Your 2010/2011 Red Wings

Next stop Detroit?

Cliff's Notes brought up some good points yesterday with regard to next season's Red Wings' roster.

I've been clamoring for a new defenseman to come in and instill some new life, but the Wings are set on Jakob Kindl. With Meech and Lebda already biding their time, the Wings actually have too many bodies already. The organization is high on Kindl, so they'll try him in the top-6 like Ericsson this past year.

My guess at pairings:

Lidstrom-Ericsson (I hope)

Stuart-Kronwall

Rafalski-Kindl

They'll resign Lebda & Meech for depth but let (the more expensive) Lilja walk. So, unless Lidstrom retires, I can't imagine the Wings signing yet another defenseman.

Sidenote: One reason to watch tonight is that it's possibly Lidstrom's last game. I pray that's not the case, but it's definitely possible.

As for the forwards, Cliff's Notes pointed out that Datsyuk, Z, Franzen, Filppula, Cleary, and Hudler have six of the twelve forward spots. Holland will definitely re-sign Helm and Abdelkader, and he'll likely re-sign Homer, Eaves and Drew Miller too.

Kris Draper is under contract. While most fans would like to see him ride into the sunset, my guess is the Wings will honor his years of service and grant him one of the final spots. He's not factored in the playoffs, but he played well with the Helm/Eaves unit in the regular season. With Draper in the mix, there are no forward spots remaining, but they must add a scorer.

One problem with this year's Red Wings is their 3rd and 4th liners were often liabilities. In past seasons, they could roll out four lines of top-tier scorers (like Robitaille, Hull, Kozlov). The addition of Hudler will help, but they need more.

The Helm/Draper/Eaves line poses energy/physicality problems for the opposition. Yet, if the Wings also trot out Miller/Abdelkader/Hudler, they've in essence got two grind lines. They need an upgrade. I vote that they move Miller to the bench and replace him with a veteran 20 goal scorer. Who would fit that bill?

The top free agent forwards are Ilya Kovalchuk and Patrick Marleau. My guess is that both will re-sign with their current teams. Next up would be Tomas Plekanec and Lee Stempniak. We just saw Stempniak in the Phoenix series, and he was a bit of a non-factor. I can't say I've seen Plekanec much (thank you, NHL, for forcing the Wings into the Western Conference), but his stats show a consistent knack for points. Plekanec made $2.75M last year, and the Wings should be able to offer close to $4M. With Plekanec in the fold, the Wings replace that firepower lost when Samuelsson bolted.

Make it happen, Holland.