EDITOR’S NOTE: With the NHL Draft and free agency occurring in the next several weeks, Red Wings beat writer Ted Kulfan will analyze each of the Red Wings’ position groups. Today: Forwards.

DETROIT >> This was after the Red Wings’ season ended, and forward Lucas Raymond was at the interview podium about to speak to reporters about another lost season.

The Wings had missed the playoffs for a ninth consecutive season, and fourth since Raymond began his career here.

Instead of preparing for the playoffs, Raymond was again talking about why the Wings weren’t there.

“You grow up playing hockey and you play to win stuff,” said Raymond, who did all he could, leading the Wings with 53 assists and 80 points. “Whether that’s a pee-wee tournament or whatever it is, you’re always used to playing those games. Not being able to do that is frustrating. It’s not fun at all. I speak for everyone when I say that.

“Everyone is very determined to change that and take that next step very soon.”

For the Wings to join the playoff party they’ll need to create more offense.

The Wings had one of the best power plays in the NHL, ranking fourth at 27 percent. But it partially covered up for a weak attack at even strength; the Wings had the fourth-lowest total of even-strength goals in the NHL. The Wings had too many inconsistent or sub-par seasons from forwards who were counted on for more production.

There were some fine performances individually from Raymond, Alex DeBrincat (team-leading 39 goals) and Dylan Larkin (70 points, but only 20 over the final 26 games). Patrick Kane (21 goals and 59 points, but only 14 points in first 29 games) and rookie Marco Kasper (19 goals) also made contributions.

But elsewhere the Wings simply didn’t manufacture enough offense. The Wings needed more from Vladimir Tarasenko (11 goals, 33 points), J.T. Compher (11 goals, 32 points), Jonatan Berggren (12 goals, 24 points), Michael Rasmussen (11 goals) and Andrew Copp (injury-shortened 10-goal season), plus a litany of bodies on the fourth-line.

General manager Steve Yzerman has made it clear the Wings will be searching for more offense, with trades or in free agency, which gets underway July 1.

“We didn’t get enough offense from our bottom-six group, but we also didn’t get enough five-on-five scoring from our top six,” Yzerman said. “So, how do we address that? Try to get better players. Try to make our players better. And demand that our players that are here, that are under contract, that we have high expectations for them be better.”

There are intriguing, star-quality forwards that’ll be available in free agency. But the competition to sign them, with more teams having room to spend with an increased salary cap, likely will be fierce.

Toronto’s Mitch Marner (100-point season); Florida’s Sam Bennett and Brad Marchand (both of whom are dominating in the playoffs); Winnipeg’s Nikolai Ehlers; Toronto’s John Tavares; and Vancouver’s Brock Boeser would all be upgrades. Likewise, Jason Robertson (Dallas), JJ Peterka (Buffalo) and Marco Rossi (Minnesota) would be valuable additions through trades; they are all rumored to be potentially available.

Yzerman acknowledged the Wings would be aggressive in their pursuit of high-priced talent.

“We’ve kind of felt that all along, we’re going to look at any good player. Any player that can help us in any role, if there’s a player worthy of spending whatever amount on, that has an interest in playing in Detroit and fits a need for us, absolutely we would try to do that,” Yzerman said. “We’re in a different stage than we were maybe five years ago in that we have a good young nucleus of players, and if we can add to that with a prominent free agent, we’d certainly entertain that.”

There is hope internally, as well. Kasper showed the offensive potential that many weren’t sure he was capable of, and he might be the answer to filling a void as second-line center the Wings have long had. Elmer Soderblom, a towering 6-foot-8 winger, was impressive after a late-season recall from Grand Rapids. Recent draft picks Carter Mazur and Michael Brandsegg-Nygard also offer promise.

But wherever they get it from, the Wings need an infusion of better performances from many of their forwards. Many of the middle- and bottom-six forwards have to get better.

“I expect more out of them and am counting on them to deliver more for us, and it’s not just goals and assists,” Yzerman said. “It’s the all-around game.”