Sportsnet’s Andrew Brewer wonders aloud, “Who could move up, and down, in the NHL’s most interesting division?” and that division is, of course, the Atlantic Division.
Brewer offers thorough profiles of every one of the NHL’s 8 Atlantic Division teams, and the Red Wings are slotted in a mobile group of teams that “could jump in” to the playoff picture (though Brewer believes that it’s Ottawa, at the expense of Tampa Bay, which will make the playoffs outright):
Last Playoff Appearance: 2015-2016
Games Before Thanksgiving: 22
Home: 11
Away: 11
vs. 2024 Playoff Team: 13
Back-to-Backs: 3
Coach: Derek Lalonde, hired summer of 2022Reason they will make the playoffs:
1. They are so close: The Red Wings came a tiebreaker away from securing a spot in the 2023-24 playoffs and have built towards this since Steve Yzerman took over as GM in the post playoff streak era. They are so close they can smell it at this point, and they need a reason to light up the pizza ovens at Little Caesar’s Arena for its first playoff game.
2. Roster build: They might be the most complete team of the bottom four in the Atlantic, with experienced netminders, a mix of skills on the back end and a top-six forward group to rival anyone in the East. The Red Wings’ roster is built for success.
Reason they won’t make the playoffs:
1. What’s New?: I think Lalonde is a great coach, but how can he find the fire that the team showed down the stretch and bring that to the ice in the middle of October? One of the hardest things a coach can do is motivate experienced players to perform on a Tuesday night in October for a road game against, say, the Islanders (which you’ll see on the 22nd). What’s going to light the spark in Alex Debrincat, Patrick Kane and Ben Chiarot to turn up the heat from the puck drop on October 10?
2. Reputation: Like it or not, franchises and groups have reputations, and opponents will take games more or less seriously against them. For Detroit, their opponents are less likely to sleep on Kane, Vladimir Tarasenko and Dylan Larkin and on a team that just missed the playoffs, than they are on Tage Thompson, Alex Tuch and a Buffalo team that hasn’t played in May since the opposition was in elementary school.
Continued; the Red Wings are not going to surprise any on-ice opponents this year, but they may yet surprise the media folks and even experts like Brewer in terms of pushing through to earn a Wild Card spot this upcoming season. We shall see.
