'Disappointed' GM Steve Yzerman vows change: 'We need better players'

Steve Yzerman addressed the Detroit Red Wings ' 2025-26 season and how it ended with the club missing the 2026 Stanley Cup playoffs for a 10th straight year. 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.

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. THE STEVIE Y ERA: 7 years ago, Steve Yzerman returned to Red Wings. So what's changed?

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. 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.