I'll preface my next statement by saying I'm excited the way our young core is shaping up and hope to see some of the recent 1st round picks graduate to the big club at some point this season. It will be interesting. Having said that.....

There is no way in HELL that the Wings even sniff the playoffs this season. It's not that I'm hating on them, but just consider the teams they must climb over to get a spot, as I would guarantee these teams listed below grab a spot:

Tampa Bay
Boston
Toronto
Washington
Pittsburgh
NY Islanders
Florida

Carolina and the Rangers are also much improved, and New Jersey/Philadelphia got better as well. You're going to have 6 or 7 teams basically fighting for that last wild card spot. Unless some teams ahead of them have incredibly bad years or suffer massive amounts of injuries [[which are possible), Stevie Y's 1st year in Detroit will not register a playoff birth and will be making another trip to the draft lottery.

I do believe though that next year, after getting some bad contracts off the books and another seasoning of youngsters/adding some free agents, we will be poised to make a run at a playoff spot.