Pius Suter Signing for the Red Wings

The Chicago Blackhawks surprised many in the hockey world when they decided to not qualify rookie sensation, Pius Suter. Suter scored 27 points in 55 games last season for Chicago and fills a direct need for the Red Wings at center. Adding him to the squad will certainly improve part of the scoring issue Detroit has had the last few years. If the 25 year old can improve from what we saw last year, he could become a long term solution as a middle six center for Detroit. If he doesn’t pan out, then the team doesn’t lose much aside from his salary. It’s a great low-risk, high-reward move from Steve Yzerman.

After a year where the Red Wings had one of the worst power plays in modern history and couldn't seem to find the back of the net, they have added a little help to their 2nd Line. Suter will bring some playmaking as well as solid goal scoring to help out the likes of Dylan Larkin, Tyler Bertuzzi, and Jakub Vrana. With the high end talent spread out between the top two lines it should be harder for other teams to game plan against the Red Wings. A big reason Detroit couldn’t score was because teams would just shut down Bertuzzi, Larkin, and (at the time) Mantha. Once those three were out of the picture, only Zadina (who was a rookie at the time) and Fabbri could really put any challenge to an opposing club. Suter can help change that as he will likely slot in as the 2nd line center behind Dylan Larkin.

While this certainly improves the team as a whole, there still is some depth issues with the team. They will more than likely miss the playoffs again. While this isn’t what most Red Wings fans want to hear, there is solace in knowing that they now have a goaltender of the future and solid defensemen in the prospect pipeline. There is a lot of hope that the team will improve slowly with time but until their prospects mature and make the squad, the next few seasons won’t be pretty. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing though as the team has a very bright future in Mortiz Seider, Lucas Raymond, Sebastian Cossa, and several other prospects. Just wait, the team should be in the playoff conversation in three or so years!