TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — Expectations have shifted in Detroit this season.
After missing out on playoff hockey last season by the slim decision of a tiebreaker, the Red Wings realize they are a team capable of making the postseason. Entering a new season, though, the slate is wiped clean whether they like it or not. Being one point away from playoffs last season is just a missed opportunity. Now comes the difficult task of doing it all over again — and this time, maybe succeeding.
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“It stung for a little bit — for a while, to be honest with you,” Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin said. “And it was extremely hard to get over that. But I think we found out what we had in the room with our guys.”
[Read More: “I Know I Have a Next Level”: Dylan Larkin Eyeing Healthy Season]
Detroit learned what its group could accomplish last season, but turning the page isn’t so easy. Everything starts over from scratch, only this time, last season’s playoff push raises the stakes for what this group wants to accomplish.
So, from the get-go at training camp, playoff hockey is a focus for the Red Wings. Not clinching a spot in the first week of the season — that’s impossible. Instead, setting foundations Detroit can lean on throughout the year. If playoffs are to become more than aspirational, the Red Wings know the amount of work that must go into this.
“Everybody knows that we want to make the playoffs, but there are steps to be made to get there,” Detroit forward Patrick Kane said. “I mean, we’re not just gonna start the season at 91 points. … We have to work for it.”
The work to be done includes maintaining strengths — offense, for example, which was one of the Red Wings’ few saving graces last season while their defense muddled through the season. Detroit’s roster lost significant offensive contributions with the departures of Robby Fabbri, David Perron, Daniel Sprong and Shayne Gostisbehere. Replacing them both internally and externally is a need the Red Wings recognize.
The other side of the task at hand is addressing deficiencies in a meaningful way, defense being chief among them. In fact, that was one of the primary talking points of Detroit’s offseason, and the tune didn’t change to kick off training camp.
[Read More: By Addressing Defensive Shortcomings, Jonatan Berggren Looks to Prove NHL Belonging]
To improve, the Red Wings are leaning on their veterans to lead the way. Larkin and Kane, Alex DeBrincat and Lucas Raymond, Moritz Seider and Ben Chiarot among others. To start camp, Detroit coach Derek Lalonde saw that group setting a tone for playoff-level success.
“It was their opportunity to set the tone,” Lalonde said. “We keep talking about some of these words into actions. Again, it’s their first opportunity for action and it was a good step for day one, but it’s all it was. It’s just day one. We’d like to keep pushing this, going forward. It’s gonna have to come from that leadership, that older veteran group.”
None of these playoff aspirations are unrealistic, especially not to the members of the team. In fact, this veteran group got a big nod of confidence from one of its members — Kane — when he re-signed with the team in June. Kane could have signed virtually anywhere this offseason, especially since his career is only getting shorter, but he stuck around Detroit for one more run.
[More Coverage: Kane Enters Year Two in Detroit “Motivated for More”]
Meanwhile, the Red Wings geared up as much as they could afford to in free agency. They added a big free agent in Vladimir Tarasenko and shored up the goaltending with Cam Talbot. And in addition to these established players, the Red Wings are also relying on some younger prospects to grow into expanded roles, such as defenseman Simon Edvinsson, who shined in a top four cameo to end last season. These are the kind of upgrades that can also add juice to a playoff push.
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Even if the Red Wings did add some personnel to push for a playoff spot, they also didn’t go for broke this offseason by chasing big-time free agents and major roster upgrades. Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman has remained patient — hesitant, some might say — to go all-in on playoffs. Even if the players and coaches want to make the playoffs, he isn’t hitching himself to the playoffs-or-bust wagon just yet.
“I want to see progress,” Yzerman said Tuesday. “I want to see progress in our team as a whole, progress in all the areas we’ve always talked about, and progress individually from our younger players. As long as we’re moving in the right direction, I think it’s positive. Obviously making the playoffs would be another positive step, so I’ll worry about that as the season goes along. We’ll see how much progress we make.”
Herein lies the difficulty of repeating a playoff push amid an offseason of change: the Red Wings have raised the expectations, but actually making good on them is dependent on many factors throughout the entire season. They’re preparing for both a marathon and a sprint. So how can they accomplish this? Get running right away.
“We play in a really tough division, we have a tough schedule to start the season, some of the teams we play,” Kane explained. “So I think the focus should be more on the start, getting off to a good start, putting ourselves in a position where if there’s some lulls or dips throughout the season, we have that little bit of a cushion from our start.”
Even if playoffs are a distant thought in September, the work done now sets the tone for all that is to follow. A point in October is equal to a point in March. And if Detroit wants games to continue to mean something in April, it’s going to have to maintain high standards drawn out by how painfully close it came to the playoffs five months ago.
Because even if the Red Wings almost made the playoffs last season, they have to start all over again this year. And as expectations rise due to recent success, living up to the pressure is no small feat.
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