Red Wings Year in Review: Kyle Quincey

Each day over the next month or so, we’re taking a look back at the season that was by going through each player’s season. For today, it is time to talk about Kyle Quincey.

In what ended up being a tough season for Kyle Quincey, fighting off an ankle injury for a large part of the season, he ended on a bit of a low note with a playoff scratch. This past season ended up being his lowest point total since the lockout shortened year. Can he bounce back?

While his days of first pairing minutes are likely behind him, over the past three years we have seen less than stellar output from Quincey given the TOI he has played. It wasn’t always this way as Quincey has had a steady decline over the last 5+ years. It is tough to see for a player so ingrained in the Red Wings, unfortunately for him, the stats don’t lie.

As you can see, this year wasn’t too kind to Quincey. It wasn’t for a lack of effort or anything, it just didn’t seem to come together. In a contract year, one would expect a player to come out guns blazing and take the NHL by storm. Quincey had the exact opposite result. Completely underwhelming play from a player you expected to fill in admirably this past season.

all data via Waronice.com

Compared to past years, this is on the low end for Quincey. These type of numbers put him near the bottom in regards to defensemen on the team. He is down by Dekeyser and Ericsson, a couple of divisive players that continue to be endlessly debated by Red Wings fans. At his price point, they desperately need better numbers from his position.

While his Corsi numbers were bottom of the barrel, his Goal Based numbers are more middle of the road. In fact his GF%Rel is third on the team for defensemen. While those relative numbers are great, they don’t tell the full story. Overall, the Red Wings weren’t great this year, Quincey encapsulates their season perfectly.

Like his other underlying numbers, these are significantly below what he has put up in the past. He grossly underperformed his contract and wasn’t able to be the player the Red Wings predicted he would be. 

After a down year, I do not suspect the Wings will be bringing back Kyle Quincey for the 2016-17 season. His previous cap hit was 4.25 million dollars, a number that in this day and age, isn’t reasonable in the least. I suspect that he signs on a fringe NHL playoff team for a million dollar or so contract. Could it be the Wings? Possibly, after a year like this, he won’t have many suitors calling.

Quincey has been on the decline over the past few years, very similar to a lot of his Red Wings teammates. It is why, an infusion of youth onto this team is so critical moving into next year. He isn’t the type of player that you want on the Red Wings. This isn’t just a season of regression either, this is more of a downward spiral.

While other players had much worse seasons, it was disappointing to see a player make so much money and be largely ineffective. These are the kind of misses the Red Wings can ill afford, luckily this season is in the rearview mirror. Time to move forward.