The 2015/16 season marked the return of the Red Wings to the playoffs after several years. This was the first trip under the guidance of GM Flavio Muto, who was hired at the beginning of the 2010/2011 season to turn around one of the most traditional franchises who had an average aging team with zero prospects.

Team MVP
There's no doubts about this one. Emilio Merrit gets the honor in here. A 93 points season while playing the 1st line, the PK and the PP averaging 19 minutes per game. 42 goals and 51 assists were both team highs, and kept him 6th and 9th overall on the league. Complementing his flashy skills, Merrit also managed to give 236 hits and to have 158 takeaways, proving he can be just as reliable defensively as he is offensively. 

Surprise
Nelson Flanders - while there were some high notes about Flanders being an offensive dman, nobody expected him to have the best +/- of the team and the 4th best of the league, while playing both the PP and the PK. His good production resulted in a promotion from the 3rd to the 2nd line. He also contributed with 5 goals and 24 assists.

Surprise 2
Derian Rouse - A top 5 pick some years ago, Rouse always had to deal with the label of a bust. Since his arrival in Motown, though, he has being playing good as he set career highs for two consecutive years. With 31 goals and 34 assists, he proved worthy of the trust the Wings put on him when they handled him the duties of being the 2nd line center of the team. His production bested several more flashy and famous names such as Henriksen, Kudelski, Chambers, Wregget and Heatley. He also had a solid +20 rating in the 82 regular season games.

Disappointment
Mikhail Smiten – Although he had a solid rookie year, more was expected from him. His numbers of victories (40) and GAA (2,60) were good, but his save percentage were below expectations at 88%.  The Wings definitely expect an improvement on his performance to fare better next year.

Turning point of the season
The acquisition of Oldrich Kusnjer from the Florida Panthers. (for Olaf Forslund and DET 1st 2017) This move solidified the team's defense. Led by Doug Gingrich, the squad had no real #2 dman and no shutdown dman, duo to Gingrich being best known for his offensive production, just as Flanders, Kanchelski still developing, and the others being more suited to the 2nd or 3rd line. Kusnjer brought the physical presence that was much needed for the team and solidified the path to a playoff spot.

In
Sergei Samsonov
Oldrich Kusnjer
Tim Connoly
Mikko Koivu
ANA 3rd 2017
Denis Butyrsky
Hannu Toivonnen
PHO 2nd 2016
Ctirad Hricz

Out
Zdeno Pohorsky
DET 1st 2017
Olaf Forslund
Igor Knyazev
Joe Kennedy
Andrej Grachev
DET 2nd 2017
Ray Vanbeek
Danni Hegstrom
Blaine Cogan
DET 3rd 2016
Denis Butyrsky