Detroit is a franchise in transition. The Wings qualified for the playoffs every season from 1990-91 through 2015-16, winning four Stanley Cups over that span and appearing in six finals. But lately, Detroit’s playoff appearances have been brief. The Wings haven’t won a set past the opening round since reaching the Stanley Cup final in 2008-09. The Wings haven’t lifted Lord Stanley’s mug aloft since 2007-08, and don’t look likely to make it happen again anytime soon.
The Wings, who won 48 Stanley Cup games between 2006-10, won just 20 playoff games from 2011-16 and only five between 2013-16, losing in the first round of the playoffs three seasons in a row for the first time in franchise history.
When the NHL shifted the Wings, who live in the Eastern time zone, back to the Eastern Conference after 19 seasons as part of the Western Conference, it put an end to a brutal tavel slate that would send the Wings to play one-third of their road games every season outside of their own time zone.
While that might not seem like a big deal, consider that every game an Eastern time zone team plays in a Pacific time zone, the time when they take the ice is normally the time when their body clock is accustomed to be winding down and preparing for bedtime.
Life in the Atlantic Division hasn’t gone as swimingly as is did for the Red Wings when they resided in the Central Division of the Western Conference. Between 1993-94 and 2008-09, the Wings finished first or second in the Central every season, winning four Stanley Cup titles, advancing to the Cup final series six times and reaching the Western Conference final on eight occasions during a span in which they were clearly the NHL’s most dominant franchise.
The Detroit Red Wings are no longer the scourge of the NHL. For years considered the league’s model franchise, the Wings never were required to rebuild. Astute drafting and finding diamonds in the rough in the late rounds allowed the Wings to transition smoothly, replacing legends like Steve Yzerman and Sergei Fedorov with Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg.
But as the current core has aged, and some have departed, the replacements haven’t been as proficient. The Wings have many very good players in the their system and there is young talent currently in the lineup. But do they have more superstars in the making? Right now, it’s uncertain.
If there is hope for the future of the Detroit Red Wings, it could arrive in the form of centre Dylan Larkin. Bursting into the NHL limelight as a teenager in 2015-16, Larkin scored in his first NHL game, just the fourth teenager to do so in franchise history. He led the team with 23 goals as a rookie and won the fastest skater competition at the NHL All-Star Game.