The Detroit Red Wings were eliminated from Stanley Cup playoff contention after winning in a shootout against the Montreal Canadiens. This is now the eighth season in a row that the team has missed the playoffs. While the team made drastic improvements in the second season under head coach Derek Lalonde, questions about the “Yzerplan” still remain. The team was playing meaningful hockey up until their last game of the 2023-24 season.
Dylan Larkin told the media after the game that the Red Wings’ team knew that the Washington Capitals had won their game against the Philadelphia Flyers. “I don’t have interest in vacation. The momentum we built, for the guys returning, hopefully there’s a hunger there all summer, and a little bit of anger and hurt from what we just went through,” Dylan Larkin said. Now there are expectations that the Red Wings make the Stanley Cup playoffs in 2024-25.
The Flyers pulled their goalie because they needed a win in regulation to stay in playoff contention. TJ Oshie of the Capitals scored an empty-net goal to eliminate the Red Wings from playoff contention. “We’ll take it,” said Alex Ovechkin of the Capitals. “Thanks, Philly.” The Red Wings only needed the Flyers to beat the Capitals because their record against the Capitals during the 2023-24 season was 2-3. These are the types of teams that you play during the playoffs and Detroit just did not beat them with enough regularity.
It was thought that the Capitals being sellers at the NHL’s trade deadline and having a -37 goal differential meant that they would not make the playoffs. Ovechkin trying to break Wayne Gretzky’s goal scoring record by scoring 31 goals in 79 games played at the age of 38. This is the sixth tie-breaking procedure that the NHL uses for deciding a playoff team if two or more teams are tied at the end of a season.
The focus of the 2024 offseason will be signing both Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider, both of whose entry-level contracts expire at the end of the season. Both players expressed excitement regarding upcoming contract negotiations. Seider even expressed interest in playing with fellow young defenseman Simon Edvinsson saying “I hope I get to play with him in the future. I think that would be a pretty cool pair for the Red Wings.” Seider has played in every game in his three seasons for the Red Wings.
Edvinsson played meaningful minutes for the Red Wings as they made their push for the playoffs. Lalonde said “For him to come in like that, play in the top four, he did a really good job.” Having a player like Edvinsson on the blueline will only improve the Red Wings’ defense, which gave up 274 goals during the 2023-24 season, which was the ninth most in the NHL. Edvinsson has shown enough to crack Detroit’s roster going into the 2024-25 season.
