The 2024-25 season was an odd one for the Detroit Red Wings. On one hand, star forward Lucas Raymond had his biggest year to date. On the other, coaching changes and defensive collapses led to the team’s ninth consecutive year outside the playoffs. Now, with the rest of the division adding big pieces, the path to the playoffs looks tougher than ever.
But this can all change if key depth players bounce back.
Only five Red Wings scored above 40 points last season. To be fair, the roster suffered quite a few injuries and endured a midseason change behind the bench. With that said, however, there’s plenty of room for improvement. These two players in particular look poised to bounce back in 2025-26.
Andrew Copp Set for Big Resurgence
Andrew Copp is three seasons removed from his career high 42 points in 82 games. At the start of last season, it looked as if he’d never hit those numbers again. In 35 games, Copp had just 14 points; a far cry from the player the Red Wings had hoped he’d become.
Things changed quickly as soon as head coach Todd McLellan took over. In Copp’s final 21 games of the season, he tacked on nine points, scoring at a higher clip than he had while under former head coach Derek Lalonde. Unfortunately, an injury in late February sidelined Copp for the rest of the season.
Without Copp, the roster went on to post an ugly 11-13-4 record, missing the playoffs yet again. “It’s tough when you’re not playing because you’re not in the fight,” Copp said on the team’s season-ending press conference. “You don’t know the intricacies of the meetings or what’s going on on the bench. But from what I experienced, [McLellan] was a real leader. He got us going and held us accountable, but also empowered the team and trusted us to play instinctively.”
Red Wings Putting Faith in Ben Chiarot
Ben Chiarot played some of the toughest minutes in the NHL last season alongside Moritz Seider. More often than not, Seider was put into difficult situations having to cover for Chiarot, who plays a much more physical game that often pushes him out of position.
At the end of the season, however, the Red Wings experimented with a Simon Edvinsson-Moritz Seider pairing, which was met with great success. This change could potentially slot Chiarot into a deeper role on the defense. Doing so would take a lot of that defensive pressure off Chiarot while allowing him to play his brand of hockey.
Should he slot on a line with, say, Albert Johanssen, he’ll assume a much lower risk than playing against tough competition like Nikita Kucherov. It also gives Chiarot a chance to take on a leadership role, representing McLellan’s core philosophy.
“When you come in and try to create an environment and try to introduce new concepts for the players, they’re either going to accept them and make it work or poke holes in them and basically say it doesn’t work,” McLellan told media last season. “All of our players have chosen to try and make it work and the longer it goes the more they believe.”
Red Wings Bounce Back Candidates