Red Wings 2015-2016 Season Preview: New Additons

We are now in the month of September which for some people, signifies the end of summer. School is starting up again, the hours of daylight are starting to shorten, cooler temperatures are arriving...okay well not so much this year as its 88 right now where I live. But, September for hockey fans means one thing, hockey season is right around the corner. You start seeing players reporting back to their respective teams cities in preparation of training camps for the new season. Knowing how close the season is has inspired me to take a look at the upcoming season, a bit of a season preview, while players such as, Dan Cleary are gone (as of right now), Jonas Gustavsson is no longer in the Winged Wheel, and trade deadline acquisition Marek Zidlicky was not resigned, the biggest subtraction from the Red Wings was not a player. Mike Babcock who coached the Red Wings for 10 years is now the new bench boss of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Jeff Blashill, who coached the Grand Rapids Griffins for the last 3 seasons (and to a Calder Cup Championship in 2013) is now the coach of the Detroit Red Wings. 

The Red Wings also signed a couple of veteran players. Defenseman Mike Green who was a member of the Washington Capitals and Brad Richards who was a member of the Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks. 

Green is 29 years old, he's an offensively gifted defenseman, and maybe most importantly...RIGHT HANDED! The Red Wings finally got the right handed shooting defenseman they have been lacking really since Brian Rafalski retired back in 2011. Green put up 45 points last season (10 goals and 35 assists). While his 70 points a season years are probably far behind him, he's an excellent addition. He's got a great shot, he has a great ability to make passes, and he's a wonderful guy to have on the powerplay. According to GM Ken Holland, the hope is that they can pair Green with Danny DeKeyser who is great defensively. 

Brad Richards who came as a bit of a surprise signing, like Green, has his best years behind him. He's 35, but also coming off a Stanley Cup Championship with the Chicago Blackhawks. He put up 37 points (12 goals and 25 assists) during the 14-15 campaign, and was a key member in the Blackhawks championship run putting up 14 points in 23 games in the playoffs. Richards is figured to be the 2nd line center behind Pavel Datsyuk and ahead of Riley Sheahan, but with the strong possibility that Datsyuk misses the start of the season he may fill in as the number one center. 

All in all, I think both signings were actually pretty good. Green adds experience and skill to an area of the roster that really needed it, and Richards is a low risk-high reward signing. He can serve as a mentor for the young guns of this team such as Nyquist and Tatar. Jeff Blashills' style of coaching doesn't seem to be too much different than the style Babcock ran but Blashill is a more liked coach by the players. This team is certainly ready to make it 25 straight years in the post season. Only one question remains, can we just drop the puck already?