Marco Kasper and Simon Edvinsson Debut for Detroit Red Wings

One of the main reasons for this improvement is captain Dylan Larkin. Larkin recently signed an eight-year extension with the Red Wings with an average annual value of $8.7 million. Larkin said during contract negotiations that he wanted to remain a Red Wing for his entire career. If Larkin wound up moving on from the Red Wings, there were questions as to where the "Yzerplan" was headed. At this point in the NHL season, the team is playing the role of "spoiler" as teams are playing for playoff position.

The Red Wings have improved under Lalonde. The team has given up fewer goals than they did under the previous coach Jeff Blashill. General manager Steve Yzerman knew that the team needed to be more difficult to play against night in and night out headed into the 2022-23 season. That is not to say the team is ready to compete for a playoff spot anytime soon. For the time being the Red Wings will look at young prospects that they have in the pipeline by letting them play at the NHL level.

According to NHL.com a player on an entry-level contract can skate in nine games before teams must decide whether to send him to the American Hockey League or junior hockey and delay the start of their contract to the following season. Players under the age of 25 must sign a two-way contract as their entry-level contract. The minimum salary for an entry-level contract is $925,000. There are a pair of Red Wings that are in this position as the team has fallen out of playoff contention.

Marco Kasper is the latest Red Wings prospect to get a look at the NHL. "I’m really excited," he said. "It’s a dream come true. Just going to go out there and try to give it my best. It’s going to be really fun." Kasper became the first 18-year-old Red Wing to make his NHL debut since Martin Lapointe in 1991. Larkin scored the second hat trick of his career with an empty-net goal at the 17:48 mark of the third period. Kasper is also the highest draft pick made by the Red Wings since Lapointe.

Defenseman Simon Edvinsson made his NHL debut before Kasper. The Kungsbacka, Sweden native is 6’4" tall and can move the puck with his smooth skating. Edvinsson was dubbed part of the "Detroit basketball team" by Larkin along with Elmer Soderblom. Moving forward, these two will be the cornerstone of the Red Wings’ defensive corps. Moritz Seider won the Calder Trophy as the best rookie in the NHL for the 2021-22 season.

Larkin came into the 2022-23 season knowing that he would be a free agent after the season. Both Larkin and Yzerman were locked in contract negotiations that were progressing throughout the season. When asked how they were going during an interview on ESPN, Larkin said that he hoped to remain a Red Wing. Larkin was always in a position of power as the best player on the Red Wings roster. This has been the case for many seasons as the roster has been rebuilt.

As of now, Larkin is on pace to put up 80 points for the first time in his career. His previous career-high for points in a season was 73 in the 2018-19 season. This career-high was not enough to get the Red Wings into the Stanley Cup playoffs. The results of this season can now bring into question whether or not Yzerman made the right roster decisions during the offseason. There is still insufficient scoring talent on the roster to contend for a playoff spot in the Atlantic Division.

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