DETROIT \u2014 After a 10th straight year outside the playoffs and yet another late-season collapse, something isn\u2019t working for the Detroit Red Wings.<\/p>\n
The question Steve Yzerman faces this offseason is: What is he prepared to do about it?<\/p>\n
As the Red Wings\u2019 general manager met with reporters Thursday for the first time since his team unraveled after the trade deadline, Yzerman acknowledged the need for change. But he stopped short of committing to any specific path toward achieving it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to change some things,\u201d Yzerman said. \u201cBut (we\u2019re) not just gonna go and get rid of everyone. But there needs to be some very blunt conversations with some of our players, and challenge them to do more and be better to get there. But ultimately, again, we need to surround them with more talent. And having said that, we still need more from some of our very key players.\u201d<\/p>\n
The issue, of course, is not simply recognizing the need for change or for more talent. Those problems are clear, as Detroit now owns the league\u2019s longest active playoff drought. The bigger question is whether Yzerman can fix the Red Wings\u2019 persistent issues \u2014 none of which are new.<\/p>\n
Detroit\u2019s struggles to score at five-on-five this season were merely a repeat of the year prior. They\u2019ve wilted in heavy, late-season hockey for four straight seasons, needing to be harder to play against. If you\u2019ve watched the Red Wings and listened to Yzerman, you\u2019ve probably seen and heard most of this before. It\u2019s part of what\u2019s made the last two months so frustrating.<\/p>\n
Indeed, the recurrence of those flaws is part of the problem: It means that, despite recognizing these issues, Yzerman hasn\u2019t yet found a solution. Does that mean something needs to change in his philosophies with the way the roster or the lineup is constructed?<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, definitely,\u201d Yzerman said, first talking about the team\u2019s evolving position in the competitive cycle over the years \u2014 and how it shaped their roster building \u2014 before delving into more concrete areas the team is lacking right now.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe reality is we need to score more five-on-five, so that requires talent and scoring ability,\u201d Yzerman said. \u201cWe need to be a harder team to play against. We hear our players talk about that, and my message to them would be: \u2018Guys, we need our team to be harder to play against. In order to do that, you guys gotta be harder to play against. So, either that, or I gotta get rid of you and bring in other guys.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, I\u2019d like to see us \u2014 in our bottom six, we need some production as well, and also to have some definition. Maybe a true checking line or shutdown line, and then depending on what you have in your top nine, you build your fourth line a little bit around that. If you don\u2019t have enough production, then you\u2019ve got to get some production on that fourth line. If you\u2019re not big enough and hard enough or whatnot, then you need that. And truthfully, we need a little bit of all of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Again, none of these are new concepts. The Red Wings ranked 30th in the NHL with 2.13 five-on-five goals per 60 minutes this season. They were also 30th last season at 2.08. Interestingly, they were ninth in that category in 2023-24 (2.68) \u2014 but gave up even more goals (2.87), wiping out the impact, which speaks to how easy they were to play against. The late-season results show that, too, as Detroit has consistently been unable to win when the hockey gets toughest.<\/p>\n
Yzerman\u2019s direct reference to the bottom six is relevant to both of those shortcomings, and it stands out as a part of the lineup in need of major reinvention. Their bottom two lines don\u2019t score enough and don\u2019t do enough to make up for it in other ways, which speaks to Yzerman\u2019s pseudo-ultimatum to get harder to play against, \u201cor I gotta get rid of you and bring in other guys.\u201d<\/p>\n
Considering Yzerman has been at this since 2019 (granted, the first four years were geared more toward acquiring picks than winning), the front office\u2019s own processes must be under the microscope just as much.<\/p>\n
Yzerman was asked if he saw any changes coming to the front-office staff, regarding his own role or anyone else\u2019s.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would say at this stage, a week after the season, you really need to take some time to assess where we\u2019re at, how we\u2019re doing things, what everyone\u2019s role is,\u201d Yzerman said. \u201cTalk to ownership a little bit about where we\u2019re at, and how do we move forward here? Like ultimately, my responsibility is to do (in) everything what\u2019s right for the organization. I intend to see that through. But that\u2019s not to say that things can\u2019t be changed around here.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s not a firm answer, but Yzerman twice on Thursday referenced \u201cintend(ing) to see this through.\u201d Interestingly, that does leave the door open for some manner of change behind the scenes \u2014 whether personnel, process or something else \u2014 but it doesn\u2019t sound like he\u2019s planning to go scorched earth anywhere.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think everything has to be assessed, how we do things,\u201d Yzerman said. \u201cIt would be ignorant to not really have an in-depth look at our team, at our organization, for sure. Do we need major shake-ups? Maybe, maybe not.\u201d<\/p>\n
He alluded to his playing career and how his era of Red Wings had to learn to play differently to find success. This current group is not the same as those early 1990s Red Wings, but in drawing the parallel, you could hear that part of his approach relies upon simply extracting more from the players he has. Perhaps that can happen.<\/p>\n
But when a group has run into the same wall over and over again, it\u2019s hard to imagine internal improvement being the sole driver for any of the real change the Red Wings need. And that puts the onus on Yzerman to go beyond identifying the Red Wings\u2019 issues and truly fix them.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need better players,\u201d Yzerman said. \u201cWe need to improve specifically in certain areas. We can talk about goal scoring; we need to improve in that area, particularly five-on-five. Collectively, if you\u2019re watching the playoffs, and I\u2019m assuming and I\u2019m hoping our players are, to play with the intensity and determination needed to be successful to make the playoffs and get there. But ultimately it\u2019s incumbent upon me and my staff to improve the team.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DETROIT \u2014 After a 10th straight year outside the playoffs and yet another late-season collapse, something isn\u2019t working…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":602716,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[1786,385,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-602715","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-detroit-red-wings","9":"tag-nhl","10":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=602715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602715\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/602716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=602715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=602715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=602715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}