Bleacher Report’s Lyle Richardson discusses “6 NHL Teams That Will Likely Disappoint During [the] 2025-2026 Season,” and the Red Wings are on his list.
Detroit Red Wings
Over the past two seasons, the Detroit Red Wings were expected to emerge from years of rebuilding into a playoff team. Young players like Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond blossomed into stars, and they added veteran talent like Patrick Kane and Alex DeBrincat.
During those seasons, the Wings would enter March holding a playoff berth, only to stumble and fall out of contention down the stretch. Looking at their current roster entering this season, it could be another disappointing campaign in Motown.
The Red Wings added veteran goaltender John Gibson from the Anaheim Ducks, but his injury history is a cause for concern. Other offseason additions (James van Riemsdyk, Mason Appleton, Ian Mitchell, and Jacob Bernard-Docker) provide depth, but not the kind that suggests this club is a contender.
Assuming Gibson and aging netminder Cam Talbot remain healthy, their blue-line depth beyond Seider and the promising Simon Edvinsson is questionable. It could prove to be their Achilles heel as they try to end nine years of postseason futility.
Continued; the Wings are going to have to prove their critics wrong with on-ice performance, plain and simple.
