Will the Detroit Red Wings make a playoff run this season?
By Tyler Kotila
The Detroit Red Wings are coming off a year where they raced for one of the top picks ultimately to fall to sixth and grab Moritz Seider. The main question Wings fans are pondering is if a playoff run in ‘20 is that far out of the question?
Just a year ago, Detroit Red Wings fans were about to witness a terrible demise of a season and fall to the bottom of the standings. The Red Wings were no Detroit Tigers, but they were in the running for an NHL Entry Draft Lottery Pick but ended up getting the sixth one.
Coming into the 2019-20 NHL season, the Detroit Red Wings are sitting with a cap hit of $77,229,543 with $4,270,457 in cap space. They are poised for a season of growth, showing that they are not far from making the playoffs at all.
It is a bold move to say the Red Wings can go from the bottom of the standings to the middle, and then to the playoffs in three years. However, the St. Louis Blues did it in a matter of months this past season and hockey fans know how that worked out. In fact, the Blues went from dead last in the NHL on January 2nd to Cup winners. That’s how much parity is in today’s game.
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This season, playoffs are generally not going to be on the radar, but the Red Wings are going to see excellent production from their top two lines of forwards with Dylan Larkin and Anthony Mantha spearheading the first line. The second line will flourish with Andreas Athanasiou and Taro Hirose getting the job done as linemates there.
The Red Wings defensive core is young and talented at making it short and sweet. Having Jonathan Ericsson, Trevor Daley, Mike Green, and Patrik Nemeth around is not ideal, but players do not just vanish out of thin air.
Mike Green and Trevor Daley are still both serviceable NHL defenseman, Jonathan Ericsson should not be putting on a Red Wings sweater this season. Patrik Nemeth was a depth move that prevents younger defenseman from getting their shot in the NHL. With plenty of good defenseman prospects, the Red Wings should hope to work some of them in throughout this season to show signs of talent at the NHL.
A very sustainable season goal should not be making the playoffs this season, instead, finishing in the middle of the standings and then making the playoffs and having a postseason presence in the 2020-21 season. If the Red Wings find a way to squeak in this year, it will be more than a surprise to the organization, but it seems like the trend will be up, and up quickly.
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Bottom line, the Red Wings are young, talented, and going to be a competitive hockey team sooner than later and it should start by improving this season and focusing on making the playoffs next season.