The Red Wings’ future core players are nearing NHL readiness. It’s imperative to get them NHL experience so that they can better develop, but doing so must also trickly weigh the impacts on its present playoff contention.
Whether he’s in the lineup or in the press box this season, defenseman Albert Johansson is going to be in the NHL. He can’t play anywhere else, unless the Detroit Red Wings want to risk losing him to a waiver claim. Yet with a grand total of zero NHL games, Johansson’s inexperience is going to force Detroit to balance getting him enough games to develop while also not exposing his flaws as it pushes for a playoff spot.
Perhaps the Red Wings wish they had gotten him into games earlier. Last season, no natural windows opened for Johansson to get into games as blue line health limited the need for call-ups. And whereas past seasons saw some late-season appearances for young players to get experience, Detroit’s playoff hopes lasted all 82 games last season, meaning there was never a natural point at which to call up the kids and let them loose to end a foregone season.
Oct 3, 2023; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Detroit Red Wings defenseman Albert Johansson (20) warms up before a preseason hockey game against the Chicago Blackhawks at United Center.
Mandatory Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports
“We’re confident that at some point, (Johansson) will play,” Detroit general manager Steve Yzerman said July 4. “We were really fortunate last year we didn’t have a lot of injuries on D. A couple guys didn’t play much because of that. We don’t want anybody to get hurt, but the odds are we’re going to face some injuries. … We’re just going to keep going along and be patient with our younger defensemen.”
If the Red Wings are lucky, they’ll have to scheme around much the same health and contention problem this season, too. But this raises the question of how to properly address the need to get young players into games. How can Detroit balance getting its future core into games without jeopardizing its playoff hopes? It’s complicated.
Detroit is at the crossroads of a team contending for its first playoff appearance since 2016, while also bringing along key players of its future core. Many of those future Red Wings are increasingly showing readiness for the NHL. Carter Mazur, Marco Kasper and Nate Danielson are all expected to compete for roster spots in training camp. If they don’t make it to the opening night roster, they’re going to make it up to Detroit soon.
In an ideal world, the Red Wings don’t want a Johansson situation on their hands — that is, a player who is forced into the NHL without having played at least one call-up to the league. None of the three forwards vying for spots have to worry about that soon, as Mazur is the closest to waiver eligibility with two seasons to go. But Detroit’s plan to compete for the playoffs — as well as Yzerman’s overall M.O. of patient prospect maturation — suggests that it will still be some time before its future core players all become NHL regulars.
As THN Detroit recently discussed on The Silky Mitten State, it seems as though one of those forward prospects might make the opening night roster this season, but there isn’t roster space for all three as it is currently positioned. Two of them will probably sit in the minors for another season, dependent on the big club’s health and competitiveness to get a call-up.
This is dicey territory, as Johansson’s lack of NHL games shows. But the caveat for him is that there are just six or seven roster spots for defensemen, while forwards are much more abundant. But more available spots doesn’t mean that they’re necessarily open for young players to claim. Yzerman has shown a tendency to call up veterans when injuries occur, like he did late last season with Austin Czarnik and Zach Aston-Reese. Amid solid seasons in the AHL from Kasper and Mazur particularly, those two weren’t just given NHL games. Yzerman appears ready to follow much the same script, signing AAAA veterans Sheldon Dries and Joe Snively in free agency. Whichever of the Red Wings’ young forward trio doesn’t make the NHL roster might find it exceedingly difficult to get games this season.
This tracks with Yzerman’s overall philosophy to make players earn their roster spots without a shadow of a doubt. He wants his prospects to give him a roster management problem, rather than just bring them along because they’re the future. But maybe, the need to prepare future players should take priority.
No matter how much a player can light up the AHL, playing in the NHL is a different beast. To tame it, players benefit from getting call-ups where they can compare their progress to where they need to be. Edvinsson did it, playing 23 games across two late-season call-ups that have him primed for his upcoming rookie season. Out of the three young forwards competing for spots, only Kasper has played in the NHL with a single game at the end of 2022-23.
Players can be effective without having played prior call-ups. Defenseman Moritz Seider and winger Lucas Raymond, the most successful prospects of the Yzerman tenure, made the team out of training camp. However, such a scenario happened with a far less competitive Red Wings team that really wasn’t a playoff hopeful. They weren’t unseating competitive NHL regulars like today’s rookies will have to do.
So if players like Mazur, Kasper and Danielson could benefit from call-ups, then how does Detroit accomplish this? The Red Wings can’t just throw them wantonly into the fire if they want to be a playoff team. Last season’s playoff push ended one point shy of the postseason, showing how razor-thin playoff margins can be. Any one mistake can have major implications on a season on a larger scale, and rookies have a propensity to make mistakes due to their inexperience.
But when there is an opportunity to play prospects — that is, when NHL regulars get injured, or if the Red Wings underperform and find themselves well outside the playoff picture — then it would do Detroit good to get its youth into some games. Not only would this give its players the chance to grow in full-scale reps, but it would also give Detroit a chance to see what it has and inform future decisions about the lineup with knowledge of how effective its future core might be.
How do you build those winning habits? How do you know if that future core can actually win? You let them play games. Instead of throwing these players into the fire inexperienced like Johansson, Detroit should give them the necessary runway to build up momentum and succeed. That’s also ignoring how these dynamic young players can help contend for the playoffs, too, if put in the right scenarios. If the Red Wings want their future core to build toward the playoffs, they can’t let the present playoff push be too big for them either.
Getting young players into games might be a difficult process considering Detroit’s playoff ambitions, but it could improve its chances in the long run. If Yzerman is committed to being patient to preserve that future success, then getting members of that core group prepared should be a priority.
The Red Wings don’t want a Johansson situation to become the norm with so many prospects pushing toward NHL contention. But they also don’t want rookie mistakes affecting their playoff hopes. They’re probably not going to get the best of both worlds, but striking some sort of balance should be a priority this season.
