Caputo: Key offseason for Steve Yzerman's Red Wings

Total rebuilds, more often than not, ultimately become excuses for ineptitude. And they aren’t always necessary.

But a total retooling was in order for the Red Wings when Steve Yzerman became general manager. He inherited a salary cap nightmare, a desolate player development pipeline and unusual apathy considering the Red Wings’ lofty tradition.

Five seasons down the road, the Red Wings are at a much different stage. It’s in-between. It’s hockey. All players are drafted at 18. The Wings have several genuinely promising prospects not ready for the NHL. Yet, enough of a foundation has been poured and hardened that it’s a reasonable expectation to anticipate season-to-season improvement.

That, of course, would mean making the playoffs after coming oh-so-close last season.

It’s a strong unrestricted free agent class, and none of the Red Wings’ pending players from last season are necessary to re-sign if Yzerman makes the right choices with the salary cap space remaining after he locks down young stars Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond on long term deals.

Yzerman has multiple issues he must address. First and foremost is puck possession. Only four NHL teams had worse puck possession numbers (Corsi close) than Detroit. Stanley Cup finalists Florida and Edmonton were in the Top five.

The Red Wings struggle against good forechecking teams and need better puck-moving from their defensemen. At this stage, free agents Shayne Gostisbehere and Patrick Kane are not well-rounded even-strength players, but remain significant threats on the power play and three-on-three overtime.

Simon Edvinsson, who is expected to emerge as a solid NHLer, could be the answer  on the point of the power play replacing Gostisbehere, and the Red Wings would benefit from a better all-around high-end forward than Kane is at this stage.

Grit is also a concern and certainly the Red Wings need a third veteran goaltender.

Alex Lyon was a pleasant surprise in 2022-23, but there is nothing certain about him being able to duplicate his performance. Ville Husso is a question mark after fading badly at the end of ‘22-23 and being hindered by injury last season. As well as first-round draft pick Sebastian Cossa played for Grand Rapids last season, it would be a stretch to suggest he’ll be NHL-ready to begin the upcoming season.

Dylan Larkin and Alex DeBrincat, the Red Wings' highest-priced players, are in their prime. Raymond and Seider are on the verge of breakout seasons. There is decent depth.

The key is for Yzerman to keep threading the needle between developing young players and augmenting them with the right combination of veterans so that the Red Wings keep improving incrementally.

Patience is a virtue, but rebuilds can last forever, too.