Red Wings’ Steve Yzerman & Todd McLellan end of season presser
Detroit Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman & coach Todd McLellan, April 29, 2025 in Detroit.
I’ve never seen anything like the drama unfolding inside the Detroit Red Wings between the team’s general manager and star player. It leaves me wondering who’s going to put an end to all of it and when?
This isn’t good for the organization, and it sure isn’t any good for frustrated fans who want the team to finally get over the hump and make the NHL playoffs after a franchise-record nine-year drought.
As I sat in the front row listening to Steve Yzerman at his season-ending news conference April 29 at Little Caesars Arena, it was hard to believe what I was hearing. The normally reserved Red Wings icon was defiant and struggled to contain his anger, though he did.
He was clearly upset, mostly by being called out publicly by Dylan Larkin, words that must have festered in Yzerman’s soul since Larkin uttered them April 19.
“I’ve addressed Dylan’s comments directly with Dylan,” he said, “and I will not elaborate on that in this room. If Dylan wants to share what I had to say with him, he’s more than welcome to.”
Yzerman was practically daring reporters to track down Larkin and get the captain’s rebuttal to HIS rebuttal.
Great! More drama. Exactly what this team doesn’t need.
(Note to Larkin: You might want to skip all those charity golf outings this summer.)
And let’s not forget the thinly veiled swipe Yzerman took at Larkin when he criticized the team’s “leaders” for not doing enough this season.
“And again, I will say, like, I’m counting on our best players, our leaders, to give us a bit of a morale boost,” he said. “That’s what they’re paid for, and that’s the expectation from them.”
Yzerman piled on by specifically citing Montreal and St. Louis, teams that also didn’t make any big upgrades at the trade deadline, but still qualified for the playoffs. The implication was the leaders and best players on the Canadiens and Blues played better when it mattered, instead of whining about not getting help.
Coach Todd McLellan, who sat next to Yzerman, chimed in and supported his boss by adding the Wings “were good enough, the way we were constructed, to make and play in the playoffs.”
So McLellan gets brownie points, if not an outright raise, for sucking up. But I hope the extra shekels are worth it, because you never know if those words might cost McLellan in the dressing room.
The news conference with Yzerman and, to a lesser extent, McLellan, felt like an “Us vs. Them” tug-of-war between management and players.
Even worse, it felt like a power struggle.
That might seem ludicrous, considering Yzerman’s stature within the organization. But don’t forget that stature was built on his legacy as a player. His legacy as a personnel executive is starting to rival that of Matt Millen’s with the Lions.
Hockey rebuilds are hard and lengthy, especially if you don’t have lottery luck in the draft, which Yzerman hasn’t. But this season, and most notably Larkin’s comments, has served as an inflection point in Yzerman’s tenure. It’s an indictment when a team captain doubts the direction of the person who’s supposed to be leading the whole organization.
It took a lot for Larkin to say such things, but give him enough credit for knowing what he was doing. He surely knew how his comments would play in the media and with fans. But he also knew they would probably (hopefully? maybe?) reach owner Chris Ilitch.
I’m not sure what Larkin’s end game is, whether he was just kicking the hornet’s nest out of frustration or whether he’s trying to do more by forcing Ilitch into a “it’s either him or me” decision with Yzerman.
I also don’t know what Larkin’s entertainment viewing habits are, but I hope he has watched “The Wire” and is familiar with Omar Little’s sage advice: “You come at the king, you best not miss.”
Maybe cooler heads have prevailed by now. Maybe Yzerman and Larkin have come to an understanding (even though it sure didn’t feel that way April 29). Maybe Ilitch will speak with both and order them to play nice.
It’s impossible to say. The one thing that is certain is the Wings need to move past all this drama as soon as possible if there’s any hope of this organization moving forward.
Contact Carlos Monarrez: cmonarrez@freepress.com. Follow him on X @cmonarrez.