Cash-strapped Detroit Red Wings have to develop, rely on youngsters

Helene St. James | Detroit Free Press

Show Caption Hide Caption Watch: Meet three Red Wings draft picks Detroit Red Wings draft picks Colin Fraser, Zach Gallant and Keith Petruzzelli talk with reporters Saturday, June 24, 2017 at United Center in Chicago.

Bigger roles for developing players are a factor as the Detroit Red Wings approach free agency.

The Wings are hoping to add a veteran defenseman with a bit of offense to him when the market opens Saturday at noon, but signings beyond that are doubtful. The Wings don’t have much money – about $7.9 million, but most of that will go towards resigning Tomas Tatar, Andreas Athanasiou and Xavier Ouellet.

Wings general manager Ken Holland and coach Jeff Blashill have spoken to numerous pending unrestricted free agents this week, focusing primarily on defensemen. Trevor Daley would improve the top four and add some offense. Ron Hainsey has a good shot and could likewise add a little offense. Brian Campbell is another possibility – he can skill skate, and again, would add a scoring touch to a back end where Mike Green is one of the few offensive producers.

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The Wings have also had casual conversations with the camp for forward Thomas Vanek. The Wings signed Vanek to a one-year deal last July, and he panned out way beyond hope – he made his linemates better and had 38 points in 48 games when he was traded to the Panthers at the deadline in March. But re-signing him may not happen again for budget reasons.

What money the Wings have will first aid the defense. Up front, the plan is for Anthony Mantha, Dylan Larkin and Athanasiou to play bigger roles. And while there are split opinions within the organization on whether Tyler Bertuzzi is ready to join the Wings out of camp or would be better served by getting a half-step quicker and a little bit bulkier before doing so, Blashill sees Bertuzzi as someone who can make the Wings harder to play against because he has an edge to him.

Mantha, the Wings’ first-round pick from the 2013 draft, averaged 15:54 minutes per game last season, with 1:53 on power plays. Athanasiou averaged 13:27 minutes, with 1:12 coming on power plays and :31 on penalty kills. Larkin averaged 16:09 minutes, with 1:52 of that coming on power plays.

One of the success stories the last month of the season, and at the IIHF World Championship, was how well Larkin played in a center role after struggling to make that transition to start last season. He’ll be put in the middle again to start next season – with the hope he can ease the burden on Henrik Zetterberg, who, at 36, averaged 19:43 minutes per game, two minutes more than any other forward on the roster.

Mantha began last season in the minors after an uninspired performance in his last exhibition game. He was called up mid-November. There was frustration within the Wings that Mantha doesn’t regularly apply himself as much as possible – when he really skates and drives the net, he is much more noticeable – but Mantha seemed to get the message by late in the year. His season was cut short after fracturing a finger in an ill-advised fight against Tampa Bay's Luke Witkowski on March 30..

Athanasiou likewise drew the ire of the coaching staff because he is not an “every dayer,” the term applied to the likes of Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk because of how they show up game after game.

Athanasiou is young (22) and hopefully he matures into that, because his speed and finishing touch make him incredibly dynamic. He was second on the team with 18 goals, despite averaging the second-lowest playing time among forwards who logged at least 60 games.

For the Wings to be competitive next season, it must come from within – from Mantha, Larkin and Athanasiou playing more, and from the plethora of players who underperformed last season, starting with Petr Mrazek. He is coming off a mediocre year that segued from the Wings to the World Championship. The Wings will be much better if he returns motivated and goalie Jimmy Howard, who had a career year, stays healthy.

Tatar finished with 25 goals, but had only nine at the season’s mid-point and three of those were from one game. Gustav Nyquist had 12 goals and 48 points.

Justin Abdelkader, Darren Helm, Danny DeKeyser and Riley Sheahan are among those who need bounce-back seasons if the Wings are to be competitive.

The power play was so horrendous the first four months it defied belief: The Wings didn't convert on the road from Oct. 20 to Jan. 12 and had an NHL-worst conversion rate of 10.9% in early February. When it finally started clicking, the power play was at 24.4% the last 30 games.

If it could be in the 17-18% range consistently next season, the Wings should win more games.

If the Wings can add a low-salary veteran to help them patch a hole or two, it’s a good investment. The bigger emphasis, as the Wings seek to regain their footing, has to be on developing the talent already on the team.

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