Earlier this season, the Detroit Red Wings were the best team in the Eastern Conference, but they've slipped significantly since then, and Detroit's playoff hopes could be in jeopardy. Can the Red Wings steer away from a potential disastrous finish?
Going into 2026 on Jan. 1, the Detroit Red Wings were sitting atop the Eastern Conference with a 24-14-4 record. It was looking very promising for the Red Wings as they put themselves in a prime position to lock up their first Stanley Cup playoff appearance since 2016.
Then, by the start of March, things had changed, and not for the better. The Wings have gone 2-3-1 this month, as they’ve fallen out of the top-three in the Atlantic Division and now sit in the first wild card position.
Not only are they falling in the standings, but the teams below them could knock them out of a playoff berth.
The Boston Bruins, eighth in the conference, are just one point behind the Red Wings, and the Bruins have a game in hand on Detroit.
Meanwhile, the ninth-place Columbus Blue Jackets are only two points behind the Wings, and Columbus also has a game in hand on Detroit.
It's getting to the point where the Red Wings’ destiny is slipping out of their hands. So, what’s got to happen for Detroit to avoid extending its current playoff drought?
Todd McLellan (James Guillory-Imagn Images)First, someone’s got to score some more goals for the Wings. Their 2.89 goals-for average is 21st in the league – and most of the teams that are at or near that average are likely to be non-playoff teams this season.
Detroit is the only Eastern Conference team in a playoff position that has a negative goal differential at a minus-five. So it doesn’t matter if it’s star right winger Alex DeBrincat or veteran left winger James van Riemsdyk, some Red Wings need to step up their offensive game and give their goalies some breathing room.
In addition, the Wings are banking on a high-impact performance in their own zone from veteran defenseman and trade deadline acquisition Justin Faulk.
The longtime St. Louis Blues blueliner has already had an impact on offense, but Faulk is there to bolster Detroit’s back end and help them improve their penalty kill, as they presently have the NHL’s 19th-overall PK at 78.5 percent.
Finally, the Red Wings need some good luck when it comes to injuries.
They are currently without captain Dylan Larkin and center Andrew Copp for two weeks with lower-body injuries. That has exposed the Wings’ lack of high-end depth, and their playoff hopes are fading with that.
You can’t ask the team to be better without two key veterans, so getting Larkin and Copp back and at 100 percent – if that’s possible – is crucial to them not completely falling out of the playoff picture. They can’t afford more injuries, and they need Copp and Larkin back sooner rather than later.
The Red Wings have shown stretches of dominance this season, but they’ve now got significant pressure on them to put together a strong finish the rest of the way this year.
Failure to do so will almost assuredly lead to major changes in Detroit this summer. The stakes are sky-high for GM Steve Yzerman and the rest of the brass.
Time will tell whether Yzerman’s plan for improvement ultimately worked, and there’s playoff hockey in Motown this spring – or whether the plan doesn’t work and it’s the final year Yzerman runs the Wings.
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