{"id":576115,"date":"2026-05-16T05:13:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T05:13:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/576115\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T05:13:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T05:13:13","slug":"disappointed-gm-steve-yzerman-vows-change-for-detroit-red-wings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/576115\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Disappointed’ GM Steve Yzerman vows change for Detroit Red Wings"},"content":{"rendered":"

Updated April 23, 2026, 1:26 p.m. ET<\/p>\n

Steve Yzerman<\/a> addressed the Detroit Red Wings<\/a>‘ 2025-26 season and how it ended with the club missing the 2026 Stanley Cup playoffs for a 10th straight year.<\/p>\n

Yzerman has been general manager of the team since April 19, 2019. Head coach Todd McLellan was also at the press conference at Little Caesars Arena on Thursday, April 23.<\/p>\n

The Wings finished the season 41-31-10, for 92 points, seven points back of the team in the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>THE STEVIE Y ERA: 7 years ago, Steve Yzerman returned to Red Wings. So what’s changed?<\/a><\/p>\n

The Wings looked like they were going to be one of the teams inside the playoff picture when, in late January, they had a 12-point cushion. But as games grew more intense, the Wings wilted. They went 9-15-5 from Jan. 25 on, the fourth-worst record in the NHL over that span. They won only two of their last eight games, and were eliminated on April 11 in a loss at home that left fans booing the team.<\/p>\n

Need a news break? Check out the all new PLAY hub with puzzles, games and more!<\/a><\/p>\n

The Wings finished their season on April 15, losing 8-1 at the Florida Panthers in a game that left McLellan so frustrated he only talked for 44 seconds afterwards, and said that everybody involved should be embarrassed.<\/p>\n

Here are key points from the press conference.<\/p>\n

How to improve\"Detroit<\/p>\n

Yzerman had this to say when asked what needs to change: “The most obvious would be we need better players.\u00a0We need to improve specifically in certain areas.\u00a0We can talk about goal scoring, we need to improve in that area, particularly five-on-five.\u00a0But collectively, if you’re watching the playoffs \u2013 and I’m assuming and I’m hoping our players are \u2013 to play with the intensity and determination needed to be successful to make the playoffs and get there. But ultimately, it’s incumbent upon me and my staff to improve the team.”<\/p>\n

Seven years later<\/p>\n

Yzerman on his work since he was named GM: “Knowing full well seven years ago, I knew what I signed up for, I knew what the job, the task at hand was. And so when exactly we were going to be, are going to be a playoff team, I could never pinpoint that.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“To sit here today and say everything’s going perfectly according to plan, no. There’s a lot of things I’m pleased about within the organization.\u00a0And areas that I’m not happy, disappointed, things that we need to have done better.\u00a0We sit here today, a week after the end of the regular season, and see how the season unfolded.\u00a0I think we’re all kind of emotional about this, and need to take a little time to analyze it, and not forget about some of the positive things that are going on here.\u00a0And then try to address how we move forward.”<\/p>\n

On the last game\"Detroit<\/p>\n

McLellan expanded on his unhappiness with the last game. “I think my lack of words spoke for how I felt at that moment.\u00a0Listening to the players after and talking to them, they weren’t pleased, they were embarrassed with that outing.\u00a0It’s something we have to change in our organization.\u00a0Every night is important, every day is important.\u00a0Obviously not happy with the way things ended throughout the season.\u00a0To cap it off with that was very disappointing. My complimenting Florida was a different way of saying I was disappointed in our players.”<\/p>\n

On relationship with ownership<\/p>\n

Yzerman said he spoke with team owner Christopher Ilitch a few days ago.<\/p>\n

“He and the entire ownership of the Illich family are very disappointed with the way the season played out,” Yzerman said. “He continues to be extremely supportive of what we’re trying to do here.\u00a0We intend to have further conversations about our team and our organization in the very near future.<\/p>\n

“I don’t think I’m just going to sit and hope for the best.\u00a0As an organization, I’m very disappointed how this season played out.”<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

Contact Helene St. James athstjames@freepress.com<\/a>. Read more on theDetroit Red Wings<\/a> and sign up for ourRed Wings newsletter<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Updated April 23, 2026, 1:26 p.m. ET Steve Yzerman addressed the Detroit Red Wings‘ 2025-26 season and how…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":576116,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5101],"tags":[50421,599,93,5137,5,4,3358,5138,63752,28519,50379,50380,50364,50383,50365,50361],"class_list":["post-576115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-detroit-red-wings","tag-accessmetered","tag-detroit","tag-detroit-red-wings","tag-detroitredwings","tag-hockey","tag-nhl","tag-red-wings","tag-redwings","tag-sourcedetroit-free-press","tag-sstssportsnhlred-wings","tag-sstsnred-wings","tag-tagdetroit-red-wings","tag-taghockey","tag-tagoverall-negative","tag-tagsports-news","tag-typestory"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116582547708373965","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=576115"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576115\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/576116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=576115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=576115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=576115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}