For the Detroit Red Wings, “success” is going to be a tricky word to define this season.



By our Dom Luszczyszyn’s calculations in August, the Red Wings were projected to finish last in the league. More optimistic projections still have Detroit hard-pressed to escape the mid-lottery.



And yet, while winning may come neither often nor easy this year, some form of success is always on the table.



It’s a sentence Detroit sports fans are probably getting sick of reading, after enduring a slog of a season by the Tigers this summer and a similar endeavor by their Red Wings last winter.



But this season will begin with largely the same, rebuild-centric pillars — success measured by progress more than playoffs, and by prospects as much as the present.



But there is one key difference. A year ago, Detroit still had the unfortunate distinction of being the oldest team in the league. That was out of sync with its rebuilding...