There’s this small circle on the Venn Diagram of NHL teams that I like to call the Zone of Pain.
In the eye of this proverbial hurricane, teams endure year after year of “okay”-ness. They’re too talented to compete in the draft lottery, but not talented enough to make the playoffs. The Zone of Pain has had a handful of suitors over the years: the Minnesota Wild in the mid-2010s, the Philadelphia Flyers before their colossal meltdown this season, and now, the Detroit Red Wings.
Fortunately, the Red Wings aren’t in the same situation as the two aforementioned teams.