There’s an easy maxim to follow in the NHL and NBA: being stuck in the middle is the worst possible place for any team. And once again, this is certainly true of the Detroit Red Wings, who are searching for their first playoff appearance in a decade. Steve Yzerman’s once-lauded ‘Yzerplan’ is in a state of inertia and the Red Wings aren’t gaining ground towards a postseason berth, nor are they awful enough to really contend for the first overall pick in 2026. Detroit is a proud sports city and it may have to reckon with the idea that the franchise’s most iconic player of the past 50 years may be ill-suited to lead the Red Wings back to relevance, if not prosperity.
Detroit registered 143 goals at 5-on-5 last season, the 27th-best total in the NHL. There was an offensive uptick after head coach Todd McLellan replaced Derek Lalonde on December 26, but this was a Red Wings team that disproportionately relied on their power play to generate any offence at all, clicking at a 27 percent clip, the fourth-best mark in the NHL. And this perhaps spells out a key issue for the Red Wings in simple terms: after Alex DeBrincat, Dylan Larkin, Lucas Raymond and Patrick Kane, there isn’t a reliable source of scoring prowess. Larkin already made it clear that he was disappointed by Yzerman’s static approach to the trade deadline, and it didn’t help matters that James van Riemsdyk is the most important upgrade to the forward corps this summer.
“I think, especially in March, it was hard that we didn’t do anything,” Larkin said during a press conference in April. “I felt the group… we didn’t gain any momentum from the trade deadline. Guys were kind of down about it. So it would have bee nice to add something and bring a little bit of a spark on the ice and maybe a morale boost as well.”
And there are concerns on the blue line as well. Moritz Seider faces arguably the most difficult workload in the NHL and the Red Wings run the risk of exhausting their 24-year-old cornerstone. Seider hasn’t missed a game in four seasons and his offensive output has been pretty much identical the past three seasons, recording eight goals and 46 points last year. Last season, Seider was partnered with Ben Chiarot, the 15th-most used pairing in the NHL at 5-on-5 last season, where it controlled 48 percent of the expected goals, along with a -2 goal differential. Seider’s individual metrics were far superior, with a plus-six goal differential and a 51 percent share of the expected goals, while operating as the power play quarterback as well. Simon Edvinsson is a promising talent, but the Red Wings run the risk of burning out their top two defencemen, while providing sub-par partners.
This is a Red Wings team that is still several years away from catching the Florida Panthers at the top, or joining the Toronto Maple Leafs and Tampa Bay Lightning in the next wave of perennial contenders. Detroit was largely thought to be in the same group as Montreal and Buffalo during prolonged rebuilding stages. Montreal now sports the best prospect pool in the NHL, and have developed several emerging stars that could propel them to the Stanley Cup within the next five years. Buffalo has been a disaster, and we’re not going to celebrate organizational incompetence just to make a point, but it has bottomed out and is a leading contender to secure Gavin McKenna next fall.
Where is the Yzerplan leading the Red Wings? For the 10th consecutive year, it appears that the Red Wings aren’t close to a playoff spot, nor are they awful enough to contend for the first overall pick. Getting stuck in the middle is the worst place to be.
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