Wow, major news hit the Detroit Red Wings earlier today when they signed Vladimir Tarasenko, who should complete what will be yet another high-octane hockey team when the puck drops in three months. Why am I so excited to see Tarasenko suiting up for the Red Wings in the Motor City? Several reasons, actually…

Tarasenko will team up with his old rival, Patrick Kane, in hopes of bringing the Wings back to the postseason where this storied franchise belongs. Tarasenko and Kane are more than familiar with one another as they spent their younger days playing for the St. Louis Blues (Tarasenko) and the Chicago Blackhawks (Kane), respectively, and it will be cool to see them work together in Detroit. 

But it will also be interesting to see just what kind of damage the Wings will do in the Atlantic Division now that they got the following scorers in the lineup: Lucas Raymond, Dylan Larkin, Kane, Alex DeBrincat, and J.T. Compher, in addition to Tarasenko. And this is a team that scored 278 goals last season while Tarasenko was busy pursuing a Stanley Cup with the Florida Panthers following the trade deadline. 

So, just how high can the Red Wings climb after bringing back Kane and adding Tarasenko? If their key players can stay healthy and if their awesome addition at goaltender in Cam Talbot can repeat what he did last season while with the LA Kings, the Red Wings will be tough to stop. 

They were tough to stop last season before Dylan Larkin went down with an injury, so if he, among everyone else, can find a way to last throughout most or, ideally, all season, Detroit will be a top-three team in the Atlantic. 

The Tampa Bay Lightning, despite adding Jake Guentzel, still lost more than they brought in, be it via key players signing elsewhere, or if they traded them away. While the Toronto Maple Leafs made some interesting additions, they didn’t do much to make their lineup better, basically swapping players out that they lost for others on the blue line and in the crease. 

Sure, the Florida Panthers and Boston Bruins will remain the teams to beat, but what will the Buffalo Sabres, Ottawa Senators, and Montreal Canadiens do? Probably nothing. Honestly, the Wings were a potential top-three team in the Atlantic without Tarasenko, and they proved it through a great portion of last season. 

Now that Tarasenko is in town, I’m not saying this team will make a deep playoff run, but I am saying that he should be the missing piece to, at worst, a spot in the wild card. 

(Statistics powered by Hockey-Reference)