The Detroit Red Wings will miss the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the 10th straight year. It will be the seventh time under the reign of General Manager Steve Yzerman. Remember, Yzerman left the Tampa Bay Lightning to come back to Detroit and build them into a winner. He had drafted well with the Lightning before they became a dominant force under new GM Julien BriseBois.
However, the last couple of seasons have been heartbreaking for a team that was right there in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs but missed out because it did not hold a tiebreaker over the Washington Capitals. For a team that was in first place in the Atlantic Division on January 25th, 2026, and to miss the playoffs will not sit well with the fans, but the players.
Some Players on the Detroit Red Wings Feel Steve Yzerman is Too Patient
However, Steve Yzerman has to be feeling the pressure in Detroit. While reports say that owner Chris Ilitch isn’t Mike Ilitch and there is loyalty to Yzerman, questions have to be raised about Yzerman’s future as general manager.
At some point, the Red Wings have to make the playoffs. The Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators have gone back-to-back years, making the playoffs. Detroit has seen the Buffalo Sabres end their 14-year playoff drought. The Red Wings now hold the longest at 10 years. Teams like Ottawa, Philadelphia, Columbus, Boston, and Washington have passed them in the standings.
As Elliotte Friedman discussed on the 32 Thoughts Podcast on Monday, the fate of Detroit Red Wings General Manager Steve Yzerman will come down to whether he still wants to be there.
NHLRumors.com Transcriptions
Elliotte Friedman: “And we’re going to talk more about these teams in the next pod, as we get some time to process it. But if, I was shocked, I could only imagine what hardcore Red Wings fans are thinking. And to me, the first question is Yzerman. And, we joke about Yzerman on this pod about him, and how we’ve had our run-ins and things like that. But I have an enormous amount of respect for everything he’s accomplished in his life, and I have even more respect for the fact that he doesn’t need to do this.
And he grinds, Yzerman grinds, and he’s won everything that a player could win. He’s won gold medals as a, as an Olympic GM. He’s built the Lightning. He was gone before they started winning Cups, but he built them. He doesn’t need this, but he does it because he’s competitive as heck, and he tries to do it the right way.
Steve Yzerman Has To Be More Aggressive For Detroit Red Wings To Succeed
And I’m just trying to put myself in his head, and a part of him has got to be saying, like, this is so disappointing. Why do I keep coming back and doing this? And to me, I’m wondering if that’s almost as big a decision as do the Red Wings want to make a change in that spot? And I don’t know, I just, I can’t see him. He doesn’t strike me as the kind of guy who would walk away from this. Particularly since it’s really shocking, but that unprotected number one pick. There’s still a chance Detroit could drop a bit here.
You know that pick, if Detroit was to win the lottery, could be a pretty high pick, and it’s just, I don’t think anyone would have thought Detroit would be in that particular position. But how it’s all of a sudden you find yourself in that position. And people are like, ‘Okay, how did this happen?’ I think, to me, that the biggest question with him is, not so much, is he in trouble, but how does he feel about all this?
And I can’t imagine he’d want to walk away. We’ve discussed on this pod, does he kind of bump himself up and promote someone I don’t know? I just, I’ve been thinking about this a lot the past 24 hours, because I think that’s one of the big questions people are asking: is Yzerman in trouble?
NHL Rumors: Will the Detroit Red Wings Consider a General Manager Change?
To me, the more unanswered question is, does any part of him say, I’ve had enough of this? Because of how much he’s burning inside, this happened. He may not be playing, but he feels that disappointment as much as anybody does who’s wearing the jersey.
Questions have been raised about some of his signings and trades, especially giving up an unprotected first-round pick for Justin Faulk while blocking Axel Sandin-Pellikka. Not to mention poor records in March, Dylan Larkin‘s injuries, and a dumb penalty by Patrick Kane against the Minnesota Wild that sealed the Red Wings’ fate.
There are a lot of questions, but the main one before dissecting the roster is Steve Yzerman’s future with the Detroit Red Wings.
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