DETROIT >> In some ways, it’s mercifully over for the Red Wings.

Thursday’s 4-3 overtime loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs put an end to what was a frustrating and disappointing season. Fittingly, the game was a microcosm of the Wings’ season. Playing well enough to win most of the evening, then seeing Toronto tie and win the game late.

Just one final gut punch.

“A lot of games like that, especially with how we had the lead,” captain Dylan Larkin said. “Getting to 40 wins (with the victory) would have been big for our team. But we just didn’t do that. Kind of the story of the season.”

The Wings started this season slowly, and it cratered to the point where general manager Steve Yzerman replaced Derek Lalonde at head coach with Todd McLellan.

The change sparked the Wings, who had two, seven-game win streaks under McLellan and skated into a playoff position.

Then, as the NHL season resumed after a two-week break for the 4 Nations Face-Off, the Wings never could regain their mojo. A disastrous March sunk the Wings in the standings, and they couldn’t recover.

This was a definitive rollercoaster ride of a season. The highs were invigorating, and the lows showed how far the Wings still have to go.

Here are some of the positives and negatives of this rocky season:

What went well

Injection of youth: Forwards Marco Kasper, 21, and Elmer Soderblom, 23, along with defenseman Albert Johansson, 24, all earned larger roles under McLellan (Soderblom after being recalled in January). Defenseman Simon Edvinsson, 22, won a job on opening night and took significant steps forward as the season progressed. Forward Jonatan Berggren, 24, showed growth the final week, after an up-and-down season.

And it’s not like forward Lucas Raymond, 23, and defenseman Moritz Seider, 24, are aged. The two young stars continued to make progress in their already established careers.

There’s a lot of talented young players in this lineup. They showed considerable promise this season. It’s a matter of them continuing to progress and became even bigger pieces of the lineup.

“When you’re an evolving organization and trying to come out of (a rebuild), you’re relying on different level of players to get you going,” McLellan said. “The youth has to come through. You’re drafting and developing, and it’s pretty evident here, they’ve done a good job of bringing those players along.”

Power play: The Wings’ power play ranked fourth this season, at 27.0%. After some of the struggles of recent years, it was jaw-dropping to see the confidence and skill on the unit, which played a large part in the Wings’ having success they did because at even-strength, the Wings struggled offensively.

A key player on the power play? Patrick Kane, whose calmness with the puck and pinpoint passing seemed to get the power play started time and again.

Alex DeBrincat: After a 27-goal season in 2023-24, his first with the Wings, there may have been a few whispers as to whether this was the actual DeBrincat, a good and effective goal-scorer, but possibly not the two-time 41-goal scorer he was early in his career.

Those whispers have long disappeared. DeBrincat, 27, scored 39 goals (13 on the power play), showed his durability playing all 82 games for the sixth time in his career, and provided a competitiveness and grit that McLellan often referred to as a spark for the Wings.

When the Wings acquired DeBrincat in July 2023, one of the main attractions was the fact they lacked the type of pure goal-scorer he is. He doesn’t need much room and doesn’t need many chances. And all that is true. But DeBrincat showed a much more varied game this season ? the competitiveness, standing out ? which makes him a valuable piece going forward.

Coaching staff: It’s not easy for a head coach to take over midseason, but when McLellan and his trusted assistant Trent Yawney (defensive, penalty kill) took over, McLellan kept Jay Varady (forwards, power play), Alex Tanguay (forwards, power play), Alex Westlund (goaltending), LJ Scarpace (video coordinator) and Jeff Weintraub (assistant video coordinator) from Lalonde’s staff. That can be an issue on occasion, especially midseason, with chemistry being a key issue. Loyalty to the previous staff, unfamiliarity can be a hurdle. But this blend of coaches appeared to click nicely, and McLellan made mention several times late in the season about how cohesive and communicative this staff is, as currently constructed.

Pipeline remains strong: Recent first-round picks, defenseman Axel Sandin-Pellikka and forward Michael Brandsegg-Nygard, arrived in North America and have joined Grand Rapids on its AHL playoff march. Forward Nate Danielson, another first-round pick, developed steadily for the Griffins, as did goaltender Sebastian Cossa (and goaltender Trey Augustine at Michigan State). Forwards Carter Mazur and Amadeus Lombardi, and defensemen Antti Tuomisto, Shai Buium and William Wallinder also stood out at Grand Rapids. There’s a lot of hope and optimism regarding the prospects.

What went wrong

Penalty kill: Of the 32 NHL teams, the Wings ranked dead last, killing only 70.1% of opponents’ power plays. The unit struggled right from the start, and never truly got any sort of positive traction. It was a problem area throughout and nullified, to an extent, the success of the Wings’ power play.

McLellan said improving the penalty kill will be a major focus heading into next season.

Coaching change: It’s never any good when a team has to make a coaching change in the middle of a season. Things must be going off the rails, and the season definitely was when Yzerman replaced Lalonde. The Wings were 13-17-4 when Lalonde was terminated and suffered lifeless losses in Montreal and St. Louis (getting booed off the ice at LCA after the loss to the Blues). Lalonde is a good man, has a positive reputation around the NHL, and is likely to re-emerge behind an NHL bench next season. But it wasn’t working out with the Wings, in the end.

Another March swoon: A March tailspin essentially knocked the Wings out of the playoffs the year before, and the same thing basically happened again.

They were 4-10-0 in March, had a six-game losing streak and when the losing streak got rolling, the Wings couldn’t figure out a way to stop it.

“Once you hit three (losses), you’ve got to really get yourself out of the ditch quick,” McLellan said. “We can be mentally firmer upstairs in fighting our way out of that. Maintaining the positive streaks wasn’t difficult for us for the most part, it’s when it goes bad, can we dig ourselves out of the ditch quicker? We didn’t do that down the stretch.”

Little offensive depth: After Raymond (80 points), Larkin and DeBrincat (both 70 points) and Kane (59 points in 72 games), the scoring dropped off considerably. Seider was next with 46 points. Then it was Kasper (37 points), Vladimir Tarasenko (33 points) and J.T. Compher (32).

The Wings need more offensive threats. They don’t nearly have enough to contend against the current playoff teams.

Missing playoffs (again): What makes this playoff miss sting a bit more was the fact the Wings looked to be in really good position in January and February to end the postseason drought.

They were playing well enough, and no one else around them in the conference was taking charge to claim a spot. But the March swoon hit, Montreal got hot around them, and suddenly the playoff drought has reached nine consecutive years.

What makes this coming summer tricky and delicate, is the knowledge that Ottawa and Montrealnow have joined Toronto, Tampa Bay and Florida as passing the Wings in the standings, and on paper in the Atlantic Division. Eliminating that gap isn’t going to be easy.