That’s a wrap, folks. The 2024-2025 regular season is officially over and what a ride it was. At the end of it all, the Red Wings put up a 39-35-8 record and, obviously, missed the playoffs. The more I reflect on this season, the less upset I am with missing out on the postseason. Why you might ask? It really comes down to the coaching change. It was a different team almost instantly after Derek Lalonde was fired — Todd McLellan brought a lot of stability to the bench and started to foster an actual culture in the locker room. The only real gripe I have is with Steve Yzerman for waiting too long to make the change. In my opinion, and maybe a lot of you agree, Lalonde should have been canned after the failure of a west coast trip in November. Probably more to the story than we will ever know, maybe Yzerman needed time to evaluate free agent coaches. Who knows.
I digress, if Yzerman had brought in McLellan earlier, there’s a good chance we’re not saying “goodbye” to our beloved Red Wings right now.
The stakes are high for Steve Yzerman this offseason. I think it’s a little too early to start speculating what could and should be done in regard to trades, the draft, and free agency. Lots of time for that — for now, it’s time for a little break. A reset, if you will.
All that being said, I would like to wish everyone a happy ASP and MBN debut day. The pair of first-round picks are set to make their North American pro debut tonight with the Grand Rapids Griffins. Unless you have a subscription to FloHockey ($30 per month or $150 per year), you won’t be able to catch the game. You will, however, be able to stream the radio broadcast for free! Just tune into 96.1 The Game FM. The Griffins are pretty good with posting highlights and such on their social media channels, so you can catch some video there. Here’s hoping ASP and MBN can make a splash right away. Game starts at 8 PM ET.
Final note, a little housekeeping if you will, I’ve made the decision to discontinue our “WIIM Club” subscription indefinitely. Thought about it a lot – I just feel like we (society) have too many paid subscriptions on our plates these days. This site isn’t really about making money, it’s about the community. I figured if I can keep the lights on using adspace (yes, I know it’s annoying) and avoid taking your hard-earned money, that’s good enough for me. Reality is, this is not my full-time job. This is my fun-time job.
Have a good weekend!
