Detroit Red Wings fans would be forgiven if there was a measure of schadenfreude after the New York Rangers failed to advance out of the first round of this year’s playoffs.
They were eliminated by the New Jersey Devils, where former Wings forward Tomas Tatar was among the goal scorers who put away the Rangers, 4-0, on Monday.
They did at least make the playoffs, which is one up on the Wings, who haven’t played in the postseason since 2016. But the Rangers should be further ahead in their rebuild, having had incredible luck three years ago at a time the Wings needed it most.
The less said about 2019-20 the better, but to sum up: That was the season the Wings were so terrible that when the pandemic shut down the season on March 12, with about three weeks to go, the Wings were the only team mathematically eliminated from playoff contention. They were 17-49-5, and their 39 points were 23 fewer than the Ottawa Senators, who were 30th in the standings. To stage the playoffs under these unusual circumstances, the NHL decided on a format where the eight teams that lost in the qualifying round would be eligible for the draft lottery, along with the seven teams that did not qualify for the playoffs.
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The Wings had an 18.5% chance of winning the lottery, but were pushed back as far as possible after three teams moved up. The “placeholder” team that won, which ended up being the Rangers, had 2.5% odds. That meant the Rangers went from playoff bubble to picking first, and the Wings went from worst to fourth. The Los Angeles Kings won the right to pick second, and the San Jose Sharks won the third pick, but it belonged to the Ottawa Senators thanks to the Erik Karlsson trade.
Steve Yzerman, in his second year as general manager, looked like he was seething and said little after the lottery.
“Anything I say is going to be self-serving,” he said.
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The Rangers selected Alexis Lafrenière. The Wings selected Lucas Raymond. Three years on, Raymond ranks second in his draft class with 102 points (40 goals, 62 assists) in 156 games. Lafreniere is fourth with 91 points (47, 44) in 91 games. He has appeared in 27 playoff games, and had no points in seven games this spring.
Yzerman made a great choice, but he should have had the right to make the first one. Had the Wings won the lottery, they would have had an exciting young German duo in Moritz Seider and Tim Stützle. The Wings coveted the superbly talented center who ended up being selected by the Senators. Stützle would have given the Wings an immediate upgrade at the center position; instead, it wasn’t until this past draft, in 2022, that Yzerman chose a center with his first pick, selecting Marco Kasper. He played in one game late this past season, but a lower-body injury derailed plans to play him in more. He’s expected to contend for a spot in Detroit at training camp this fall.
Incidentally, Tatar has played a role in the rebuild, too. The Wings traded him at the 2018 deadline to the Vegas Golden Knights for a first-round pick in 2018, a second-round pick in 2019, and a third-round pick in 2021. The first-round pick was used on Joe Veleno; the second-round pick on Robert Mastrosimone, and the third-round pick was used to acquire Alex Nedeljkovic.
Contact Helene St. James at hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames.
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Her latest book, “On the Clock: Behind the Scenes with the Detroit Red Wings at the NHL Draft,” is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Triumph Books. Personalized copies available via her e-mail.