Everyone knew that this season would be tough due to the losses of Lidstrom, Stuart, Holmstrom and Hudler. But I doubt that many of you thought it would turn out like it has.
With 9 games left on their schedule, the Wings sit in 8th place in the Western Conference. For most fans this position brings about a weird feeling, a feeling of potentially missing the playoffs for the first time in 21 seasons. I personally believe that they will make it. The veteran leadership and overall depth around the roster should be able to keep us in the playoffs. And that’s not mentioning Pavel Datsyuk and Jimmy Howard, both of whom seem to be in a class of their own this season.
Nonetheless, here is how the fight for the playoffs is currently looking:
| 7th | St. Louis Blues | 11 GR | 44 Pts | 18 ROW | 6-4-0 |
| 8th | Detroit Red Wings | 9 GR | 43 Pts | 17 ROW | 5-5-0 |
| 9th | Phoenix Coyotes | 10 GR | 40 Pts | 14 ROW | 4-4-2 |
| 10th | Dallas Stars | 10 GR | 39 Pts | 16 ROW | 5-5-0 |
| 11th | Edmonton Oilers | 10 GR | 39 Pts | 14 ROW | 5-4-1 |
| 12th | Columbus Blue Jackets | 9 GR | 39 Pts | 12 ROW |
5-4-1 |
In case you are confused, GR stands for games remaining while ROW stands for regulation and overtime wins. The last column is the record of the teams last 10 games played.
After a quick glance a couple things jump out at me.
- Even if all of the teams behind us win their next game we are still ahead of them by at least a point. But, a point is by no means an acceptable gap.
- I doubt that St. Louis misses the playoffs, we can still pass them in the standings but the chances of them missing are small.
- Of the teams chasing us, no team really jumps out as a clear favorite to bypass us. Columbus has dropped off recently, the Oilers are always unpredictable, the Stars sold off half their team at the deadline and the Coyotes, well, their just the Coyotes.
With all of that in mind, here is the Wings remaining schedule:
| April 11th, 2013 | Detroit vs San Jose |
| April 12th, 2013 | Detroit at Chicago |
| April 14th, 2013 | Detroit at Nashville |
| April 17th, 2013 | Detroit at Calgary |
| April 20th, 2013 | Detroit at Vancouver |
| April 22nd, 2013 | Detroit vs Phoenix |
| April 24th, 2013 | Detroit vs Los Angeles |
| April 25th, 2013 | Detroit vs Nashville |
| April 27th, 2013 | Detroit at Dallas |
If you zero in on the Wings remaining 9 games a couple things are important to note. 5 of their remaining games are on the road. This includes a 4-game road trip. In addition to that, the Wings play 4 teams currently in a playoff spot.
All of them are must wins. There is no game that we can “afford” to lose. There is no night that we can take off. Also, in the games against Phoenix and Dallas it will be important to win in regulation. We can not afford to be having 3 point games with them.
Ultimately, I believe we will make the playoffs. I think that we are too good of a team not to make it.
So what do you guys think? Are we in in or are we out? Let me know in the comments!
