The Associated Press’s Larry Lage posted a capsule preview of the Detroit Red Wings ahead of the 2020-2021 season, and his preview is quite blunt regarding the state of the rebuilding Wings:
The Detroit Red Wings have spent half a decade rebuilding.
And, this still might not be the year a once-proud franchise with 11 Stanley Cups breaks through and makes the playoffs.
Detroit had the NHL’s worst record last season with 23 fewer points than any other team in a pandemic-altered season that mercifully lasted just 71 games.
When this shortened, 56-game season ends in May, the Red Wings will most likely extend their postseason drought to five years to match the longest since they were known as the Dead Wings from 1979-83.
Entering his second season as general manager with the franchise he led as a Hall of Fame center, Steve Yzerman is making no promises about progress.
“I can’t really predict what we’re going to be,” Yzerman said. “I believe we’ll be improved from last year. How much? I don’t know.”
Continued; none of us really know how much the Wings have improved yet, but the Wings started putting their systems into practice at today’s scrimmage, as noted by DetroitRedWings.com’s Brett McWethy:
“If you’re a goalie, just having that focus for 60 minutes is different than practice, and that’s just one position,” said Blashill. “If you’re a defenseman, you’re put in a lot of different situations. Same with the forwards. I think (scrimmages) can be useful.”
“The other thing it does for our staff is it gives us a chance to know what we need to work on more,” Blashill said. “When you implement systems in practice, everything can look great and then you drop the puck and it doesn’t. It’s hard to have corrective actions without see those things live. We’ll go back and go through the film and get a chance work on some things at practice.”
