The Red Wings aim to win four crucial divisional games over the Florida Panthers next season
The Red Wings will be battling this upcoming season to end their nine-year playoff drought and one of the biggest things they'll need to do to ensure that they make the postseason is win crucial games. The Atlantic Division is tougher than ever and with only three available spots plus a pair of wild card spots, they need to win these games.
One of the Red Wings’ toughest divisional rivals is the back-to-back defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers, a team they held their own against last season. Detroit took the first two games in the season series, outscoring Florida 7-3, before the Panthers bounced back with a convincing 4-1 win in early April. While the series ended in a 2-1 win for the Red Wings they also matched the Panthers in total goals, showing they can compete with one of the league’s top teams. That should provide a boost of confidence heading into the new season.
Despite only recently becoming a top tier competitive team, the Panthers hold a large historical advantage over the Red Wings with a dominant 40-21-5-7 all-time record through 73 matchups. Florida will look to add to it as they are coming off their third straight Stanley Cup Finals apperence and finished last regular season with the 15th-best offence and the seventh-best defense.
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They were expected to lose some of their top end players due to a tight salary cap situation but found a way to bring back key players like Conn Smythe winner Sam Bennett, Brad Marchand and longtime Panther Aaron Ekblad. They didn't lose almost any pieces from their championship team except for defenceman Nate Schmidt but swiftly replaced him with veteran blueliner Jeff Petry.
The Red Wings are coming off a lackluster season, where they fell short of the postseason and finished with a bottom 12 defense and bottom 11 offence. They hope to make adjustments with a full off-season under new bench boss Todd McLellan plus made several adds like All-Star goaltender John Gibson as well as James van Riemsdyk and Mason Appleton. Detroit is still looking to shake things up, reportedly eyeing bold moves that could include targeting restricted free agents like Mason McTavish. They're also expected to give serious consideration to promoting top prospects like Nate Danielson and Axel Sandin-Pellikka.
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Fans will be excited for this one as the Cats travel to the Motor City on October 15th to take on the Red Wings. They won't square off again until March 6th, when Florida returns to Detroit followed by a trip down to Sunrise for a road matchup on March 10th. The Red Wings then play their final game of the season back in Florida to round out their four-game season series on April 15th.
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