CBS Sports’ Austin Nivision offers a set of the “most interesting teams” to watch over the course of the 2024-2025 season, and he includes the Detroit Red Wings on his list:
Detroit Red Wings
Steve Yzerman is a franchise legend, and he has enough hockey knowledge to fill a few bookshelves. That said, it’s probably time for “The Yzerplan” to start coming together in Detroit. The Red Wings haven’t reached the Stanley Cup Playoffs since 2016, and I’m doubtful they will end that drought this season.
Detroit nearly ended its lengthy playoff absence last season, losing a tiebreaker to the Washington Capitals for the second wild card spot. Despite that, this team seems like a negative regression candidate in 2024-25. Last year, the Wings wildly outperformed some troubling underlying metrics, and they didn’t get much better in the offseason. Don’t get me wrong, Detroit has some exciting young players in Moritz Seider, Lucas Raymond, and Simon Edvinsson, but I’m not sure Yzerman has built a strong enough supporting cast around them. Can the Red Wings exceed expectations again, or will the rebuild plateau?
“The Yzerplan” will continue regardless of whether the Red Wings make the playoffs, but after the Wings’ free agent losses, it’s going to take them really performing particularly well in order to assuage the media’s doubts about the “flop Wings.”
