Playoffs? We Really Talkin’ About Red Wings Playoffs?

There’s excitement in Hockeytown as the Detroit Red Wings are looking much more like an NHL team since changing coaches from Derek Lalonde to Todd McLellan.

All of a sudden, positivity is running rampant.

“I think there’s some signs that are leading to some positive things, and I think we just got to keep building,” forward Joe Veleno said.

People are even beginning to utter the P word – as in playoffs.

Well, at the risk of being a New Year’s Eve party pooper, sorry all, but this is a bubble that’s in need of bursting.

Do you believe in miracles? If not, you’d better start, because it’s going to take a miracle for the Red Wings to make the playoffs.

We don’t want to invoke the infamous Jim Mora interview, but in reality, we’re left with no choice?

Playoffs? Don’t talk about playoffs. You kidding me?

Red Wings Schedule Inviting Optimism

Detroit is playing host to the Pittsburgh Penguins in their traditional New Year’s Eve game. And yes, that is a winnable game. In fact, so are a number of upcoming Red Wings games.

There’s a road trip to face the Columbus Blue Jackets. That’s followed by a four-game homestand against the Ottawa Senators, Chicago Blackhawks, Seattle Kraken and San Jose Sharks.

On paper, a 4-2 slate over the next six games wouldn’t be out of the question.

However, then starts to get ugly. There’s a four-game road trip through Florida, Tampa Bay, Dallas and Philadelphia. Detroit has to make its Western Canada swing. As well, there’s a four-game sojourn to Washington, Vegas, Utah and Colorado.

All of those trips hold the potential to be rally killers. And there’s more bad news. Accoring to tankathon.com, the Red Wings face the NHL’s toughest schedule the rest of the way. Detroit opponents are holding a combined winnning percentage of .574.

Numbers Don’t Add Up To Postseason Play

It’s the Senators who currently hold down the final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference. Ottawa is currently on pace for a 91-point season. The Sens are eight points ahead of the Red Wings. They rank 28th in terms of remaining strength of schedule.

If you set that 91-point objective as the bar the Red Wings must attain to qualify for postseason play, they’re going to need to win 30 of their remaining 46 games. That means a team currently with a .444 point percentage must play .652 hockey the rest of the way.

And remember, there are six other teams ahead of Detroit in the standings before you climb all way up to Ottawa. They all aren’t going to go in the tank. As well, they’ll all be playing each other, so some of those teams will be getting standings points most every night.

The website moneypuck.com is giving the Wings much better odds of landing the first overall pick in the 2025 NHL entry draft (7.1%) than the chance that the club will be a Stanley Cup playoff participant (2.2%).

Only five NHL teams are given shorter odds of qualifying for postseason play than Detroit.