The Detroit Red Wings are heading into the seventh season with Steve Yzerman as the GM, but have not made the playoffs in that time. After a run of unprecedented success, 25 consecutive playoff appearances with four Stanley Cups, they have hit hard times. One of the final faces of the great Red Wings years is Pavel Datsyuk, who issued a strong declaration about his former team.
“Here’s my prediction – Detroit will reach the conference final,” he told Sergey Demidov of RG.org. “The Red Wings were at the top for a long time, winning many titles, so it’s understandable that their rebuild is taking more time than usual. They say a rebuild takes about seven years, but since Detroit was so high up, the road back to the top takes even longer. Now Detroit has a great arena, which is already a big plus. Perhaps what the team lacks is standout leaders – but that’s true not only for Detroit, it applies to hockey in general. Players are maturing more slowly these days, and some never mature at all, staying teenagers forever.”
Datsyuk puts some damning criticism on the Red Wings roster right after saying that 2026 was going to be the year they broke through. The playoffs have evaded Detroit in the past decade, and the Atlantic Division is not getting lighter this season. While the Boston Bruins will be worse, the Ottawa Senators are defending their playoff spot from last year.
If the Red Wings are going to make the playoffs, let alone the Eastern Conference Final, John Gibson will be a big reason. They traded for the goalie from the Anaheim Ducks at the draft to stop the rotating door of netminders in Michigan. Despite some rough years behind a bad Anaheim team, they believe Gibson can be the guy to get them over the hump. Datsuyk agrees.
