Do you think the Red Wings will actually miss the playoffs this year?

Since they’ve gone deep the last two years in the playoffs, that’s like playing another quarter of a season. 22 games in 08 and 23 in 09. so they've played an extra half season over the last 2 years, while some teams have only played the normal 2. plus, playoff "seasons" are usually pretty gritty, and have a higher intensity.

Detroit has the highest average age in the league by far, (over 30.3), and after Carolina, which is 2nd at 29.3 and New Jersey at 3rd w/ 29.0, there is a sharp dropoff for the remaining teams.

Detroit leads the league in “man-days lost to injury”… by far.

They also lost about 30% of their offense in goals when Hossa, Hudler, Samuelsson and Kopecky left. 88 goals last year amongst the four, out of a total of 295 goals scored. so far this year, they have scored 177 goals. guess where they "should've" been this year, using last year as an example... 237 goals. 66 games / 82 total. times 295 = 237. Gee, i wonder where all the goals went? 60 /88 = 68%, which implies, not only are they missing that production, but they're also behind their pace for last year, EVEN IF you take out those four players.. (probably because they find themselves on defence more than offence when compared to last year).

All these points added up take a toll, and impact a team. Then throw in some inconsistent goaltending (in the early part of the season before Howard found his rhythm), and chemistry issues trying to gel as players come back, and then others get injured. Then throw in the typical (to any team) defensive lapses or playing smart/hard 50 out of 60 minutes, and you have a bubble playoff team.

there are 16 games left. they are 1 pt out of the 8th spot. they have a lot of leadership and experience, and mostly good health. they should be able to make the playoffs. but i do not think that they'll go deep.

to me the question will be... will these above factors be used as excuses, or will leadership and experience prevail, and let other teams decide their fate, while the wings commit themselves to winning? again, it would be ONE thing if they were getting outworked by younger teams and finding themselves down by 2 goals in the 3rd. however, it's a totally DIFFERENT thing to give up 3rd period leads. that's unacceptable for an experienced Conference champion.

there actually is a significant Wings - Coyotes rivalry. many "snowbirds" from Michigan either migrate to Arizona or used to migrate, and now permanently live there. therefore at many games at the Jobing.com Arena in Glendale when the wings come to town, half of the arena is in wings jerseys, the other half in Coyotes paraphernalia. you could argue that besides Pittsburgh, this rivalry is the biggest between the wings and a non - division opponent. at least from Arizona's point of view.

considering the fact that they have made it to the finals back to back years and are an older team they start to wear down. they missed more games this year due to injury before the olympics than they did all of last year. they haven't had a chance to be consistent because every week someone gets hurt. then factor in that Babcock has been focusing on the Olympics as well as Steve Yzerman and the huge pressure Canada put on them to win and I think that was a big distraction. If they can stay healthy and put together a little run here over the next month they could sneak in as a 7 or 8 maybe even a 6. If they sneak in as the 8 and have to play the sharks i think they it will be close depending on Nabokov. Same if they have the 7 seed and have to play the Hawks, although a great team their goaltending is suspect. As for the wings their remaining schedule is pretty favorable and they have a few more games with Nashville who is in front of them. And for the person who said the Olympics were a blessing for them I disagree as stated before I think it distracted the front office and two because it caused the team to play more back-to-back games and gave them less rest in between games which hurt this older team.

The Red Wings missed 280+ man games to injury. At one point they had nine guys out. Franzen was just the tip of the iceberg. They still aren't on all four cylinders but they are improving. Time IS running out and they need to hold leads like they did NOT last night. They fell to ninth in the play off race. I still think they will make the play offs but I don't expect them to go far.

You DO remember they also lost Samuellson, Hudler, and Hossa, too, right?

THIS is how the team that went to the Cup Finals 2 years in a row is struggling.

Absolutely not. The team was already getting old when many started getting injured. The one saving grace was this years' Olympic break which allowed them to heal. I expect them to get to the second round.

Michigan will collapse into a giant black hole. The wings are all we have right now! Haha but after last night its possible, but I see them pulling together and making it, but not going far.

And I have NEVER heard of a Wings/Yotes rivalry. They have one good year and its a rivalry? Don't think so Coyote fans, dont forget just last year you almost lost your team. Bunch of Bandwagoners.

(Ex. Cardinals"fans"- there were probably about....7 of you before you made the super bowl.)

Nothing suprises me with the Red Wings. They can win the rest of their games and sit 3rd or 4th in the west and I wouldn't think anything of it.

nahh they won't. They have too many good players still, regardless of what people say. They just need to make a good run at it and stick together.

I hope to God they don't make it to playoffs!

I hate the Wings...

All good things come to an end!

Yes. The Detroit Dead Wings.