What's the next move for the Detroit Red Wings?
Craig Custance: It's time to sell. There's going to be a temptation to give this current group every minute of opportunity to get back in the playoff race and keep the playoff streak alive, but the better move would be to join the sellers while it's still such a strong sellers market. The Red Wings have three goalies. They could move one of them. They have winger Thomas Vanek, who absolutely should be traded, even if the Red Wings want to bring him back again in the summer. Brendan Smith is a strong skating defenseman who has the skill to play in a top four -- with his contract expiring, he should be moved. Defenseman Mike Green could be valuable to a contender, too, if teams don't mind the term left on his contract. Steve Ott brings sandpaper and a strong veteran presence in the dressing room. The Red Wings shouldn't have trouble moving players once they're ready to go down that path.
Pierre LeBrun: A popular response to this question by many is to go with a total rebuild of the roster. To which I say: What exactly does that mean and how do you go about it? For starters, June's draft pool is not as strong as recent years, so there's very little reason to tank this season. Secondly, the Wings could still make the playoffs. Sure, I agree this roster obviously isn't good enough. But is there a Connor McDavid or Auston Matthews franchise player available to build around in the next three years? Likely not. So, I think all you can do if you're GM Ken Holland is replace some parts with younger ones bit by bit, but with a new rink next season also try to stay competitive.
Scott Burnside: This takes me back about 10 years when Brendan Shanahan had moved on to the New York Rangers and Steve Yzerman had retired and was learning the other side of the hockey business and the team was handed to Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg and Niklas Kronwall. It's time again to find out whether there is another generation to step into the breach in Detroit. Datsyuk is gone and it's time for Zetterberg and Kronwall to go, too. The Green experiment, one that never made a ton of sense, should end as soon as possible, too. Easier said than done and not suggesting it's something that happens overnight. But history has shown that the Red Wings can make wide-ranging changes in personnel and never miss a beat, and so we'll see if GM Ken Holland has any magic left in his bag of tricks.
Joe McDonald: A record-extending 26th consecutive trip to the Stanley Cup playoffs seems unlikely for the Red Wings. They've missed veteran forward Datsyuk, who returned home to Russia to play in the KHL. The offseason acquisitions of Frans Nielsen, Vanek and Ott have paid dividends in each of their respective roles, but the lack of superstars in their prime and with a defensive unit that's still a work in progress, the Red Wings have struggled. Now what? Stay the course. Sure, they could sell at the deadline, but the young core still needs seasoning. Those players could gain valuable experience once again by learning how to battle down the stretch instead of throwing in the towel and making unwanted moves.
Corey Pronman: Sell and rebuild. The issue to me is more on the likelihood of success. The Red Wings have a decent, albeit not outstanding farm system. Evgeny Svechnikov, Vili Saarijarvi, Joe Hicketts, Dennis Cholowski, Tyler Bertuzzi are all fine to very good prospects, but none of them are game-changers. They have a couple of good, albeit not outstanding young players, Dylan Larkin notwithstanding with the big team. There is a reasonable path forward, given their young depth that doesn't take five years to become a good team again, but they need another foundational piece or two. Larkin is as evidence you don't always need a top 3 pick. However, the odds are against a full revival of the organization by 2019, given how hard finding those foundational pieces is. This could require the kinds of patience Red Wings fans haven't had to exhibit since before the Yzerman years.
Rob Vollman: Ever since Nicklas Lidstrom's retirement in 2012, Detroit's blue line has been due for an overhaul. If the Red Wings simply wait for the $20 million in overpriced contracts for their current top four to expire, and for their solid organizational strength to start providing effective replacements, then it could be several seasons before they are truly competitive again. That's why the organization's top priority should be finding ways to accelerate the departure of their older defensemen, while seeking to acquire high-value replacements -- even at the cost of some of their great young players up front.