Jonas-Gustavsson-4-26-14

Red Wings Xavier Ouellet (61), Daniel Alfredsson, Niklas Kronwall (55) and Brendan Smith gather around Jonas Gustavsson after being eliminated by the Bruins.

(The Associated Press)

DETROIT – The growth of their young players during the regular season showed the Detroit Red Wings are headed in the right direction and their future is bright.

The playoff series against the Boston Bruins showed how far the Red Wings have to go to become legitimate Stanley Cup contenders again.

“We’re not there,” coach Mike Babcock said after his team's 4-2 loss in Game 5 Saturday. “(Boston) is like we used to be in ’08 and ’09 and ’07. They’re a legit contender with good depth and good experience. The last two years we battled to get in the playoffs. To me that’s the measure of where we are. We’re a team that used to battle to win the Cup. We’re battling to get in the playoffs.”

The Red Wings have been ousted in the first round two of the past three years and haven’t advanced past the second round the past five seasons.

The off-season will bring many changes. Several veterans won’t return. Rookies and young players who stepped up during the season must continue to grow. And the Red Wings, with ample salary-cap space, will seek upgrades through free agency.

"We got to improve our team," Babcock said. "Part of that is going to be from just the growth of players and health. If we get (Pavel) Datsyuk and (Henrik) Zetterberg healthy that makes a huge difference; and Darren Helm for that matter.

“Our back end has got to be better and we got to be able to score better up front. That means the kids that scored during the regular season got to find a way to do it in playoffs. But it doesn’t happen the first time. For Pavel it didn’t happen the second time. You get some bitter disappointments.”

General manager Ken Holland expressed disappointment after his team lost four games in a row to the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Bruins following a Game 1 victory.

“We had higher hopes than going out in five games in the first round,” Holland said. “We had some real good things happen but we’re disappointed we didn’t finish higher in the standings and do better in the playoffs.

“We are trying to be a playoff team, trying to compete and advance in the playoffs and trying to be a Cup contender. We just played a team that lost three regulation games in the last 28 games and two were against the Red Wings. We played a juggernaut, experienced team.”

The Red Wings’ biggest needs are a goal-scoring winger, preferably with decent size, and a top-four defenseman, preferably a right-handed shooter.

“We need more scoring, but lots of teams need that,” Holland said. “Lots of teams are looking for a right-handed shooting defenseman. If we can find a top-four right-handed shooting defenseman by trade or free agency, we’d certainly like to add one.”

The Red Wings have 17 players signed for slightly less than $50 million for 2014-15. After they ink restricted free agents Danny DeKeyser, Tomas Tatar and Riley Sheahan, they’ll still be well under the $70.1 million salary cap.

If Daniel Alfredsson opts to play another season, the Red Wings would consider bringing him back. David Legwand, who didn't have much of an impact and finished the playoffs on the fourth line, probably won't be re-signed. Defenseman Kyle Quincey also is unlikely to return, possibly replaced by young Xavier Ouellet



The free-agent market is thin on defense. Right-handed shooting puck-mover Matt Niskanen of Pittsburgh likely is at the top of the Red Wings’ wish list but is sure to draw interest from many teams. Other right-handed shooting defensemen possibly headed to free agency include Derek Morris of Phoenix and Dan Boyle of San Jose.

Potential free-agent forwards include Thomas Vanek, Matt Moulson, Paul Stastny, Ryan Callahan, Marian Gaborik, Devin Setoguchi and Jussi Jokinen.

The Red Wings would like to re-sign back-up goaltender Jonas Gustavsson. Petr Mrazek is likely to spend another season with the Grand Rapids Griffins.

Babcock said it’s important for players who missed significant chunks of the season with injuries (Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Helm, Johan Franzen, Jonathan Ericsson) to work on their conditioning this summer.

“All in all, I think when you sit back in a week or two, there will be lots of positives,” Babcock said.

Holland said the experience and confidence the younger players gained through bigger roles can only help next season.

“I’m proud we made the playoffs for the 23rd straight year,” Holland said. “It’s hard to make the playoffs. Half the league doesn’t make it.

“I’m disappointed we’re out, but we got beat by a team that was better.”

Salary cap commitments

The Red Wings have 18 players signed for approximately $51.3 million (that includes Jordin Tootoo, who finished the season in Grand Rapids). The 2014-15 salary cap is $71.1 million:

Forwards

Pavel Datsyuk $7.5 million

Henrik Zetterberg $6.03 million

Stephen Weiss $4.9 million

Johan Franzen $3.95 million

Darren Helm $2.125 million

Jordin Tootoo $1.9 million

Justin Abdelkader $1.8 million

Drew Miller $1.35 million

Gustav Nyquist $950,000

Joakim Andersson $732,500

Tomas Jurco $709,167

Luke Glendening $628,333

Defensemen

Niklas Kronwall $4.75 million

Jonathan Ericsson $4.25 million

Jakub Kindl $2.4 million

Brendan Smith $1.262 million

Brian Lashoff $725,000

Goaltenders

Jimmy Howard $5.291 million

Restricted free agents

Danny DeKeyser

Riley Sheahan

Tomas Tatar

Unrestricted free agents

Daniel Alfredsson

Todd Bertuzzi

Daniel Cleary

Jonas Gustavsson

David Legwand

Kyle Quincey

Mikael Samuelsson