A petition calling for Chris Ilitch to sell the Detroit Red Wings appeared Wednesday. On the same day, defenseman Simon Edvinsson returned to Sweden without a contract, leaving one of Detroit’s most important young players away from the team two days before its season opener. Neither development proves Ilitch is preparing to sell the franchise or that Edvinsson is leaving Detroit permanently. But together, they show just how wide the gap has become between what Red Wings fans expect from their franchise and what they have received over the past decade.

The Past Set the Standard

The Red Wings are Hockeytown because of what happened long before the current roster took the ice. Detroit has won 11 Stanley Cups and made 64 playoff appearances. The franchise’s greatest modern stretch came from 1990-91 through 2015-16, when Detroit qualified for the playoffs for 25 consecutive seasons. During that run, the Red Wings won four Stanley Cups and established a standard of sustained success that few professional sports franchises can match.

That history is a blessing. It gives generations of Detroit fans a connection to the franchise that goes beyond a single season. But it is also a burden because the past created expectations that the current organization has struggled to meet. The Red Wings missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the 10th consecutive season, extending what is now the longest active playoff drought in the NHL after Buffalo ended its own 14-year wait last spring.

The Collapse Made the Drought Harder to Accept

The numbers from last season tell the story. Detroit finished 41-31-10 with 92 points, but still missed the postseason. Even more frustrating, the Red Wings were tied with Carolina for the best record in the Eastern Conference on Jan. 24 and held a 12-point cushion over ninth-place Florida. They then went 9-15-5 down the stretch. Detroit averaged just 2.59 goals per game after Jan. 24, 30th in the league, while scoring only 41 five-on-five goals, the fewest in the NHL.

That is where the frustration becomes understandable. Fans did not spend the entire season watching a team with no expectations. They watched a team that appeared capable of ending the drought before another collapse pushed Detroit out of the playoff picture.

Chris Ilitch Has Already Changed the Organization

The pressure on ownership has also increased because the organization itself has gone through significant changes. Steve Yzerman, who had served as general manager since 2019, was moved out of the position in July and into a senior-advisor role.

Detroit opens the season with Shawn Horcoff serving as interim general manager while the organization searches for permanent hockey-operations leadership. Ilitch told the Detroit News he has a “clear vision” for the franchise and that the decision to move on from Yzerman came after an organizational review. That is an important piece of the conversation because Ilitch is no longer simply overseeing a front office responsible for the team’s results. Ownership has become directly involved in determining what comes next.

The uncertainty has extended to the roster. Dylan Larkin requested a trade during the offseason, was removed as captain and reported to training camp with the request still unresolved. Detroit will open the season without a captain; Larkin had worn the C since January 2021.

None of those developments individually proves that Detroit is headed toward another failed season. But when an organization has missed the playoffs 10 straight years, every unresolved issue carries more weight.

Frustration Is Becoming Action

That frustration became impossible to ignore Wednesday when a Red Wings fan launched an online petition calling for Ilitch to sell the franchise. It had drawn 81 signatures toward an initial goal of 100 by Wednesday night, so this is one fan’s effort and does not indicate that the Ilitch family is considering selling the team. Still, its timing is significant.

The petition arrived during a week when another important piece of Detroit’s future became uncertain.

Edvinsson, selected sixth overall in the 2021 NHL Draft, has become one of the organization’s most important young defensemen. He recorded nine goals and 16 assists for 25 points in 72 games last season while averaging more than 22 minutes per game. Edvinsson was practicing with the team despite being unsigned, while interim general manager Shawn Horcoff described signing him as a priority.

Edvinsson has returned to Sweden while contract negotiations continue, and he has been skating with his former club, Frolunda. The two sides have reportedly reached an impasse primarily over contract length. Edvinsson has already appeared in 175 games for Detroit and recorded 60 points, making him a significant part of the organization’s young core.

A contract dispute does not mean Edvinsson will never play for Detroit again. It does not automatically mean the organization mishandled the negotiations. But for a franchise that desperately needs its young talent to develop into a playoff-caliber core, losing practice time with one of its key defensemen two days before Friday’s opener against the New York Rangers is hardly ideal.

Hockeytown Is Both a Blessing and a Burden

There is nothing wrong with being romantic about Hockeytown. In fact, Aaron DesJardins’ recent Detroit Sports Nation column, “It’s Still Okay to Be Romantic About Hockeytown,” makes the case that Detroit’s history and connection to the sport are still worth celebrating. That history absolutely matters.

But nostalgia cannot substitute for results.

What the Red Wings Actually Need

The Red Wings do not need to recreate the 1997 championship team. They do not need another Steve Yzerman, Nicklas Lidstrom or Sergei Fedorov to prove that Hockeytown still exists. They need to build an organization capable of consistently competing for the playoffs again.

That is why the past matters so much. Detroit fans know what sustained success looks like. They know what meaningful hockey in April feels like. They know what it means to watch a team compete for championships because the Red Wings did it for decades.

The 10-year drought does not erase 11 Stanley Cups. But those 11 Stanley Cups explain why the drought feels so difficult to accept.

The Red Wings’ history is their greatest selling point, but it is also the standard they cannot escape. Hockeytown gave Detroit something special. Now the organization has to give its fans a reason to believe that the best parts of that history are still capable of influencing the future.