Have the Detroit Red Wings done enough to get back to the playoffs?

The pressure is on.

Of the 16 NHL teams that missed the playoffs during the 2023-24 season I am not sure if there is one facing more pressure to make them this season than the Detroit Red Wings.

It just kind of feels like it’s time, doesn’t it?

They are now on eight consecutive years without a trip to the postseason (the longest playoff drought in franchise history), there is a good enough core of talent in place to start competing, and they are now entering the sixth year of the Steve Yzerman era.

Taking small incremental steps and just being happy to stay somewhat in the playoff race for most of the season — which is pretty much what the past two seasons looked like — can’t be good enough anymore. They should be at a point where the playoffs are not just a long-shot goal, but a realistic expectation. Especially with some of the high-end players they have in the lineup that are either currently in their prime (Dylan Larkin, Alex DeBrincat) or just getting ready to start hitting their prime (Lucas Raymond, Moritz Seider).

The 2023-24 season was the closest the Red Wings have come to the playoffs over the past eight years, literally losing out to the Washington Capitals on a tiebreaker.

Literally one more point somewhere in the season would have put them in.

They were a top-10 team offensively, a bottom-10 team defensively and had some very real needs to address this offseason to gain that extra point.

Have they done enough this offseason to make it happen?

They still have an outstanding prospect pool from a long-term outlook.

But from a short-term outlook there are still some very real underlying concerns about that offensive production that have been overlooked, while the defense and goaltending still have major question marks and issues.

Let’s talk about all of it.