The Detroit Red Wings were booed off the ice Saturday night in the teams’ final game of the season. They were trounced by the Buffalo Sabres to the tune of 7-1 on home ice.
The magic seemingly wore off the Detroit Red Wings Saturday night, it is march madness season, and over the last ten games or so, Cinderella has loaned her slippers to the Wings, but they must have fallen off before the start of Saturday night.
The last few weeks of the season were the perfect depiction of the Detroit Red Wings season as a whole. They showed a terrific compete level; they beat a string of playoff teams and teams that were playing for something consecutively while on the road to boot. Remember the Wings were able to win a few games in a row after trailing by two or more goals?
That was an incredible feat although, in the end, it means nothing, other times throughout the season the team went through extensive stretches where they couldn’t buy a win or losing 11 of 14.
More from Octopus Thrower
- Detroit Red Wings forward Carter Mazur injured in Prospect Tournament
- Detroit Red Wings: What does Klim Kostin’s role look like in 2023-24?
- Detroit Red Wings: 3 players who will make biggest impact in first year
- The Detroit Red Wings need Andrew Copp to start fast in 2023-24
- Detroit Red Wings had a busy off-season; but was it enough?
Many fans had hoped three weeks ago when the team sat firmly in second last place to the Ottawa Senators only four points out of the last place for the best odds of landing the first overall pick in the upcoming NHL Entry Level Draft. Then the sting of strong play occurred, bumping the Wings back to the fourth slot with a 9.5% chance of landing the first overall pick.
The game against the Buffalo Sabres Saturday night was really played for a 1% chance difference in the draft lottery. The winner would be bumped back to fifth having 8.5% chance at landing the top pick in the draft. So it wasn’t horrible that the Wings lost, but how they got destroyed will leave a bad taste in their mouth for a couple of weeks until they start their offseason workouts.
In addition to the first pick odds, the Detroit Red Wings have a 28.8% chance of moving up from the fourth position into the top three. The draft lottery will take place in Toronto on Tuesday evening. You can watch the lottery starting at 8 pm on NBCSN.
The primary target is center Jack Hughes who has been deemed a generational talent. The consolation prize is an excellent pick too, the Finish winger Kaapo Kakko, in some mock drafts Kakko is actually projected first bypassing Hughes, but in most mocks, Hughes remains to top choice.
It is shaping up to be an exciting summer, and it starts Tuesday night when we see exactly where the Wings will pick! Fingers crossed for some ping-pong, lottery luck and Cinderella is more than welcome to show up for Detroit again!