The Detroit Red Wings’ playoff drought will now extend to a 10th consecutive season after they were eliminated Saturday. And Detroit’s extended suffering could lead to GM Steve Yzerman losing his job. Where did it all go wrong in Motown?
The Detroit Red Wings entered the 2025-26 regular season with one goal: ending their Stanley Cup playoff drought at nine years and rewarding Red Wings fans for their patience and support.
However, after being not only in a playoff spot for most of the season, but in a top spot in the hyper-competitive Atlantic Division, the Wings completely collapsed after the NHL’s Olympic break.
On Saturday, Detroit’s death spiral reached its conclusion when they were eliminated from playoff contention thanks to their loss to the New Jersey Devils.
That makes it 10 straight seasons with no playoff hockey in Motown.
The Red Wings’ implosion is going to have massive consequences for GM Steve Yzerman. But before we discuss him, let’s break down what contributed to Detroit’s stunning disintegration, because many factors went into their humiliating downfall.
What Went Wrong For The Red Wings?
For starters, the Wings’ horrendous slide out of a playoff spot began in earnest on Jan. 24; by that point, they’d built a nifty 32-16-5 record and were tied for first in the Eastern Conference.
From there, their offense completely dried up; in their post-January-24th record, including Saturday’s loss to New Jersey, Detroit scored two goals or fewer in 11 of their 28 losses, and they’ve posted an abysmal 9-14-14 record in that span.
The Red Wings posted the NHL’s 21st-best offense this season at 2.94 goals-for per game, up slightly from their 22nd-best offense in the league last season at 2.87 goals-for.
Their defence was also a bit better, averaging the league’s 14th-best defense at 3.03 goals-against per game – up from their 21st-best defense at 3.16 goals-against last year. Some players performed slightly better, but it still wasn’t good enough and could cost Yzerman his job.
Yzerman has been running the Red Wings since April of 2019, and he hasn’t been able to build a playoff team, let alone a legitimate Cup contender. That’s not opinion. That’s reality. Any other GM whose team did what Detroit has done under Yzerman almost assuredly would have been fired after the fifth or sixth season (or sooner) with no real improvement.
Here’s another reality: Yzerman had $11.1 million in salary cap space to use at this year’s deadline, and he chose not to use it, acquiring only defenseman Justin Faulk from the St. Louis Blues.
Are we to believe there were no other players on the trade market who could’ve helped Detroit’s playoff chances? It’s almost as if there were a type of paralysis Yzerman was locked in the grip of. He had draft picks and prospects he could’ve used to acquire veterans. Instead, he traded this year’s unprotected first-round draft pick to the Blues in the Faulk deal.
What’s Next For The Red Wings?
It’s all adding up to be a major indictment of Yzerman’s blueprint for success. No team other than the Buffalo Sabres needed a playoff appearance this year more than the Red Wings, and Buffalo has finally figured out how to ice a winner.
No such luck for Detroit.
You have to think Wings ownership is going to be looking for a new steward who can bring greater success than Yzerman has brought. While nobody doubts Yzerman has the passion for the job, he hasn’t shown he can get the job done to get his team into the playoffs.
Ask yourself how Detroit’s roster looks compared to what most hockey observers believe to be the true Cup front-runners. To ask the question is to answer it – yes, there’s Dylan Larkin, Moritz Seider, Lucas Raymond, Alex DeBrincat, Simon Edvinsson, Axel Sandin-Pellikka and Marco Kasper in Motown.
But compare those players to the lineups of the Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars, and Minnesota Wild, and you’ll quickly realize Detroit falls short.
This is why the Red Wings must take drastic steps. They cannot return the same group of players and expect them to do anything different than what they’ve done so far.
It’s truly outrageous how a team could fall so far and thud so hard the way the Red Wings have. They have two point-per-game players in DeBrincat (83 points in 80 games) and Raymond (almost there at 76 points in 78 games).
That is not good enough to win against legitimate up-and-coming teams like the Ottawa Senators or Montreal Canadiens, or to beat proven winners like the Tampa Bay Lightning. That means the Wings are going to be at the bottom of the Atlantic for some time to come.
Future generations will study Detroit’s stunning stumble into irrelevance as an example of what happens when a team’s legendary player fails to achieve sustained success as an executive.
Yzerman isn’t the first all-time great NHLer who couldn’t replicate his success as a GM, and he won’t be the last. But Yzerman has been given every opportunity to put together a winner in Wings Land, and he hasn’t been able to do so. Again, that’s not opinion. That’s a fact.
Thus, this year’s particularly painful season should lead to Yzerman gracefully moving on. He’s been given the reins for more than half a decade, and Detroit is no closer to winning a Cup than they were when he took the job.
And that means it’s time for a new voice for the Wings.
For action-packed issues, access to the entire magazine archive and a free issue, subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com or creating your own post in our community forum.