Take with salt on July 5th, 2024: NHL standings predictions, and power rankings, too

Take with some good, old-fashioned Detroit rock salt from the Morton mine near Zug Island:

  1. “JFresh” from EP Rinkside posted his first estimate of the 2024-2025 NHL standings, and the Red Wings lose out to the Ottawa Senators for the final playoff spot in the Atlantic Division, should JFresh’s projection hold up:

I’m sorry, I really like JFresh, but I laughed out loud when I saw this one. I know they’ve got Perron and Ullmark, but…I just don’t see it.

2. Also in the “Way Too Early” department, Sportsnet’s Ryan Dixon posted a more charitable outlook for the Red Wings while issuing a list of after-free-agency power rankings:

18. Detroit Red Wings: Patrick Kane returning on a one-year deal is a good arrangement and Vladimir Tarasenko can still help on any one of the top three lines. The Wings came painfully close to making the playoffs last season and figure to be right down to the wire in the wild-card race again.

Continued; I’m assuming that the Red Wings will make an addition on defense somehow, though it might take until next year’s trade deadline to make that happen…But if it does, I could see the Wings making the playoffs. It’s gonna be hard in the “Purgatory Division,” as Dylan Larkin calls it, but I think it’s entirely possible.

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George Malik

My name is George Malik, and I'm the Malik Report's editor/blogger/poster. I have been blogging about the Red Wings since 2006, and have worked with MLive and Kukla's Korner. Thank you for reading!