Mike-Green

The Red Wings might make a pitch for Mike Green if Washington looks to unload him with one year left on his contract.

(The Associated Press)

DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings will head into 2014-15 with virtually the same roster that finished 2013-14, barring a significant trade.

This isn't how they planned it. They desperately wanted to upgrade their back end by adding a right-handed shooting defenseman and pursued several free agents on Tuesday. For a variety of seasons, none of which were financial, Matt Niskanen (Washington), Dan Boyle (N.Y. Rangers), Stephane Robidas (Toronto) and Christian Ehrhoff (Pittsburgh) – the only lefty of the group – signed elsewhere.

It prompted the Red Wings to re-sign Kyle Quincey (two years at $8.5 million), leaving them in the same spot as last season – with the same seven left-handed shooting defensemen.

They will return 13 forwards (not including Daniel Alfredsson and Daniel Cleary, whose statuses remain undecided), losing only David Legwand, Todd Bertuzzi and Mikael Samuelsson from the season-ending roster. And they'll bring back the same goaltenders -- Jimmy Howard and Jonas Gustavsson.

It's a group that had to scrap for every precious point. They squeaked into the playoffs as the second wild-card in the Eastern Conference before being dispatched in five games by the Boston Bruins in the first round of the playoffs.

But while they have not improved thus far in the off-season, there is much room for improvement from within.

The Red Wings had 421 man-games lost to injury – second in the NHL according to mangameslost.com. They missed their best players for significant chunks of the season – Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg played 45 games each, Johan Franzen appeared in 54 games. Defensemen Jonathan Ericsson, Danny DeKeyser and Brendan Smith missed 62 games combined.

It was a wasted season for second-line center Stephen Weiss (four points in 26 games), who can only be healthier and better.

A team will have a lot of injuries every season, but not like that.

Fortunately, several young players stepped up. They must continue growing.

Gustav Nyquist, who led the team with 28 goals, won't be spending the first seven weeks of the season with the Grand Rapids Griffins like he did last year. Tomas Tatar, who had 19 goals, won't be a healthy scratch in eight of the first nine games like last season.

Riley Sheahan and Tomas Jurco gained valuable experience, each playing about half the season in Detroit.

Having all or many of these players for the entire season, or most of it, will boost an offense that ranked 16th out of 30 teams. That is why acquiring a forward was not the priority.

Improving the defense is vital. After missing out on others, the Red Wings brought back Quincey because he's an experienced player who rebounded from a bad first half to be one of their more dependable defenders in the second half – a top-four defenseman. Options were limited. They needed to fill that spot in case they're unable to swing a trade before the season.

General manager Ken Holland will continue exploring trade possibilities for a right-handed shooting defenseman.

Mike Green of Washington might be the most viable candidate, and he's probably available after the Capitals signed Niskanen and Brooks Orpik. Injuries have hampered Green in recent years, but he's a tremendous skater who produces offense and can quarterback the power play. That would be enough for the Red Wings to overlook his defensive deficiencies.

Green, 28, is in the final year of his contract at slightly more than $6 million, so the Red Wings might not have to part with a young, top-six forward, a top prospect or a first-round pick for him.

Other potential trade targets could cost more to acquire, including right-handed shooters Tyler Myers (Buffalo), Dustin Byfuglien (Winnipeg), Cody Franson (Toronto) and Jeff Petry (Edmonton) and lefties Keith Yandle (Arizona) and Alexander Edler (Vancouver).

If the Red Wings acquire another defenseman, they likely would trade Jakub Kindl, who has three years at $2.4 million per season remaining on his contract.

More players are sure to become available during the season. Cap space isn't an issue; the Red Wings are roughly $5 million-to-$6 million under the cap, factoring in the money it likely will take to re-sign restricted free agents Tatar and Danny DeKeyser.

The Bruins were the class of the East during the regular season, much better than the Red Wings. But the New York Rangers and Montreal Canadiens reached the conference finals. Those teams were better than Detroit, too, but not that much better.

Regardless of what moves the Red Wings make between now and the 2015 trade deadline, they are good enough to reach the playoffs for the 24th consecutive season. But after five consecutive years of losing in the first or second round, just making it in isn't good enough.

It won't take a major overhaul for the Red Wings to be able to compete with the top teams in the East, which isn't nearly as strong as the West. It starts with better health. They'll need continued growth from young players. Howard must be better.

And they still need to make a significant trade for a defenseman at some point.

-- Download the Detroit Red Wings on MLive app for iPhone and Android

-- Follow Ansar Khan and Brendan Savage on Twitter

-- Like MLive's Detroit Red Wings Facebook page