Red Wings fans had high hopes for Danny Dekeyser coming into this season as someone who could play on Detroit’s 1st pair unit and shut-down the other teams top forward lines. It has seemed for years now that Dekeyser was on the verge of stepping up to be a borderline 1/2 ranked defensemen but unfortunately with the Red Wings lack of depth on the blue line he was forced into that role either way. It was not a stellar transition for Dekeyser who made is fair share of defensive coverage errors and toned back on his offensive outputs but it is hard to blame the guy for being forced to play every night against other teams top line when in reality he is probably a 2nd pair defensemen on most teams in the NHL.

With reference to his HERO chart, it is clear that Dekeyser was for the most part receiving top pair ice time without delivering those type of results. He focused mainly on defending first which definitely should be his first priority but at the same time with all the ice-time he receives you would think he could produce at least top 4 worthy offensive totals. The first goal for improvement should be trying to increase the shots generated total, whether it’s him personally shooting more or just him making better first passes exiting the zone, this should allow more chances for shots on the rush and could additionally boost his assists. Dekeyser will never be an edge of your seat type of player and his main concern should always be defending but with a little bit better puck management and accurate passing he can easily boost his offense.

Dekeyser’s career stats had shown steady production until this season where he posted a very ugly -22 which can easily be blamed on the fact that he was probably playing against tougher opponents then he ever had before in his career. With Kronwall unable to be the defender he was a few years ago, Dekeyser will continue to have to go head to head with the best of the NHL and in my opinion should be working hard this off-season to improve his strength and balance to win puck battles more often against larger opponents. The offense is of secondary importance at this point, with Dekeyser’s long reach and good skating ability he should be a tough person to play against but I feel he needs to be meaner and stronger to take the next step.

It has been a trend for this entire analysis but once again the numbers are showing Dekeyser as being one of the least effective defenders for Detroit although he did play top pair minutes against top line players. It is definitely not a get out of jail free card, Dekeyser had the lowest Corsi rating of any of the regulars for the Red Wings defensemen and it’s not like he played against the opposing teams top line with the Red Wings 4th line out…. wait a minute….Steve Ott as a shutdown… OK maybe some of the blame can be taken away from him.

When breaking down the goals for ranks for Detroit Defenders, Dekeyser’s numbers are actually not too bad. He produced the same amount of GF/60 as Mike Green who was normally his partner but is also a much more offensive minded type of player so there is not a lot to complain about in this perspective. However, when looking at his terrible 3.02 GA/60 it is clear that there were far too many goals given up this season with Dekeyser on the ice. This needs to be an improvement if he is going to receive this much ice time per game just the same as a goaltender with over a 3.00 GAA needs to be improved regardless of how bad the team in front of him is.

When Dekeyser signed his last contract extension I thought it was a fair price for a good young defensemen who had a chance to be solid 1st pair contributor throughout the entire term of his deal. It appears now that Dekeyser has peaked around the 3/4 spot for most teams although he will most likely continue to see top pair minutes unless one of Detroit’s younger defenders takes a huge step up. This puts Dekeyser in a difficult position to drastically improve but I believe he does have a good chance to elevate his play to a bit of a higher level. Nothing should surprise him anymore now that he has gained experience in the league and as he becomes more comfortable playing over 20 minutes on a nightly basis he should be able to improve his play both offensively and defensively.

It is hard not to be disappointed that Dekeyser could not take the big step up that Detroit needed him to do so desperately to keep their blue line afloat. Dekeyser had a chance to be the hero and although I would not say it was a complete failure of a season I would say that most fans expected more than he delivered. Dekeyser is now a veteran and leader with many younger players coming into the lineup and needs to stop making mental mistakes in coverage and with the puck so that he can lead by example and show these young players what it takes to be an effective NHL defensemen.