The Detroit Red Wings are preparing to embark on their longest road trip of the season, where they will play in four different time zones, play six teams and not see the comforts of a home game at Little Caesars Arena until Dec. 16, when they host the New York Islanders.
Fresh off of beating the Boston Bruins 5-4 on Tuesday night to improve to 14-11-2 through 27 games, the Red Wings go into the road trip tied with the Ottawa Senators at 30 points for third-place in the Atlantic Division, with the Senators holding one game in hand.
This road trip could play a key role in where the Red Wings players and fans want this season to go. The Eastern Conference is all bunched up, as the gap between the top and bottom teams, sits at only nine points.
The trip begins in Columbus on Thursday, with a pesky Blue Jackets team that started the Red Wings’ downfall last season, when they beat them in back-to-back games during late February and early March, including the 2025 National Hockey League Stadium Series at Ohio Stadium. The Red Wings took the first matchup between these two teams this season on Nov. 22, 4-3 in overtime.
After squaring off with the Blue Jackets, the Red Wings head west to Seattle, followed by stops in Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton before heading back to the Midwest to wrap up the trip in Chicago.
Last season, the Wings’ trip through Western Canada was one of the high points of the season, winning all four games to cap off what was a seven-game winning streak. The Wings need to take advantage of teams that have struggled for the majority of 2025, as only one of the six teams on this road trip currently find themselves in a playoff spot, with that being the Kraken.
The three Canadian teams that the Red Wings will see while away from home, currently all find themselves at the .500 mark or worse, making it important that they don’t give away points. The Canucks sit 30th overall with a record of 10-14-3, while the Flames sit dead last with a record of 9-15-4.
The Red Wings can’t afford another let-up after faltering on Thanksgiving eve last Wednesday, against the then last-place Nashville Predators, losing 6-3 in an effort that saw them get booed off the ice, suffering a defeat to a Preds team that previously had not topped the four goals in a game threshold.
Two days later, after another 6-3 loss, this time at the hands of the Atlantic Division-leading Tampa Bay Lightning, captain Dylan Larkin gave an honest assessment when speaking to the media, “We’re just a little fragile and mistakes seem to be compounding,” Larkin said.
If the Red Wings want to change the narrative that has been brought to life by their captain, this road trip might be the best place to start, squaring off with only one current playoff team and a chance to show they are real contenders in a jammed Eastern Conference playoff picture.