When Jeff Blashill took over the Red Wings in 2015-16, he had to like what he had on the blueline. Niklas Kronwall was still a stalwart. Jonathan Ericsson was still healthy. Danny DeKeyser was coming off a breakout season, Mike Green was coming over from the Capitals and Brendan Smith was coming into his own, or so it appeared. That was the last time the Wings made the playoffs. Blashill likes this year's blueline more.
"We have the most depth on D that we’ve had probably since I’ve been here," Blashill said Monday. "That, to me, is for sure."
The Red Wings open the season Thursday night against the defending Cup champs. And they'll likely have two healthy NHL defenseman watching from up top: Troy Stecher and free-agent acquisition Jordan Oesterle. Stecher was a regular in last year's lineup. Oesterle surely would have been. That was before Moritz Seider showed up, before Gustav Lindstrom showed up for more and before Nick Leddy arrived via a trade.
Seider and Leddy are slated to play on Detroit's second pair. Filip Hronek and DeKeyser are slated to play on the first, which says a lot about DeKeyser's ongoing recovery from back surgery in 2019 -- and a lot about back surgery itself. Nearly two years later, DeKeyser looks and feels more like himself. The third pair will likely be comprised of Lindstrom, who's entering his first full NHL season, and Marc Staal, who's entering his 15th. And at the first sign of trouble, Stecher and Oesterle will be waiting to swoop in.
"As I said to those defensemen, there’s going to be good players sitting out and they’re going to have to find a way to keep their heads above water and not let the mental strain (cause them) to lose confidence, because I just think it’s going to be really competitive back there," Blashill said.
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This is a refreshing change for the Wings, and a good starting point for a team trying to take the next step. Blashill likes to point out the NHL's best teams are built on the blueline. The Lightning will show up Thursday with a top four of Victor Hedman, Ryan McDonagh, Mikhail Sergachev and Eric Cernak, and that's after they parted ways with David Savard in free agency. The Wings are nowhere close to that, not yet. But it feels like they're moving in the right direction, particularly with Hronek and Seider poised to play big roles this season.
"I like teams that are built from the backend," Blashill said. "And although I’m sure there will be some growing pains with our younger payers, I think our backend is certainly deeper and has a chance to be real good. So we’ve got an opportunity to take a step (as a team). I will tell you, the step that we took last year is the easier one. Every step you move up the mountain gets harder and harder."
Blashill compared it to a golfer lowering his score from 100 to 90. It's harder to get to 80, and much harder than that to get to 70. It's like the NHL standings in reverse. The Wings crawled out of last place last season by playing at a 70-point pace. There's reason to believe they can crack 80 points this season. But it's a steep climb to 90 points, and steeper yet to 100. A strong blueline can get you there. Let's see where it gets the Wings in Blashill's seventh season behind the bench.