The Detroit Red Wings did something on Wednesday that nobody saw coming in quite this way. They moved Steve Yzerman out of the general manager role. Not fired, not gone from the organization. But demoted. And honestly, given where this team is right now, it was the right call.
Yzerman came back to Detroit in 2019 with a halo still glowing over his head. He was the captain of those dynasty teams. He went to Tampa Bay and built a roster that won two Stanley Cups. The “Yzerplan” was supposed to be the thing that pulled the Red Wings out of a decade of irrelevance. It didn’t work.
The playoff drought is now 10 seasons. That’s not all on Yzerman — Detroit got terrible lottery luck in the years they were truly terrible, missing out on franchise-altering prospects. Moritz Seider is a star. Lucas Raymond is getting there. But it could’ve been Connor Bedard or Jack Hughes in that room. It wasn’t.
Still, Yzerman handed out some questionable contracts. The team collapsed in the second half of last season after leading the Atlantic Division in January. And then Dylan Larkin requested a trade. That’s the kind of thing that forces a front office to look in the mirror.
Why the timing makes sense
The Larkin trade request came nearly a month ago. Yzerman handled it publicly the way you’d expect — said he wasn’t in a rush, wouldn’t take just any offer, kept things professional. But the fact that it happened at all tells you everything about where this rebuild stands. A franchise captain in his prime doesn’t ask out of a competitive situation.
The Red Wings needed a new voice. Not because Yzerman forgot how to evaluate talent, but because sometimes the same message from the same face stops landing. Even if that face is a Hockey Hall of Famer who won Cups in two different roles.
So who takes over? That part isn’t clear yet. What is clear is that the next GM isn’t walking into a teardown. Detroit has pieces. Larkin is still under contract, at least for now. Alex DeBrincat is there. The talent base is closer to the playoffs than the draft lottery. It just needs someone to push it across the line.
Yzerman’s last notable move was trading Sebastian Cossa to the Utah Mammoth and using the 23rd pick on JP Hubert. Maybe that works out. Maybe it doesn’t. Either way, the Red Wings are entering Year 11 of the drought with a new person at the controls.
There’s no guarantee Larkin stays. But there’s at least a chance now. And for a team that’s been stuck in neutral for a decade, a chance is more than they had yesterday.
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