Thanks to almost unprecedented parity in the Atlantic Division, the Red Wings sit in 6th place in the Atlantic with a 10-10-and-1 record this morning, but their 22 points are only 2 behind Tampa Bay for a Wild Card spot, and 3 behind the Bruins for 3rd place in the Atlantic. While the Red Wings sit in 22nd place in the NHL overall, they’re also 3 points behind the 13th-place New York Rangers.
Long story long, the NHL’s parity parade is well underway, and while Detroit doesn’t find itself in a playoff position this American Thanksgiving, they’re within striking distance of teams with a strong record.
The Wings aren’t exactly going to catch the 18-and-5 Winnipeg Jets, but, should the Wings at least earn a couple of points over the course of Friday’s game against New Jersey and Sunday’s game against Vancouver…
Things could start looking up for the Wings in a hurry.
Now December’s schedule isn’t easy by any stretch of the imagination; the Wings will be playing every other day between tomorrow and December 9th, and they’re going to be playing 4 of 5 on the road between December 3rd and 12th.
Showdowns with Atlantic Division rivals Boston, Ottawa, Buffalo, Toronto (times two) and Montreal (times two) also loom, so, should things go south, they might go sour in a hurry.
As of November 28th, however, the Red Wings still have a tremendous opportunity to keep the good times rolling as they attempt to build upon their modest two-game winning streak when the 15-8-and-2, 4th-place-in-the-NHL Devils come to town tomorrow at 3 PM EST, and then when the 11-7-and-3 Canucks join the fray for a 12:30 PM EST matinee.
It’s not going to be easy by any stretch of the imagination for the Wings to remain on the “straight and narrow,” but the possibility is there to at least solidify a place among the Wild Card favorites by playing just a modestly good set of hockey games over the 15 games between now and the New Year.
Whether the Wings can pull it off is something I don’t really know. I wish I could pull something out of my butt and prognosticate with certainty as to what will happen going forward, but I’m a lot of things, and arrogant isn’t one of ’em.
We’re going to have to wait, hope, and see whether the Red Wings can truly steady their ship on their own, or whether the Red Wings’ GM and management team may have to make changes behind (coaching) and on the bench (player personnel) in order to shake things up and point the Wings toward the season’s halfway point (or nearly so) in good condition.
Obviously, the Wings need to keep up their stellar goaltending, strong power play performances, and rectify their even-strength scoring, their messy penalty-kill, and get veterans like Vladimir Tarasenko and Patrick Kane going, so that the team can start tapping into its secondary scoring, too.
For the present moment, it’s a middling Thanksgiving for the Red Wings, but those of us who find ourselves in the strange marriage that is a sports-partisan-and-sports-team relationship can at leas wait, hope, and see as we all ride the roller coaster that has been the 2024-2025 season.
