Are the depleted Red Wings still good enough?

July 6, 7:29 AMDetroit Red Wings ExaminerMike Mouat

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Resigning Jiri Hudler is top of the Red Wings list of chores (AP Photo)

Now that the early dust of NHL Free Agency has settled, teams will re-examine their rosters, compare their talent against benchmark teams and rivals, and re-assess their needs and salary cap space.

Where do the Red Wings stand and where do they go from here?

A quick synopsis is they are not as good as last year, their primary Western Conference rival is improved, they still have some work to do to finalize the roster they hope to ice next season, and they don't have much cap space left to make it happen.

The Red Wings roster was quickly depleted with the commencement of free agency on July 1st as 40-goal scorer Marian Hossa signed Central Division rival Chicago, as did Tomas Kopecky. Back up goalie Ty Conklin was next to go as he signed with St. Louis, and most recently winger Mikael Samuelsson left Detroit for Vancouver. Those departures represent 65 goals, 65 assists, 25 wins and six shutouts.

That being said general manager Ken Holland characterized the remaining players as "a very, very good team," in this article by Ted Kulfan, of the Detroit News: Holland still likes what Wings have

The team that Holland has right now will include several rookies who have made cameo appearances of various lengths in Detroit and many of whom have earned their promotions with excellent playoff performances. Darren Helm, Jonathan Ericsson, Jimmy Howard and Justin Abdelkader will become full-time Red Wings players next season. There is some speculation that Abdelkader may start the season with Grand Rapids, more on that in a moment.

Not on the roster right now are restricted free agents Jiri Hudler and Ville Leino, both of whom became more important to Detroit with the defections noted above. These two skill players fill voids on the second and third lines. At issue is how much re-signing them will cost and the roster moves required depending on their salaries, Hudler's in particular.

Hudler earned $1.15-million last season while scoring career bests in goals (23) and points (57). As reported by Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press the Red Wings have offered Hudler $2.5-million. He has filed for arbitration rights should he and the Wings not be able to work out a deal, with the potential of being awarded significantly more by the arbitor.

The Red Wings will use Matt Stajan ($1.75-million) of Toronto and David Backes ($2.5-million) of St. Louis as comparable players to Hudler based on points and role with their teams, while Hudler and his agent will highlight the recent contract Atlanta gave to Nik Antropov ($4-million) and Michael Ryder's deal with Boston last summer ($4-million) who also had similar statistics to Hudler.

With just $2.5-million remaining under the cap, the amount received by Hudler will determine what further moves the Red Wings will need to make to fit him and Leino under the cap. The first area the Red WIngs can create some cap space is along the blueline where they have eight defensemen currently but are most likely to carry seven. Andreas Lilja's health (bleeding vein in his head) remains a concern, and should he be unfit to play he can be placed on long-term injured reserve and get relief for his $1.2-million cap hit. Otherwise, if he is healthy the Red Wings will have to move a defenseman via trade, with Lilja, Brett Lebda ($850,000) or Derek Meech ($500,000) being the odd man out. 

Abdelkader and his cap friendly salary may be in Detroit out of necessity.

Holland is right that his roster is good, but is it still good enough to beat the other teams in the Western Conference, and the Chicago Blackhawks in particular who lost to the Wings in the Conference final.

In addition to adding Hossa and Kopecky the Blackhawks signed former Selke Trophy winner John Madden which are upgrades over the loss of Martin Havlat, and Sammy Pahlsson. Christobal Huet replaces Nikolai Khabibulin in goal and may benefit from the removal of the awkward goaltending situation of last season. Otherwise this is slight downgrade in goal.

In short and on paper, the Blackhawks are improved, the Red Wings are weaker, but have the changes made by both sides bridged the gap evidenced by the Red Wings 4-1 Conference final series victory?