{"id":520493,"date":"2026-03-05T14:47:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T14:47:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/520493\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T14:47:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T14:47:10","slug":"as-red-wings-hit-nhl-trade-deadline-its-time-for-steve-yzerman-to-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/520493\/","title":{"rendered":"As Red Wings hit NHL trade deadline, it\u2019s time for Steve Yzerman to act"},"content":{"rendered":"

DETROIT \u2014 It was not the ideal image for the Detroit Red Wings to leave in their general manager\u2019s mind, blowing a two-goal lead at home and losing in their final game before the NHL trade deadline.<\/p>\n

Had Detroit held onto its 3-1 cushion against the Vegas Golden Knights midway through the third period, it would have been even easier to say that they\u2019d done their part, and now it was time for Steve Yzerman to do his, bringing in some reinforcements for the stretch run.<\/p>\n

But even after squandering the lead in a 4-3 overtime loss Wednesday, that remains the reality with less than 48 hours remaining to the deadline. The time has come for Yzerman to act.<\/p>\n

The Red Wings are not a perfect team, and that showed up on Wednesday. They stymied the Golden Knights for the better part of 40 minutes, but their flaws were still there. They found some five-on-five offense, but their power play went 0-for-4. They sat back too much late in the game, seemingly looking to run out the clock. And they paid for it.<\/p>\n

\u201cBetter be a lesson learned,\u201d head coach Todd McLellan said.<\/p>\n

It should be. It cost them a valuable point that they had no reason to let slip.<\/p>\n

Over 62 games, the Red Wings have shown more good than bad. They\u2019ve answered some of the biggest questions about their group, responding better to losses and in-game deficits, improving their penalty kill, and answering the bell when challenged by McLellan. They still have their weaknesses, sure, but what they are has been good enough to put them in a playoff spot at the deadline.<\/p>\n

Most crucially, there is still time in the next day and change to address those shortcomings.<\/p>\n

Wednesday\u2019s loss was more on the team than the fault of any one player or position group. But for months now, we\u2019ve known where these Red Wings can stand to get better.<\/p>\n

They need a more playoff-ready defender for the right side of their second defense pair. And they need a little more hard offense up front \u2014 a forward suited for the limited time and space available late in the season.<\/p>\n

Maybe it\u2019s asking too much to do both, at least at a true impact level. It\u2019s not an all-or-nothing year when it comes to the Stanley Cup. But the stakes of this season have been clear since Day 1<\/a>, and unlike last season \u2014 when the Red Wings streaked their way in and out of the playoff race \u2014 this year\u2019s group has been right there all year long.<\/p>\n

They\u2019ve held up their end of the bargain thus far. And now, they deserve a vote of confidence in the only form that really matters.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery team in a good spot wants to improve, and I think we\u2019re no different,\u201d leading scorer Lucas Raymond acknowledged after the game. \u201cWe want to improve our team and get ready for a big 20 games here, and then heading into the playoffs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\n Red Wings leading scorer Lucas Raymond hopes the team makes some improvements before Friday\u2019s trade deadline. (Rick Osentoski \/ Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

If you follow the Red Wings, you know the story of last season\u2019s deadline well. Yzerman added, but only tepidly, bringing in goalie Petr Mr\u00e0zek and forward Craig Smith. Mr\u00e0zek played just five games down the stretch. Smith had two points.<\/p>\n

After the season, Detroit captain Dylan Larkin lamented<\/a> the Red Wings \u201cdidn\u2019t gain any momentum from the trade deadline, and guys were kind of down about it.\u201d Yzerman shot back that neither Montreal nor St. Louis did anything either, and that \u201cthey both ended up making the playoffs \u2026 led by their best players.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those words are nearly a year old now, but they\u2019ve reverberated in the background of this season, especially in the lead-up to Friday\u2019s 3 p.m. ET deadline.<\/p>\n

McLellan was asked about the deadline on Wednesday night and gave a Hall of Fame non-answer, essentially saying that he knows Yzerman and his management staff will exercise good judgment with whatever they decide, and that improvement is not just about the trade deadline. That\u2019s fair enough, and that last part is important for the Red Wings\u2019 players to remember too: They have to keep getting better down the stretch regardless of what happens before Friday.<\/p>\n

But adding at this deadline isn\u2019t just about short-term roster improvement. It\u2019s about doing right by a locker room that has done what\u2019s asked of it all year long \u2014 that has been challenged publicly, and grown from it. Staying conservative now would take the teeth out of Yzerman\u2019s words from last year.<\/p>\n

And even beyond that, with an unusually shallow free agent market this summer, a trade may be the only real way to improve the team anytime soon. So getting a jump on that process now still makes sense; getting a player with term would help Detroit next year, as well as down the stretch.<\/p>\n

Again, Yzerman doesn\u2019t have to hit every need by Friday. The prices may not be suitable, and this certainly isn\u2019t to say the general manager who has always prized patience should suddenly empty out the cupboard all at once. In reality, some of the prospects at AHL Grand Rapids may be part of the solution. The Red Wings\u2019 2024 first-round pick, Michael Brandsegg-Nyg\u00e5rd, continued a torrid recent pace with three more points Wednesday, and now has eight goals and 13 points in his last 10 games. He may be ready to help in the final 20 games.<\/p>\n

Simply banking on that isn\u2019t enough, though. Not this year. Not after everything that\u2019s transpired since last March: the good, the bad and the dramatic. Not with more future draft picks and \u201cB\u201d prospects in the system than can possibly play in Detroit in the future.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s Red Wings look like a team that\u2019s ready to turn the corner back into the postseason.<\/p>\n

But they could sure use one more boost. And it\u2019s time for Yzerman to provide it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DETROIT \u2014 It was not the ideal image for the Detroit Red Wings to leave in their general…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":520494,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,3064,575,85],"class_list":["post-520493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-detroit-red-wings","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=520493"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520493\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/520494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=520493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=520493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=520493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}