Bleacher Report’s Sara Civian offers “1 Reason Why Your Favorite Team Won’t Win the 2026 Stanley Cup” this morning, and I can’t say that she’s wrong about the Red Wings’ Achilles heel…But it’s kind of being hammered to death here.
Detroit Red Wings
Reason Why They Could Surprise: Detroit’s immediate turnaround upon hiring Todd McLellan was palpable, and they may have solved their goaltending weakness in acquiring John Gibson.
Why They Won’t: Has Steve Yzerman been a bit too cautious with the plan? What’s the worst that would happen if the Red Wings signed a true impact center or top defenseman in his prime? We’re still waiting on that kind of thing.
Continued; I’ve said it, you’ve said it, we’ve all said it.
But it doesn’t appear that the cavalry’s coming in terms of the team adding an impact top-six forward and/or a top-four defenseman with shut-down abilities–at least not yet, anyway–and the Red Wings will have to make due with what they’ve got.
What they’ve got is a little thin without that extra impact forward and top-four defenseman, but the free agent marketplace was thin…
And as far as we all know, trade prices were high enough that there weren’t any significant trades over the course of the post-free agency summer, so things are what they are.
The situation is not ideal, of course, but one must deal with reality as it presents itself. And I don’t know whether it’s important whether the Red Wings contend for the Stanley Cup as long as they battle for a playoff spot via more consistent winning play coming down the stretch drive.
