3 major mistakes the Red Wings and Steve Yzerman must avoid this offseason
The Detroit Red Wings are facing that ‘moment of truth’ offseason, and general manager Steve Yzerman must find a way to get this team into the playoffs.
The Detroit Red Wings need to find a way to put themselves into the 2025 NHL Playoffs, and it means general manager Steve Yzerman needs a perfect summer that, in hindsight, doesn’t contain any mistakes. Okay, that might be too much to ask, as Yzerman and the other 31 NHL general managers will make at least one mistake regardless of the offseason, so a more appropriate wording would be: The mistakes must remain at a minimum.
How minimal? Let’s just say he must know who to bring back to the organization for at least another season, who to cut ties with, and yes, those blockbuster trades must continue. Last season, it was for Alex DeBrincat, and this year, there is one particular position that every Red Wings fan across the globe would like to see Yzerman address.
Not doing so would already put him and the Red Wings behind the eight-ball heading into 2024-25 and make what has to be a warm seat even warmer, if not hot.
Steve Yzerman must get the Red Wings into the playoffs next season
His Red Wings already put the NHL on notice, so it’s time to capitalize on and parlay that notice into a playoff appearance roughly 365 days from now. This might mean keeping most of the prospects in the lower leagues, something that didn’t sound like a good idea before the Wings came so close to earning their first postseason trip in what feels like forever.
But it’s time to ensure his team wins now and with mainly the group he’s put together. The Red Wings seemed to take two steps forward at one point in the season before the injury to Dylan Larkin struck, but they never quite got it together in the end. That said, let’s talk about a few mistakes Yzerman cannot, under any circumstances, make between now and the end of summer.
Refusing to bring back key contributors will hurt
While Steve Yzerman must call up prospects and play them full-time at the NHL level, the real issue is that he had a borderline playoff team. Instead of calling many of them up, doing so systematically would be the smarter route to go in 2024-25 while hanging onto those players who made the team more than relevant this season.
Patrick Kane, for example, needs to come back, and the sooner Yzerman gets a deal done with the 35-year-old, the better. Kane’s 47 points and 20 goals put him sixth on the team in points, and if you adjust his total and those above him to 82 games, he finishes even higher.
David Perron and Shayne Gostisbehere are another pair who need to be back, and the former may not be so expensive at this point in his career. Retaining them still makes room for another prospect or two, and regarding the state of the team by the 2025 trade deadline should decide whether Yzerman ‘sells’ those listed above to make room for even more prospects.
But there’s a good chance bringing the established talents back while limiting but not eliminating the call-ups will make the Red Wings better. Then, in 2025-26, Kane, Perron, and perhaps even Robby Fabbri can go elsewhere, and the “Yzerplan” will finally be complete with another round of call-ups, but doing this in 2024-25 isn’t the best route.
Failing to make a blockbuster trade for a goaltender
It’s great that the Red Wings have one decent goaltender in Alex Lyon, but they need a superstar in the net to take things to the next level. Sebastian Cossa may be a player fans would love to see earn a chance in the Motor City, but let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. Cossa will be a great goaltender, but he’s had just one good year in Grand Rapids, and there is no need to rush the 21-year-old.
This is especially true following what their division rival, Buffalo Sabres, tried with Devon Levi this season. Levi was outstanding in college and played well in a seven-game stint before the 2023-24 season, only to put up the numbers of a fringe backup goaltender.
It’s also worth noting that Cossa only played in three AHL games in 2022-23, spending most of his time with the ECHL’s Toledo Walleye before moving up to Grand Rapids full-time in 2023-24. Cossa was outstanding with the Griffins, but a 43-game sample size isn’t enough, so Yzerman must trade for a marquee goaltender.
Trying to acquire a stopgap also wouldn’t work in this situation, as the Red Wings were a top-10 scoring team that inched too close to the playoffs, but their goaltending was nowhere near solid. In this situation, they need to win now, especially following a season in which Yzerman again missed the playoffs.
Refusing or failing to acquire a big-name goaltender won’t help this team break what is becoming an infamous playoff drought. And it could even bring forth an even more infamous backslide.
Keeping Ville Husso and Justin Holl around
There are two players Yzerman must trade immediately; Ville Husso and Justin Holl. Both of whom have modified no-trade clauses, but neither have given the organization value, and you can argue they would be rather irrelevant when the Red Wings start winning so consistently that they’re perennially back in the postseason.
Even if Yzerman acquired a goaltender like Juuse Saros, for example, but if he couldn’t move Husso, that’s also a problem. At this point, you would know someone like Saros and Alex Lyon would be the starter and backup, so Yzerman would have no choice but to pay a penalty and bury Husso in Grand Rapids. And what do you do with him there?
Ideally, he backs up Sebastian Cossa, but even then, you’re paying a buried penalty for Husso to be a backup in the AHL. This is just hypothetical, but that money can go elsewhere. Then there is Justin Holl, who wouldn’t be in the rotation at this point even if Gostisbehere signed elsewhere - this is assuming Simon Edvinsson starts the year with the big club.
Again, do you want a buried penalty for an aging defenseman? Overall, Yzerman needs to move them, save some cap space, and invest in players he plans on keeping around the Motor City.
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(Statistics provided by Hockey-Reference)