Red Wings Head Coach Gets Brutally Honest About Making the Playoffs

"I love what we did this offseason," he said. "We've improved, there's no doubt about it. We're going to be significant (in the playoff race). That's all I ask, that's all I want. We just gotta keep pushing in the right direction.

"That said, I also understand why there's not a single projection or a single expert out there that says we're going to make the playoffs. It's on us now. We've added some nice pieces, but we're still not there. And what more motivation can you have as a group than that?"

"If we played in the West, we would have made the playoffs," he continued. "What does that mean? We're still not good enough to win the Stanley Cup. That's Steve's job to get us there. I'm a coach, I want it right now, but Steve reminds me all the time: 'When we get there, we want to be sustainable."

"A necessity," said head coach Derek Lalonde of DeBrincat. "We had a lot of really good team games last year where we did a lot of things right and a lot of things that were asked of us, and we just couldn't put it in the net. We would find ways to lose some of those tight games. We need goals and that's something he can do, so it's a necessity for us as an addition. "I love the fact that he wanted to be here. Very attractive piece for us."