Will Red Wings March Off a Cliff Again This Season?

When the soothsayer was warning Julius Caesar to beware the Ides of March, he could’ve also thrown in to look at how the month of March annually derails the Detroit Red Wings for good measure.

On Sunday, the calendar will turn to the third month of the year. In the past three years, that’s also when the season has taken a turn for the worse for the Red Wings.

Before we head to Ottawa ✈️ pic.twitter.com/TtOm0faCW8

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) February 25, 2026

In March, the Wings have developed a frightening habit of marching off a cliff like lemmings, sending their playoff hopes plummeting at the same time.

“Quite frankly, I’m sick of hearing about March and March this and March that,” Red Wings coach Todd McLellan said. “It’s another month in a season.”

But what a month it’s been for the Red Wings in recent years. Certainly nothing to write home about, but worth rehashing, if only to show how quickly a season can go south.

Recapping March Of Disaster For Red Wings

Entering March 2023, Detroit was 28-21-8, holding down the second Wild Card playoff spot in the NHL’s Eastern Conference. The Red Wings went 5-9-1 in March and finished the season on a 7-16-2 skid.

In 2024, the Wings entered March holding the first Wild Card at 33-20-6, and with an eight-point cushion over their nearest rival. They went 3-9-2 in March and 8-12-3 after February. Detroit missed the playoffs in a tiebreaker.

Last season, the Red Wings were also the No. 1 Wild Card team in the East at the end of February with a 30-22-6 slate. They were four points ahead of their closest rival. However, a 4-10-0 March and an overall 9-13-2 run to the finish line over the final two months of the regular season doomed Detroit to be playoff outsiders yet again.

Over the past three seasons, the Red Wings have won just 12 of 43 games in March, going 12-28-3.

Red Wings Must March To Their Own Story

McLellan insisted that the team’s only focus should be on the future, not on past disappointment.

“A lot of the people in that locker room had nothing to do with what happened two years ago,” McLellan said. “Some of them had something to do with what happened last year.

“We put ourselves in such a poor position, heading into Christmas (last season), that we had a big road to climb, and it’s hard to have seven-game winning streaks over and over and over again. Other teams have a say in it.

Here we go pic.twitter.com/L1U8bSNvQc

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) February 25, 2026

“So this group is going to write its own story. It’s going to have its own identity. I’m not going to answer March questions anymore.

“We all are going to answer the question, and we’re going to play. So if you keep thinking about it, keep talking about it, and keep believing it, you probably get it again, and that’s not what we want.”