The good and bad regarding the Detroit Red Wings 2023-24 schedule

The Detroit Red Wings released their 2023-24 schedule on Tuesday afternoon. There are some exciting things to take away from the upcoming schedule, but also a few situations left to question.

The Detroit Red Wings will begin the regular season on the road in New Jersey on October 12. Two days later will be Detroit’s home opener when they host the Tampa Bay Lightning. Detroit will close out the regular season in Montreal on April 16. It’s almost as if Mickey Redmond had some influence on where Detroit will end. The ginger ales will be flowing even on a Tuesday evening. And yes, the Detroit Red Wings’ unofficial mascot, George, helped unveil the schedule.

The first thing that stands out at first glance is that the Detroit Red Wings will square off with the Toronto Maple Leafs three times, twice in Toronto and once in Sweden. The fact that the NHL schedule makers didn’t give the pair each a home game in addition to the game abroad is puzzling.

Speaking of playing abroad, the Detroit Red Wings will participate in the Global Series games in Sweden, facing Ottawa on November 16 and Toronto on November 17. General manager Steve Yzerman recently spoke fondly of getting the opportunity to expand the game in Sweden and why the organization accepted the invitation.

"“It’s a great experience,” he said. “Our players are extremely excited to go, our staff is excited to go. I think there are going to be a lot of fans over there, some of our sponsors. When the league called to ask, we talked about it internally — for me it was this is a great experience for our players and for our organization and things they will remember.”"

The Detroit Red Wings are off nine days from Feb. 1-9 for their bye week and NHL All-Star weekend in Toronto.

A couple of other key dates are as follows. The Chicago Blackhawks’ lone trip to Detroit is on November 30. Unless you are willing to travel, this will be your only opportunity to see the expected first overall selection of Connor Bedard this season. Another important date is the traditional New Year’s Eve game. This year, the Detroit Red Wings have moved it to 5 PM Est. start allowing fans to make other arrangements following the game to ring in the new year. Downtown Detroit will be hopping. The game itself will be against the Boston Bruins.

Detroit Red Wings pre-draft news, in case you missed it.

• The Detroit Red Wings could possibly land forward Alex DeBrincat for pennies on the dollar as this continues to drag out.
• Following a record-breaking season, Gabe Perreault might be the perfect pick for the Detroit Red Wings at No. 9 this coming Wednesday.
• Despite all of the challenges that come with it, Steve Yzerman won’t shy away from drafting Russian prospects.
• The Detroit Red Wings select Zach Benson in one of the latest NHL mock drafts.