The Hockey News’s Adam Proteau examines “Top Issues” which face the Detroit Red Wings this afternoon, and the only one that hasn’t been over-talked by Red Wings fans (no offense, fellow partisans) is #2:
2. Can they stop the skids, play with more consistency and move the needle enough into a playoff spot?
Consistency was a gigantic issue for the Red Wings in 2023-24, and the fact they missed out on a Stanley Cup playoff berth by just one point in the Atlantic Division has to haunt Yzerman and the team.
The problem for Detroit – and fellow Atlantic teams in Ottawa and Buffalo – is that the division is arguably the strongest in the NHL. And the teams that finished ahead of the Wings – Florida, Tampa Bay, Toronto and Boston – all are almost assuredly going to be playoff teams again this coming year. That means Detroit is either going to have to squeeze out a Metropolitan Division team from a post-season spot, or miss the playoffs altogether for the ninth straight season.
For a team that once was the gold standard for the NHL, that would be especially devastating. But unless Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde can get his team winning on a more regular basis, that potential ending is very real.
Continued; the Red Wings are probably going to battle for another Wild Card spot, which is fine at this point in the organization’s growth among the “Division From Hell” (as Dylan Larkin calls it), but it will depend on “everybody rowing the boat in the same direction all year long.”
If there’s anything desperately needed from the Wings that isn’t goaltending or re-signing Raymond and Seider, it’s consistency in all aspects of the team’s game, from defense to offense to special teams.
The Wings can’t push that Miraculous Comeback Button so very regularly while facing a multi-goal deficit in the 3rd period this year, because it will yield similar results to last season, which was almost heartbreaking for a fan base that wants so badly to finally see playoff hockey again.
It’s gonna come down to everybody rowing the boat and everybody rowing in the same direction” to get ‘er done, and that’s about building cohesion and consistency over the course of training camp and the exhibition season, before rolling into the regular season with some momentum for the first 10-15 games.
