For the fifth year in a row, the Red Wings enter the season without legitimate playoff aspirations. For the third year in a row -- since the retirement of Henrik Zetterberg -- they enter the season without any legitimate stars. These are the realities of a rebuild.
For fans close to the team, the Wings remain mildly intriguing. They have a core of young players worth watching, with more on the way. From a national perspective, they're as bland as it gets.
Which is why in a ranking of the NHL's most watchable teams this season, ESPN's Greg Wyshynski slotted the Red Wings last. 31 out of 31.
Wyshynski rated each team on a scale of 1-10 in five categories: star power, secondary plot lines, controversy quotient, fun factor and aesthetics. The Red Wings got a 5 or lower in every category except aesthetics (8), including a 2 in star power. No other team was lower than 4 in that department.
"The Red Wings' rebuild will continue as morale improves," Wyshynski writes. "Due respect to Dylan Larkin, but this remains a franchise in search of a focal point player. Are we interested in seeing how Filip Zadina develops and how Bobby Ryan continues on his journey? Sure. Are we interested in seeing the Red Wings on most nights of a truncated season? No. Great jerseys, though."
It probably doesn't serve as any consolation for Red Wings fans that one of their oldest rivals was deemed most watchable: Toronto. The Golden Knights, Bruins, Avalanche and Capitals rounded out the top five.
