Nyquist, Tatar take ownership of Wings' struggles as major offseason looms

Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk needed help. The Detroit Red Wings knew that. Unfortunately, they didn't get enough of it.

A future in which the club belongs to Gustav Nyquist and Tomas Tatar - and Dylan Larkin - is getting ever closer, especially if Datsyuk leaves for Mother Russia, and Nyquist and Tatar know they must be better next season and beyond.

"We can't throw everything on Pavel and Hank; those guys need help from us," Tatar said, writes The Detroit News' Ted Kulfan. "Last season me and Nyke stepped up and helped them. This year was a little bit different, a little tougher for me."

Nyquist iwill be 27 on Sept. 1, while Tatar will turn 26 on Dec. 1. They're in their prime.

"I have to do better," Nyquist said. "I didn't score as much as I wanted to. That's on me, and I just have to find a way to do better."

Tatar is heading into the last season of his contract, earning $2.75 million. He'll be a restricted free agent next summer, so if he's looking for more motivation, he knows where to find it. Nyquist, meanwhile, is locked up through 2018-19 at a cap hit of $4.75 million. At that price, he's got to produce at least 50 points.

Tatar, for his part, expects changes in Detroit, saying the Red Wings "have to do something different to get back on track."

The Red Wings' defense needs help - Detroit finished with a minus-10 goal differential, the only playoff team of 16 to allow more goals than it scored.

It's going to be an interesting offseason in Detroit, beyond the massive Datsyuk decision. Jimmy Howard is clearly the backup goalie to Petr Mrazek, but he's signed long term, while Mrazek is a restricted free agent. There are pieces in Nyquist, Tatar, Larkin, Justin Abdelkader, Andreas Athanasiou, and Anthony Mantha.

The Red Wings ranked 23rd in goals, scoring 2.5 per game. Problem is, they allowed 2.7. Shoring up the situation in goal, getting rid of Howard's contract, and fixing the defense should be priority number one for general manager Ken Holland, who has his work cut out for him.