DETROIT — It was not the ideal image for the Detroit Red Wings to leave in their general manager’s mind, blowing a two-goal lead at home and losing in their final game before the NHL trade deadline.
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’d done their part, and now it was time for Steve Yzerman to do his, bringing in some reinforcements for the stretch run.
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.
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.
“Better be a lesson learned,” head coach Todd McLellan said.
It should be. It cost them a valuable point that they had no reason to let slip.
Over 62 games, the Red Wings have shown more good than bad. They’ve 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.
Most crucially, there is still time in the next day and change to address those shortcomings.
Wednesday’s loss was more on the team than the fault of any one player or position group. But for months now, we’ve known where these Red Wings can stand to get better.
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 — a forward suited for the limited time and space available late in the season.
Maybe it’s asking too much to do both, at least at a true impact level. It’s 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, and unlike last season — when the Red Wings streaked their way in and out of the playoff race — this year’s group has been right there all year long.
They’ve held up their end of the bargain thus far. And now, they deserve a vote of confidence in the only form that really matters.
“Every team in a good spot wants to improve, and I think we’re no different,” leading scorer Lucas Raymond acknowledged after the game. “We want to improve our team and get ready for a big 20 games here, and then heading into the playoffs.”
Red Wings leading scorer Lucas Raymond hopes the team makes some improvements before Friday’s trade deadline. (Rick Osentoski / Imagn Images)
If you follow the Red Wings, you know the story of last season’s deadline well. Yzerman added, but only tepidly, bringing in goalie Petr Mràzek and forward Craig Smith. Mràzek played just five games down the stretch. Smith had two points.
After the season, Detroit captain Dylan Larkin lamented the Red Wings “didn’t gain any momentum from the trade deadline, and guys were kind of down about it.” Yzerman shot back that neither Montreal nor St. Louis did anything either, and that “they both ended up making the playoffs … led by their best players.”
Those words are nearly a year old now, but they’ve reverberated in the background of this season, especially in the lead-up to Friday’s 3 p.m. ET deadline.
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’s fair enough, and that last part is important for the Red Wings’ players to remember too: They have to keep getting better down the stretch regardless of what happens before Friday.
But adding at this deadline isn’t just about short-term roster improvement. It’s about doing right by a locker room that has done what’s asked of it all year long — that has been challenged publicly, and grown from it. Staying conservative now would take the teeth out of Yzerman’s words from last year.
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.
Again, Yzerman doesn’t have to hit every need by Friday. The prices may not be suitable, and this certainly isn’t 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’ 2024 first-round pick, Michael Brandsegg-Nygård, 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.
Simply banking on that isn’t enough, though. Not this year. Not after everything that’s transpired since last March: the good, the bad and the dramatic. Not with more future draft picks and “B” prospects in the system than can possibly play in Detroit in the future.
This year’s Red Wings look like a team that’s ready to turn the corner back into the postseason.
But they could sure use one more boost. And it’s time for Yzerman to provide it.