most notably on the back end – but as Zetterberg pointed out, ditto around the NHL.

“All the teams want a top-one defenseman, and first-line center,” Zetterberg said. "Pretty sure Ken will do everything he can to make this team stronger, but most of it has to come from the guys in here. We have to be better.”

Zetterberg was the team’s best player and led them with 68 points and a .83 points-per-game average, but he pointed a finger at himself for not producing more than 13 power-play points despite logging the most power-play minutes at 243:11. The lack of a decent power play for the first four months of the season played a huge role in why the Wings struggled; it operated at 24.4% the final 30 games of the season, but by then it was too late.

Asked what encourages him as he looks towards next season, Zetterberg said: “The young kids are the future. They will take their steps. We have good young players that play on this team.”

Anthony Mantha and Andreas Athanasiou each came close to having 20-goal seasons, and Tomas Nosek used his month-long audition to make a strong case to be a regular next season as well. Tyler Bertuzzi could put himself into the mix with a good playoff run with Grand Rapids.

There may be a few fresh faces next season, but to be competitive again is mostly on those already with the team, from players to coaching staff.

“I know everyone in here is not happy about their season,” Zetterberg said. “So next year is a big year for everyone to come back and be better.”

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Contact Helene St. James: hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames.

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