Blackhawks fans know Red Wings’ one big offseason swing won’t fix anything

No one is expecting the Chicago Blackhawks to be a Stanley Cup contender this upcoming season; they're still a few years away from that. One team that should be closer to contending – in theory, at least – is the Detroit Red Wings. But their relative inaction this offseason indicates that they may not be any closer than the Blackhawks are.

Giving credit where it's due to Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman, he finally pried John Gibson away from the Anaheim Ducks after years of his name coming up in trade rumors. The Red Wings needed a bonafide No. 1 goalie, and they got one. But then, they just... stopped.

Yes, Detroit added a couple of bottom-six wingers in James van Riemsdyk and Mason Appleton and a third-pairing defense option in Jacob Bernard-Docker. Depth is good to have, but so are top-six scoring threats and big-name defensive upgrades. The Red Wings have added neither, which seemingly leaves them destined to finish season much the way they finished the last (and the eight before that).

Blackhawks fans know Red Wings’ one big offseason swing won’t fix anything

Prior to the NHL's divisional realignment in 2013-14, the rivalry between the Blackhawks and the Red Wings was one of the league's most intense rivalries of the post-lockout era. Though they are no longer in the same division (or the same conference, for that matter), the antagonism between the two fanbases remains strong. As such, Blackhawks fans have got to be pretty pleased with the lack of success Detroit has seen so far in what has been an excessively lengthy rebuild.

Red Wings fans have run out of patience with the so-called "Yzerplan," and, frankly, they have every right to. It's difficult to discern exactly what the "plan" is when every trade deadline and offseason comes and goes with yet another anticlimactic set of moves that keep the Red Wings exactly where they have been for the last nine seasons: outside of the playoff picture.

The Blackhawks aren't just one big offseason swing away from being Cup contenders, but the Red Wings might be. Unfortunately for Detroit, Gibson just wasn't a big enough swing.