Bleacher Report’s Joe Yerdon issues “1 reason for every NHL team to be optimistic” with about a month to go before the NHL’s 2024-2025 regular season begins:
Detroit Red Wings
Eventuality
Fans in Detroit have been patiently waiting for GM Steve Yzerman to put it all together to get the Red Wings back to the playoffs. And it’s got to come together now, right?
Dylan Larkin was the guy who made it all go. Patrick Kane arrived and found a way to turn back the clock and pile up points. Alex DeBrincat’s homecoming was everything they thought it could be. Lucas Raymond exploded last season and was brilliant. Moritz Seider showed he can handle the weight of being a No. 1 defenseman so young.
Now they’ve got Vladimir Tarasenko reuniting with Kane after winning his second Stanley Cup and Cam Talbot signed on to solidify their goaltending. It has to work now because there are so many question marks with many of the other teams in the Eastern Conference and they showed last season for a good chunk of it that, yes, they can be a playoff-caliber team.
It’s got to happen eventually, and maybe eventually is right now.
Continued; it doesn’t have to happen this season, but it has to happen soon.
Now? No, they just need to keep improving and I think do a better job of moving along some of their draft picks.