During Thursday's press conference, Detroit Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman spoke honestly about what needs to improve for his club, which just missed the playoffs for the 10th consecutive season.
The unfortunate reality for the Detroit Red Wings is that they now own the NHL's longest active postseason drought at 10 years.
Near the end of January, they were in a prime position to make the postseason. They were tied for first overall in both their division and the Eastern Conference, but as they have in each of the last three seasons, things began unraveling at the beginning of March.
Eventually, Detroit tumbled out of their playoff spot and had to scratch and claw for every possible point in the standings as the schedule ran out of runway. Their fate was officially sealed with a 5-3 loss at Little Caesars Arena to the New Jersey Devils in their 80th game.
During Thursday's press conference, GM Steve Yzerman acknowledged there were multiple warning signs he was wary of before Detroit began falling in the standings.
“We had concerns,” he said. "We were in third overall or something, and we're like, 'Let's be realistic.' I don't think we're as good as our record at the time, but we are winning games, and we are where we are, and at the deadline we were where we were, and for the most part we were playing at .600 hockey, a little over .600, and at the end we were under .400."
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One of the main areas of concern for the Red Wings all season long was their lack of even strength scoring, which finished 30th overall in the NHL.
They were also heavily reliant on goaltender John Gibson, who, after a subpar first two months, caught fire and became arguably the best player at his position in the League for several weeks.
For Yzerman and the Red Wings, the bottom line is that they need more talent on the roster.
“We need better players, we need to improve specifically in certain areas," Yzerman said. "We can talk about goal scoring; we need to improve in that area, particularly five-on-five."
“Collectively, if you’re watching the playoffs, and I’m assuming and I’m hoping our players are, to play with the intensity and determination needed to be successful to make the playoffs and get there," he said. "But ultimately it’s incumbent upon me and my staff to improve the team.”
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