The big picture is that the Detroit Red Wings have made the playoffs for 25 successive NHL seasons, and yes, that is the longest active streak of any North American sports franchise.

The bottom line is that for the last four seasons, the Wings have kept that streak alive by the skin of their teeth. They’ve done it by winning the last game of the season. They’ve done it with help from other teams.

The reality is that they are as far away from being a Stanley Cup contender right now as they have been during their 25-year run of playoff appearances. This is a team that’s gone three years in a row without winning a playoff series for the first time since 1989-91.

Entering the 2016-17 NHL season, the last one the Wings will play at Joe Louis Arena before entering the new Little Caesars Arena to begin play in 2017-18, the Wings are doing their utmost to sound optimistic that they will once again find a way to be one of the eight best teams in the Eastern Conference.

“As I look at the NHL and I look at the Red Wings, it’s a really close league,” Detroit general manager Ken Holland said. “I think there’s going to be a photo finish for the playoffs again.

“Last year Florida won the division with 103 points, we had 93. Because you’re on the bubble, that’s a win a month. The good teams are better than the middling teams, it’s a win a month, so first off it’s a league where you can’t get dramatically better, it’s impossible to get dramatically better, we’ve got to get marginally better.”

The Wings are confident that their offseason moves will make this so.

“We brought in Frans Nielsen and Thomas Vanek,” Holland said. Nielsen will fill the void left by the departure of Pavel Datsyuk to Russia. Vanek, it is thought, will bolster an inconsistent power play that finished 13th overall in the NHL.

“We’re hoping that players like (Danny) DeKeyser, (Riley) Sheahan, (Petr) Mrazek, (Tomas) Tatar, (Gustav) Nyquist - they’re really starting to come into their prime years,” Holland said. “They’re all 24-26.

Last season, the Wings saw downturns in virtually every forward’s offensive numbers, and they recognize that there are no Art Ross or Rocket Richard Trophy contenders suiting up in the Detroit dressing room.

“Our offense has to come by committee,” Holland said. “We don’t have a forward that you think can get 80-90 points. We don’t have a player that’s going to get 40 goals.

“We’re hoping we have lots of players around 20 goals, a little more, a little less. With signing of Vanek and Nielsen, when you look at (Dylan) Larkin, (Justin) Abdelkader, Tatar, Nyquist, Sheahan, (Darren) Helm, (Henrik) Zetterberg, we’re hoping we have lots of players who can get 15-25 goals.

“Petr Mrazek is 24, until the middle of February he was near the top in goals-against and save percentage and then the wheels came off. We’re hoping that between Jimmy Howard and Petr Mrazek we again have real good goaltending.

“We thought we had good goaltending last year. We’re hoping they’re a tad better.”

With Zetterberg (36) and defenseman Niklas Kronwall (35) aging and battling knee ailments in the preseason, the Detroit core clearly needs an influx of youth, especially on the back end, where defensemen like Brendan Smith and DeKeyser and Alexey Marchenko will be expected to take on larger roles and play with more reliability and consistency.

“On defense, with the wear and tear in the early going of Niklas Kronwall, there’s going to be an opportunity for other defensemen to get more minutes,” Holland said. “I thought Marchenko played really good in the World Cup.

“I thought Mike Green the second half of last year stepped up his play a little bit. I thought the first half of the year he wasn’t sure if he should rush, should be safe. There’s now a relationship between our coaching staff and Mike Green. He’s got a better read on what they’re thinking and he’s got a better read on the things we want him to do so he can best impact our team.”

While it might sound good on paper the fact of the matter is that even Dusty Springfield didn’t do Wishin’ and Hopin’ as much as the Wings are at the moment. And as Billy Bob Thornton’s character in Bad Santa so succinctly pointed out, wish in one hand and you-know-what in the other and see which one fills up first.

Deciphering what it’s going to take to keep Detroit’s playoff streak alive, there are many variables in play. If Mrazek is the pre-All-Star break netminder, if the young defenders take that step forward, if the power play delivers, if those who had down years last season can rebound, the Wings will be right there in the hunt for a postseason position.

If not, it could be a long winter in Hockeytown.

Holland understands how fine a line there is between playing important games in April and packing up for an early spring.

“We had 93 points last year – 93 was in, 93 was out. Boston was out at 93; we were in at 93. When you look at our division, Montreal, getting (goaltender Carey) Price back and the moves they made, Tampa Bay, Florida, Ottawa, Boston made some moves. This is an incredibly competitive division. The entire league is competitive. We’re going to be in a playoff game every night.

“It’s important we get off to a good start, feel good about ourselves. Hopefully 10-15 games we can be in the thick of things and feeling good about ourselves.”

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