As teams such as Edmonton, Montreal, San Jose and the NY Rangers struggle to match the high hopes they started the season with, the Detroit Red Wings are overachieving and look more like a playoff contender than one that’s All-In for Dahlin.

By missing out on the playoffs last season, the Red Wings had their season cut short for the first time in 25 years. That streak greatness can be attributed to good management, smart drafting and a development system that produces many all-star talents.

But as those players have left the NHL, the Wings have been in decline, which has left many believing it’s time for general manager Ken Holland to blow up the roster and go into a full rebuild, a la Edmonton, Buffalo, Arizona and Toronto.

Hockey Central Red Wings GM: Disappointed with lack of progress for new Athanasiou deal October 18 2017 Your browser does not support the audio element.



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As those teams have proven, though, that kind of approach can be long and unpredictable, and it’s not a road Holland is keen on taking.

“The rebuild is a long process to get to where you’re elite, I’m talking six, seven, eight years. We’re trying to be competitive,” Holland said on Hockey Central at Noon Wednesday. “It’s hard to make the playoffs. It’s a hard league and a hard conference. We’re trying to put a team on the ice we think is going to be competitive. We want to be playing big games in March.”

Holland pointed to how hard the Wings were hit by the injury bug last season, ranking among the highest man-games lost to injury. The team’s power play also went into the dump in the second half of last season, so modest improvement there and a little more luck with injuries should be enough to lift the Red Wings and keep them in the race longer.

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Goaltending especially is key. Petr Mrazek, 25, was expected to completely take over the No. 1 job, but his struggles in 2016-17 put the pressure back on Jimmy Howard, who had a strong .927 save percentage in 26 games, limited by his own injury problems. As the 33-year-old Howard continues to fight for his job, Holland believes the netminder is key to his team’s bounce back.

“He had a great year last year. Unfortunately for us he had a groin injury and missed about seven weeks,” Holland said. “If we can get 50 games out of Howie and he’s played good in the early going — he (also) played good in the World Championship at the end of the year for USA.

“To compete for a playoff spot we’re going to need to have real good goaltending.”

As the Wings enjoy a strong 4-2-0 start, there’s currently less of an urgency to get back RFA Andreas Athanasiou, who still hasn’t agreed on a new contract with the team. His speed and offensive upside are just the kind of skills a young, scrappy team like Detroit needs in the long-term, though.

Holland acknowledged that he’s in communication with Athanasiou’s agent and would prefer to have the 23-year-old forward in the lineup, but as the negotiations go on, there is reason to be concerned about how productive he’d be when he returns.

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“Andreas is gifted with a great pair of wheels and a good skill level — he can do things at high speed,” Holland said. “But you can see players who’ve missed training camp in past years and when you get behind in the NHL it’s a tough league to catch up on.

“The longer you go, I don’t care how talented you are, you start to get behind. It’s hard to get up to speed.”

The Red Wings are in Toronto Wednesday night for a game against the Leafs. And while Holland appears to not have any intention of stepping back and letting his team slide to the basement to try and get high draft picks, Detroit’s opponent is an example of what a rebuild can accomplish when it all comes together.

But the Wings GM reminds us that the Leafs weren’t built overnight.

“They’re one of the elite teams in the Eastern Conference,” Holland said. “They spent a lot of years drafting high skill players and they’re all out there. They’re a legitimate Stanley Cup contender.”