Every Red Wing on Milestone Watch this Season

40 Goals, 60%: This one certainly feels the most likely. Cat came off a season where he managed to pot 39. If Cat got a little bit better puck luck, or Detroit got better at even strength scoring, 40 goals is certainly in the cards. 

300 Career Assists, 35%: I think this is less likely than Cat hitting 40, but he should be in the ballpark. Currently, Cat has 257 career assists, needing 43 to hit 300. It’s not impossible, but it would be his career high in assists. I think it’s more likely to pencil him in for 25-30 assists and bet on it next season. 

300 Career Goals, 35%: Similar to the assist total, it wouldn’t be the craziest thing to happen, I just don’t see it being all that likely. Currently with 253 career goals, hitting 47 seems a little optimistic. Again, it would be his career high by quite a bit. It’s not impossible, but if Cat gets 40 that is a more than successful season. 

Dylan Larkin: 

40 Goals, 20%: Despite being on pace to do it two seasons ago, Larkin took a step back in his goal scoring pace. In an Olympic year where Larkin is likely to make the team again, the wear and tear doesn’t make me a believer in him setting a new career high.

600 Career Points, 99%: Currently sitting on 576, it would take a severe injury or a total drop off in play for Larkin not to get 24 points. Nothing is certain, but if anything was, it might just be this. 

800 Career Games, 75%: Larkin has had a moderate injury history in his career but 66 games is more than fair. It would mark the first time in four seasons Larkin would dip below 66 games. Again, the wear and tear of an Olympic year is real, but the numbers suggest it is more likely than not. 

Patrick Kane:

500 Career Goals, 95%: As long as Kane is healthy, this should be a given. Kane is a staple on the power play and that alone will get him the 8 needed goals to eclipse the milestone. Barring some catastrophic injury, this should be a lock.

900 Career Assists, 15%: It’s a big ask of Kane to turn back the clock enough to get 49 assists for 900. Even with a full season of McClellan and Kasper helping him out, unless Kane is devoid of scoring, it’s unlikely his assist totals are that high. 

1400 Career Points, 70%: It’s more likely than not that Kane reaches the 57 points he needs. He was over a point-per game under McClellan and the team should improve at even strength. It will be close but I feel like Kane will be right on the mark. 

Most Points by an American Skater, 80%: In short, I believe Kane will get 1400 and he only needs 1392 to pass Brett Hull. So yeah, I think the 49 points for Kane is to be expected barring him getting hurt.  

James Van Riemsdyk:

700 Career Points, 40%: It depends how high or low JVR plays in the Detroit lineup. If he gets most of his minutes on the top line next to Raymond and Larkin, he should easily get 35 points. However, if his usage is more bottom six, then it may be a stretch. Generally, I wouldn’t rule it out, but it would be a hair optimistic.

Lucas Raymond:

90 Points, 80%: It would be a long time since Red Wings fans had a 90 point player. After rapidly improving these past two seasons, if Raymond can stay consistent, 90 points is certainly in the realm of possibility. 

400 Career Games, 85%: For a man that hasn’t missed a game in two whole seasons, getting 80 games played seems fairly likely. There were multiple times Raymond got hit and would get back up like a champ. It’s not impossible Raymond misses a handful of games in an Olympic year, but I think Raymond has the drive to do it. 

100 Career Goals, 99.9%: Uh, it better happen. Raymond is sitting on 98 goals currently. If Raymond doesn’t score 2 goals next season something went wrong. There isn’t a ton to say on this, it is another one that is practically a lock. 

200 Career Assists, 95%: Another one that pretty much needs to happen if Detroit has playoff aspirations. Raymond is Detroit’s best playmaker and his passing has been stellar the past two seasons. He would need 44 to do it, other than pretty noticeable regression, it’s another one to bet on. 

300 Career Points, 99%: It should be a pretty big year for Raymond in terms of milestones. Again, unless something goes very wrong, Raymond is more likely to get 46 points before Christmas than he is to miss it as a whole. 

Marco Kasper:

55 Points, 60%: For a second year, second line center who won’t play a ton of top power play time, Kasper getting 55 points would be huge. Under McClellan that was his pace exactly. While it would be a pretty huge step, Kasper will be well positioned in good deployments with offensive teammates to get his numbers. 

100 Career Games, 99%: Not the most impressive milestone I’ll admit, but after just 23 games Kasper will lock down his 100th NHL game. It’s essentially certain so not much to talk about here.

Andrew Copp:

200 Career Assists, 90%: I’m more than comfortable pencilling Andrew Copp for 14 assists this season. Again, he looked much better under McClellan and while playing up and down the lineup should get him pretty comfortably to the milestone. 

Michael Rasmussen:

100 Career Assists, 35%: With the top line left wing spot likely getting lots of different looks, Rasmussen is likely to end up there for a bit at some point. Unless he wins it, he is unlikely to match his career high and get the needed 20 assists. 

400 Career Games, 90%: I think there is a really small chance Rasmussen ends up as a long term healthy scratch and loses his spot to a rookie but I wouldn’t call that likely. No matter what happens, over the course of a season, 10 games is fairly certain.

J.T. Compher:

600 Career Games, 99%: Like it or not (and believe me, I don’t) Compher will play more than 24 games this season. With his cap hit he won’t get scratched, so that’s a non-starter. Compher is likely to be a 4C, and a good one, even if grossly overpaid.

300 Career Points, 50%: I don’t think this one is as certain as it may seem. 26 points would be his lowest in any season above 60 games since his second year. However, his spot on PP2 isn’t certain and he is very likely to play 4C, both things lead me to be uncertain of him reaching the 26 point threshold. 

Mason Appleton:

200 Career Assists, 30%: Getting 19 assists would be Appleton’s second best campaign in the stat. Appleton is a hustle and heart guy, the offense isn’t why he is here. He won’t get powerplay minutes and is likely a bolt-on bottom six guy so don’t hold your breath for it. 

Jonatan Berggren: 

200 Career Games, 40%: I really want to be confident that Berggren will be able to hit the 46 games mark. However, with Mazur and Danielson on the rise, his spot might be a little more in jeopardy than it has been in the past. I lean towards the side of no, but I don’t think it’s super unlikely.

Ben Chiarot:

800 Career Games, 65%: Despite only getting older, Chiarot has been rather healthy in Detroit. He needs 77 games to hit the mark, his most unhealthy season in Detroit was 76 games long. His age will make me a little lower than I probably should be, but I think it is still fairly likely for him to hit 800 games. 

Moritz Seider:

50 Points, 50%: Seider is pretty much always flirting with 50 points. This year Detroit should see their offence improve at even strength so hopefully he gets points that way. Last season I had his prediction at 65 points so I’m learning to set the bar low and let him impress me.

400 Career Games, 90%: Given Seider has never missed a game in his career, I would be shocked if he missed 10. For all of you mathematicians, that means Seider needs 72 games to hit the mark and I would be fairly willing to bet on the German machine to keep marching on.

200 Career Points, 95%: Seider has always been quite offensively sound. I would be appalled if he wasn’t able to get 20 points. Seider will continue quarter backing a power play that was very good last season so it’s another one I would pencil in. 

Albert Johansson:

100 Career Games, 99%: Given Detroit wants to put him on the second defensive pair, I think that him getting pushed back into the healthy scratch position would be very impressive.

Erik Gustafsson:

200 Career Assists, 85%: With Gustafsson likely still getting a bulk of the offensive zone starts and likely still running the second power play unit, Gustafsson is very likely to reach the 7 needed assists. There are some injury concerns or the risk of losing his spot that factor into me putting him this low for an otherwise easy milestone.

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