The Detroit Red Wings have six games remaining on their schedule this season. They sit just outside the playoff picture, though their chances of securing a playoff spot are dwindling by the day. With the Detroit Tigers and baseball season officially underway and the Detroit Pistons set to host playoff basketball at Little Caesars Arena, the Red Wings are quickly becoming an afterthought in the Detroit sports scene even though their season isn’t over yet.
So then why tune in? Why should Detroit sports fans stay plugged into the Red Wings even though most of Detroit’s other teams are enjoying way more success?
While the NHL season is still alive, the Red Wings have questions to answer. Some of those questions pertain to this season, but others have an eye on next season – a season that already seems to be setting up as a fork in the road for the organization’s ongoing rebuild.
1. Can the Red Wings Trust Any of Their Goalies?
The Red Wings began the season with Cam Talbot, Alex Lyon and Ville Husso as their three goaltenders, but that number quickly went down to two after Detroit’s front office waived Husso and assigned him to the American Hockey League. Weeks before the trade deadline, they traded Husso to the Anaheim Ducks and then, not long before the deadline, they acquired goaltender Petr Mrázek from the Chicago Blackhawks. Since then, Talbot, Mrázek and Lyon have all started games for the Red Wings and produced a wide array of results.
Related: Mrázek’s Red Wing Return Hints at 2025-26 Goaltending Plan
When including every goalie that has played for the Red Wings this season, the team has an overall save-percentage (SV%) of .898. Talbot is the goalie of record for over half of Detroit’s games this season, and he recently secured on the seventh 20-win season of his career. While his base metrics aren’t super impressive (.904 SV%, just under three goals-against per game), his quality-start percentage is the highest for a Red Wings goaltender starting 40 games or more since Jimmy Howard’s .577 mark during the 2018-19 campaign.
Lyon has had stretches of strong performance this season, but hasn’t quite hit the same level his did last season as the Red Wings’ go-to starter. He has fallen victim to the same “year two drought” that many Red Wing goaltenders have succumbed to since the organization’s rebuild began. He is a pending free agent, and it is feeling more and more like the “Lyon king” won’t be back in Detroit next season.
As for Mrázek, the former Red Wings draft pick started five games since rejoining the team, but was knocked out of that fifth game early on with an apparent head injury. It’s hard to judge based off of 240 minutes of ice-time, but the 33-year-old produced similar results as Talbot while also bringing a certain moxie to the crease that the team hasn’t had since, well, probably since Mrázek departed the team in 2018.
Both Talbot and Mrázek are signed for next season. They figure to be the Red Wings’ “1A/1B” tandem next season while prospect Sebastian Cossa waits for an opportunity to prove himself in the NHL. Both Talbot and Mrázek will want to use the last few games of this season as a platform to prove that Detroit’s crease will be in good hands next season because that position has been inconsistent this season to say the least.
2. Should Patrick Kane Return?
The question of whether or not Patrick Kane will return to the Red Wings next season will be a hot topic until he signs his next contract. However, the veteran forward has the rest of this season to answer the question of whether or not he should return to Detroit.
Nearing the end of his second season with the Red Wings, Kane has been as good as fans could have hoped for when he made his Red Wing debut in Dec. of 2023. After putting up 47 points in 50 games last season, he has 54 points in 66 games this season. With 101 points over 116 games, he has produced at a 71-point pace while wearing the winged wheel, and that was far from a guarantee when he was coming off of hip surgery in 2023. Kane is still himself, and that has generally been a boost to the Red Wings’ offense and their locker room.
Now that we know Kane can still produce in a top six role, the question now becomes how he wants to end his career. At 36 years of age, he doesn’t have many years left before Father Time forces him to hang up his skates. His connection on and off the ice with teammate Alex DeBrincat is evident, and Kane has seen first-hand evidence of the talent that is coming up through Detroit’s pipeline. Is that enough, though? If “Showtime” wants one more shot at hoisting the Stanley Cup, the Red Wings probably aren’t where he’ll want to end his career.
Furthermore, the Red Wings’ front office will have to answer the question of if it makes sense to keep Kane around while the team starts to pass the torch to the next generation. Kane has an undeniable presence in the top six, but does the organization have other players that should receive those minutes? The front office will also have to consider his defensive and physical shortcomings and whether the team can absorb them, especially considering the team is lacking as a whole in both of those areas.
Fans have welcomed Kane since the day he became a Red Wing, and they will probably continue to do so while no. 88 calls the 313 his home. The lineup will need experienced, capable veterans to mentor and play with the organization’s young, inexperienced players. If Kane and the Red Wings remain on the same page, another contract will almost certainly come to fruition. He will be a player to keep an eye on in terms of how he responds if/when the Red Wings are eliminated from playoff contention.
3. When Will the Red Wings’ Playoff Drought End?
This is the biggest question hovering over the Red Wings, and it won’t go away until we know the answer. On the eve of their centennial season, the Red Wings are in the midst of the longest playoff drought in franchise history. Falling short this season would put the drought at nine seasons, and no sports franchise wants the distinction of going a full decade without even a brief playoff appearance.
It is still mathematically possible for the Red Wings to make the playoffs this season, but they need a lot of things to go right on top of taking care of their own business. They were in really good position to secure a playoff spot back in February, but winning just four out of 14 games in the month of March essentially undid all the progress they made in the months of January and February after making a coaching change in December.
It is premature to speak of the Red Wings’ 2024-25 season in the past tense or as a lost cause until the math isn’t there or there are zero games left on the schedule. However, you can’t blame fans for turning their attention elsewhere, especially considering Detroit’s hockey team is all but assured track to take a small step backwards in terms of their point total and league standing.
A miraculous run to secure a playoff spot would send a jolt through the motor city, but this is a question that will almost certainly linger on through the summer.
