Red Wings Playoff Tracker 2026

[lordstanley]

The Wings have gone 6-8-3 for 15 points in the past 17 games starting January 27. That's a 44.1% points percentage. For the entire season, the only team with a points percentage lower than 44.1% is Vancouver with 36.2%.

Here's the position of the Wings on January 26 vs other conference teams compared to today:

Tampa: Was 1 pt behind, now 7 points behind. So from -1 to -7

Carolina: Was tied, now 12 points behind. So from 0 to -12.

Buffalo: +6 to -11

Pittsburgh: +6 to -2

Montreal: +6 to -2

Boston: +6 to -2

NYI: +8 to -1

Philadelphia: +12 to +4

Washington: +12 to +5

Columbus: +14 to -1

Ottawa: +14 to -3

The only teams in the East the Wings have more points than since January 26 are 3 points more than Florida and 1 point more than Toronto. The only team in the West the Wings have more points than since January 26 are 5 points than Vancouver. That's it. They've played like a bottom 5 for a stretch as long as 1/5 of the season.

[Jason_R]

It was good to get Copp back. It will be better to get Larkin back. It looked like he was a full go at practice and is now a gametime decision. 

The Boston game was disappointing. They outplayed Boston. They had one goal waved off by a fraction of a second. Swayman stood on his head. Somehow Boston ended up with 1:53 of a two-man advantage AND a penalty shot. 

I still think Detroit gets in. 

[slothfacekilla]

 

[lordstanley]

Wings host Ottawa tonight, now just a point up on the Sens with the same number of games played. 12 games left for both. Wings need to stay ahead of the Sens and beat out one of the five underlined teams below in order to make the playoffs. Best hopes for help tonight are probably Carolina and Colorado.

Games to watch tonight and hope for losses:

Toronto at Boston (2pts up on Detroit, same number of games played)

Carolina at Montreal (2 pts up on Detroit, one game in hand on the Wings)

Chicago at NYI (1 pt up on Detroit, one game in hand for the Wings)

Columbus (1 pt up on Detroit, same number of games played) at Philadelphia

Colorado at Pittsburgh (2 pts up on Detroit, same number of games played)

Buffalo, Tampa and Carolina are now well beyond reach of the Wings and not worth tracking. Philadelphia (4 pts behind Detroit, one game in hand on the Wings) and Washington (5 pts behind Detroit, one game in hand for the Wings) are the least of the Wings' troubles.

Edited Tuesday at 11:02 PM by lordstanley

[lordstanley]

Can't blame the out of town scoreboard tonight. While Columbus and Montreal won, the Wings were gifted regulation losses by Pittsburgh, NYI and Boston. The door was open ... 

[lordstanley]

Ilitch and Yzerman have failed by not convincing the NHL governors to switch to a 60-game, 5-month regular season.

[Shinzaki]

6 minutes ago, lordstanley said:

Can't blame the out of town scoreboard tonight. While Columbus and Montreal won, the Wings were gifted regulation losses by Pittsburgh, NYI and Boston. The door was open ... 

And as usual..they failed to step through it.  This roster is stagnant...

[Jason_R]

kasper, danielson, ASP, MBN all  had the chance to give the roster a jolt. Nobody has done it. 

[lordstanley]

Sabres lose once in a blue moon ...so they do so tonight against Boston. Bruins now 4 pts up on Detroit. 

[lordstanley]

A new milestone in a bad way in the Wings are now no longer a win away from the playoff cut line. With NYI's win over Dallas last night, the Islanders are 3 up on the Wings, although the Wings do have 2 games in hand. The Wings also have to pass Ottawa and with Ottawa's OTL last night the Wings are 2 behind Ottawa with a game in hand - the Sens are way ahead on the tiebreaker.

What a difference a week makes. Recall last Friday morning there were 6 teams with either 84 or 83 points: Montreal, Pittsburgh, Boston and Detroit with 84 and Columbus and NYI with 83. Since then Montreal has picked up 6 pts, Boston and Pittsburgh and Columbus and NYI have picked up 4 pts and the Wings are stuck on 84 pts with 0 points since then.

Two NHL games tonight, one is irrelevant and the other is Wings at Sabres, where the Wings will be big underdogs.

 

 

[lordstanley]

Today is massive. Teams #5-#10 in the East have between 86-88 points and all are in action today, none against each other, with start times in waves. Fighting for 4 spots. Recall the Wings need to beat 2 of those other 5 teams, with at least one of the two being Ottawa or Boston. In ( ) are pts Amand games remaining. 
 

1pm ET

Ottawa (86,10) at Tampa

Florida at NYI (87,9)

5pm ET

Minnesota at Boston(88,10)

Dallas at Pittsburgh(88,10)

San Jose at Columbus (87,10)

8pm ET

Philadelphia at Detroit (86,10)

So all the five the other teams will have finished play before the Wings start their game. Tampa, Minnesota and Dallas might be the best hopes for doing the Wings a favour. Habs (90,11) have put some distance between them and the Wings but I am still cheering for Nashville to beat them to tighten things up.

Edited 11 hours ago by lordstanley

[lordstanley]

If Ottawa and Detroit both win today AND Columbus and NYI both lose in OT/SO AND Pittsburgh and Boston both lose in regulation, there’d be a 6-way tie at 88 pts with 9 games to go.  

[lordstanley]

4 hours ago, lordstanley said:

1pm ET

Ottawa (86,10) at Tampa

Florida at NYI (87,9)

 

Tampa beats Ottawa in regulation. NYI beats Florida in regulation. I'll take it. Means the Wings again control their playoff destiny. Tied with Ottawa but with a game in hand. 3 pts behind NYI but with 2 games in hand. So the Wings are still behind NYI, but if the Wings beat Philly they'd pull back to 1 pt behind NYI with 1 game in hand so would be ahead on points %. 

[lordstanley]

San Jose scores late to beat Columbus in regulation while Dallas doubles Pittsburgh in regulation. This and the Ottawa loss makes it good enough day in the out of scoreboard. Wings are 1 pt behind 2nd wildcard Columbus with a game in hand but  the Wings have a better point percentage. 
 

[1984Echoes]

16 minutes ago, lordstanley said:

San Jose scores late to beat Columbus in regulation while Dallas doubles Pittsburgh in regulation...

Nice...!

But Detroit grabbing two points this game is even more important...

IMO.

They need wins...