Former NHL exec praises Red Wings general manager

The Detroit Red Wings are teetering on the edge of another playoff miss. Failing to qualify for the 2026 Stanley Cup playoffs would mark the 10th straight season the club would have ended its season early.

While the Wings remain one point out of a postseason berth, the odds are dwindling. Moneypuck shows the Red Wings have a 42.4% chance of making the playoffs. But if they fail, the burden of the failure won’t fall on general manager Steve Yzerman. At least, that’s what a former NHL executive, Brian Burke, believes.

In a conversation with The Sheet’s Jeff Marek, Burke made his point clear. Yzerman shouldn’t have to shoulder the blame for a disappointing Red Wings’ season. There’s enough evidence to exonerate Yzerman from the debacle.

“From my standpoint, the progress they’ve shown, including a massive amount of progress in the last year, I think Detroit’s in good shape," Burke said. "I think Stevie gets a pass on this one even if they miss because we can see the progression, how they’ve gotten better, where they’re going, where they were two years ago.”

“Two years against.” That’s an interesting statement. At the end of the 2023-24 season, the Red Wings were tied with the Washington Capitals at exactly 91 points for the final wild card spot. The Wings lost the tiebreaker, causing them to miss the playoffs.

That narrow miss fueled optimism for last year, but it didn't work out the following year. They regressed from 91 to 86 points, missing the playoffs by five points.

This season, the Red Wings are still pretty much in the hunt. A solid run from now until the end of the season will get Detroit across the line. But there’s no telling if the club has enough gas to get there.

Detroit still needs to get past the New York Islanders and Ottawa Senators to make it in. If they don’t, questions will emerge. And if Yzerman is not to blame, then who is?

Yzerman can’t escape responsibility for Red Wings’ playoff miss

You can see Burke’s point. Yes, the Red Wings have made progress over the years. But that unlikely run at the end of 2024 kind of set the bar a little too high for the club. The playoff push was a welcome one and promised to usher in a new era for the franchise.

Yes, Todd McLellan deserves a ton of credit for building a strong, sustainable system in Detroit. But he can only take his players so far. The organization also has to respond by bringing in the pieces needed to get over the top.

That statement is not an indictment of the Red Wings’ current young core. They have players with a lot of guts like Lucas Raymond, Moritz Seider and Simon Edvinsson.

But there’s only so much that veterans like Dylan Larkin, Alex DeBrincat and Patrick Kane can do. Sure, they can carry the load for extended periods, but as we’ve seen, injuries have been a major factor. We know that several guys are playing hurt. We just don’t know how banged up they are.

If the Red Wings ultimately fall short, it will be hard to build an argument around “progression.” Even if they surpass 91 points, you could argue that the insanely competitive Eastern Conference has locked the Red Wings out.

If we go that route, then what will it take for the Red Wings to break through? What do the Buffalo Sabres, Boston Bruins or New York Islanders, for that matter, have that the Red Wings don’t?

Those are questions that Steve Yzerman and company will need to answer, whether they want to or not. That’s why giving the Red Wings’ front office a pass is going to be much harder this season than in years past.