The Detroit Red Wings are looking at a long playoff drought that could continue into Year 10, but it's unfair to compare them with the Buffalo Sabres. If Steve Yzerman's draft picks didn't work out and the Wings were approaching 2025-26 with a team destined to win the Gavin McKenna sweepstakes, then fans would agree with Justin Bourne of Sportsnet.
Bourne summed up every team with two sentences. And regarding the Wings, he said, "I just don’t see how they’re gonna be any better, which means they’re entering Buffalo Sabres territory, where you look at their run of post-season absences and go “Wait, why aren’t you better yet?” Like every team in the league they’ve got some decent players and some guys who could improve, but overall just a completely uninspiring group here that needs either a Vezina season from John Gibson or a massive personnel shake-up."
The Red Wings were in playoff contention over the past two seasons, barely missing out in 2024 to the Washington Capitals via a tiebreaker. That alone shows the Wings are a better team than anything the Sabres put onto the ice between 2011-12 and 2020-21, the first 10 seasons of their playoff drought.
Secondly, the Wings also looked like they were in contention in 2025 until the wheels started coming off at the end there. That's a far cry from the 2018-19 Sabres, who, following a 10-game winning streak that left them as the best team in hockey, couldn't even stick out the month of March 2019 with meaningful, high-stakes games when the Montreal Canadiens elimited them from contention on March 23rd. Fast-forward two seasons to 2020-21, and the Sabres hit a new low.
Detroit Red Wings are in a much better place than the 2020-21 Buffalo Sabres
When the 2020-21 Buffalo Sabres missed the playoffs, it marked the 10th season of their still-ongoing drought. That team also sputtered under head coaches Ralph Krueger and Don Granato, riding an 18-game losing streak at one point.
Meanwhile, even if the Red Wings extend their own playoff drought to 10 seasons, at least they have a team that's trending north. Emmitt Finnie, Axel Sandin-Pellikka, and Michael Brandsegg-Nygard made the opening-night lineup, giving fans further proof that the Yzerplan is working as intended.
Further, Yzerman picks like Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond are transforming into the best in the league at the blue line and at winger, respectively. Marco Kasper, Simon Edvinsson, and Albert Johansson could join them, while Alex DeBrincat is one of the most reliable scorers in hockey, and they have excellent leadership in players like Dylan Larkin.
The Red Wings are a far cry from "Sabres territory"
The difference between a Red Wings team potentially going 10 seasons without a playoff berth and that 2020-21 Sabres team that hit the 10-year mark of futility is night and day. Throw in Todd McLellan, a proven head coach who has 88 games of playoff experience, and it further distances the Red Wings from the situation the Sabres were and, in many cases, are still in.
This isn't saying the Red Wings are a good team, or anything close to transforming into a championship contender. They are middle-of-the-road when you compare them to the rest of the NHL.
But their arrow is pointing north. If that wasn't the case, fans would be talking more about Gavin McKenna than they would about Finnie, Sandin-Pellikka, and Brandsegg-Nygard, factoring in as the latest puzzle pieces of the Yzerplan.