from Rory Boylen of Sportsnet,

For the 16 NHL teams that didn’t qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the off-season checklists have begun to roll in....

So what are the big questions facing these teams? We take a look here, moving from the last team eliminated from the playoffs, down to the bottom of the league standings.

Detroit Red Wings: Will the new coach lead the Wings to the next step?

Jeff Blashill had seven seasons behind the bench in Detroit, saw the worst of the rebuild and tried to start making strides out of it. That the Wings missed the playoffs in each of the past six years is hardly on Blashill – Detroit has been sucked into the rebuild abyss for some time.

This season became the one where not enough progress was made, and it became time for the Wings to look for the coach who will take them into the next phase of trying to challenge for a playoff spot.

“We’d gotten to a point where fundamentally with and without the puck we had regressed. We’re at a point now where I felt, ‘OK, I’ve gotta see if bringing in a new coach, new coaching staff, can make a difference to get us back on track and going in the right direction,” Yzerman said. “I’m hoping a new voice, new coach, different approach, we can improve our team play and the play of our players individually.”

Yzerman did not describe what kind of coach he’d be after, a recycled veteran or someone less proven at this level. He didn’t even give a defined plan about when he wanted the Wings to contend again. The Wings remain all about slowly adding pieces, accumulating assets and planning that one day it’s all going to come together and hit.

Whoever the next Wings coach is will still have room to work with and doesn’t need to face the pressure of needing to move things along to the post-season ASAP. That will come in this next window, though, making this coaching situation one of the more interesting to watch.

the other 15 teams...