Wings face lower expectations heading into 2014-15 season (VIDEO)
DETROIT -- The days when the Detroit Red Wings were considered the top team in the NHL are gone.
If you look at the predictions of all the NHL experts, nearly every one is picking the Boston Bruins to win the Atlantic Division, with a couple of outliers choosing the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Wings overcame a ridiculous number of injuries in the 2013-14 season to make their 23rd straight playoff appearance.
But that appearance was short-lived as the Bruins eliminated them in the first round in five games.
The Wings have not reached the Stanley Cup Finals since 2009.
"We're a group that's going to have to earn our way and earn our confidence," Wings coach Mike Babcock said. "I don't think anyone has got us pegged to win the President's Trophy, so we're going to have to grind."
The Wings are like many teams in that they are going to need good health and a little luck to advance deep into the playoffs.
"Probably 4-5 teams in the entire league that are the class of the league," Wings general manager Ken Holland said. "There's probably 20 teams that there's not a lot to choose from. We're in that group of 20."
But first they have to get there.
"If we're going to be a playoff team, if we're going to get better, it starts with homegrown talent," Holland said. "The Detroit Red Wings of the '90s were built through the draft. The Detroit Red Wings of the 2000s were built through the draft. We're trying to build through the draft as we compete for a playoff spot.
"We're trying to see if it's possible not to go into a five-year abyss and miss the playoffs."
Captain Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk are both fine examples of the Wings' homegrown talent, but Zetterberg turns 34 Thursday and Datsyuk is 36.
The next generation of homegrown talent needs to take a step forward.
A few of those players were pressed into heavy duty last season because of the multitude of injuries and performed well.
Gustav Nyquist, 25, tied Zetterberg for second on the team in scoring with 48 points (28 goals, 20 assists) in 57 games.
Tomas Tatar, 23, had 19 goals and 20 assists in 73 games.
Riley Sheahan, 22, brought size (6-foot-3, 222 pounds) and skill last season, scoring nine goals and 15 assists in 42 games.
Tomas Jurco, 21, is also a bigger forward at 6-foot-1, 203 pounds, and he had eight goals and seven assists in 36 games.
Zetterberg knows that these talented young forwards can help the Wings but understands the expectations for them will go up.
"The second year you don't have that same rookie feeling you had the first time," Zetterberg said. "You just got to find a way to go through the 82 games, just to get through the bad times. If a slump comes around you got to get out of that. As a rookie you don't really have that much pressure on you. But in the second year you do and you just got to find a way to deal with that."
Some of the younger veterans like Justin Abdelkader and Darren Helm also need to stay healthy and chip in on offense.
The Wings cannot afford to lose Zetterberg and Datsyuk as much as they did last season.
However, they are likely to start the season without Datsyuk, who is recovering from a separated shoulder that he suffered in the first preseason game.
It would also help if last year's free-agent pickup, Stephen Weiss, was fully recovered from his sports hernia surgeries and was able to contribute.
Defensively, the Wings will rely once again on stalwart Niklas Kronwall and on a hopefully healthy Jonathan Ericsson.
Brendan Smith, 25, needs to take another step forward in his development, as does Danny DeKeyser, 24.
"Brendan Smith is coming of age. He's 25," Holland said. "There's a big difference for players in the league at 23 and 25."
Kyle Quincey, 29, believes the Wings actually are at an advantage because they didn't change too much in the offseason.
"We have a structure and a system that we know inside and out," Quincey said. "And Game 1, we're not feeling it out. We know each other, we know exactly what to expect. We know the system, so we're going to hit the ground running. When other teams, if they have other guys that need to learn the system, we're ahead of them already."
Brian Lashoff and Jakub Kindl are the sixth and seventh defensemen but that doesn't mean defensemen like Xavier Ouellet, Alexey Marchenko and Ryan Sproul won't get an opportunity.
"These are decisions we made, but if we don't get off to the kind of start that we want and I'm not going to gauge it or judge it, but there are certainly players that made a case that they're not far away," Holland said. "If we have to make decisions here whether through health or through play we'll make those.
"I'm looking at it as an 82-game schedule plus playoffs. We're going to need lots of players. We're going to need more than the 23 players that we start off today. We're going to need more like 26-27 players before the year's over."
Finally there's goaltending.
Starter Jimmy Howard, 30, was 21-19-11 with a 2.66 goals-against average and .910 save percentage in an injury-plagued season.
"I don't think it was a bad year, it was an average year," Holland said of Howard. "He can play better. He had a good camp."
In the 2011-12 season Howard was 35-17 with a 2.13 goals-against average and .920 save percentage in 57 games. In thee 2012-13 season he was 21-13 with a 2.13 goals-against average and .923 save percentage.
The Wings would like to see Howard return to that level or better.
Backup Jonas Gustavsson was 16-5-4 with a 2.63 goals-against average and .907 save percentage.
If Howard and Gustavsson aren't getting it done, the Wings won't hesitate to turn to young Petr Mrazek, 22, who was just sent down to the Grand Rapids Griffins (AHL).
"In Mrazek's case, he had a great camp," Holland said. "He's certainly someone we have great hopes about moving forward. He had a tremendous camp. I think he sent us a real message."
Now the message the Wings would like to send the rest of the league is that they're going to be a force to be reckoned with this season.
"I think that's the key for our success, is depth up front and getting after the other team and really skating and competing," Babcock said.
"We do that, I think we're going to have a chance."
