Want to be a Successful NHL Franchise? Then Don’t be The Red Wings

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If you’re looking for a path to NHL success, don’t look at the Detroit Red Wings.

The Calgary Herald was recently offering a blueprint to the Calgary Flames on how to turn the team around. The Flames franchise was 29th in the 32-team NHL during the 2025-26 season.

The first piece of advice the article offered? Don’t be the Red Wings.

“Steve Yzerman was hired [as Detroit GM]in 2019 to help return the Red Wings to prominence,” writes Kent Wilson of the Herald. “There was a lot of initial faith in the “Yzerplan” when he left Tampa for Detroit, but so far, he has only managed to turn them into a perennial playoff hopeful that falls tragically short down the stretch.

“During Yzerman’s seven-year tenure, the Wings sport a 0.475 points percentage and zero playoff appearances. They have improved to a 90-point club since bottoming out at 39 points in 2019-20, but there is no clear path to contention as things stand.”

In all honesty, there weren’t any revelations in the piece that would prove to be news to Red Wings fans. It did offer a window into how the Red Wings are viewed in other NHL cities. This was perhaps the most newsworthy aspect of the article.

A sure sign of how the mighty have fallen.

You’ve all seen those ads for the latest sure-fire weight loss fad. There’s always the plump, unattractive before photo. It’s situated next to a trim, cut after take.

When Yzerman was a Red Wings player, the franchise was the after photo.

The desired outcome. What every other team sought to become.

With Yzerman as GM, the Wings have bottomed out, becoming the bloated before-image.

A cautionary tale.

Three-Pronged Outline Of Red Wings’ Failure

The Herald article points to three major issues during Yzerman’s tenure that have scuttled team success. They include underwhelming work at the draft table, adding too many mediocre free agents, and trades that have proven to be hit-and-miss ventures.

First up is the team’s performance in the NHL entry draft. “With their last seven top-10 picks, Detroit has landed just two stars and zero truly transformational talents,” the article notes. “[Lucas] Raymond and [Moritz) Seider are excellent players, but they fall short of guys who can singlehandedly change a team’s fortunes.”

It also notes that defenseman Albert Johansson is the only homegrown regular in the Detroit lineup who was drafted outside the first round.

As DHN noted just last week, Yzerman’s decision to add numerous mid-range UFAs to help the team improve hasn’t worked. Instead, it’s had the effect of making the team mediocre. Just good enough not to make the playoffs. And too good to be in a position to draft an impact player.

Yzerman Sought To Turn Things Around Too Early in the Rebuild

“Yzerman began to push toward respectability a little too early in his tenure,” the Herald notes. “

“By summer 2020, the Detroit GM stopped publicly talking about the Wings as a rebuilding team and started to aggressively sign and pursue established veterans. Andrew Copp, Ben Chiarot, David Perron, and Dominik Kubalik were all signed that summer. He also traded for (and extended) Ville Husso.

“In 2023, he added Alex DeBrincat (in return for a first and a third round pick), signed JT Compher, Jeff Petry, Klim Kostin, and Daniel Sprong. Other veterans have been added since, including Patrick Kane, James Van Riemsdyk, Tyler Motte, Travis Hamonic, Justin Faulk, and Mason Appleton.

“Aside from DeBrincat, many of these guys are beyond their best-before date. He also acquired 31-year-old John Gibson for a second-rounder and a fourth-rounder last off-season.”

Similar to his drafting, Yzerman’s trades and UFA signings have been at best a mixed bag.

“Like the draft, the returns on those moves have been mixed at best,” the article points out. “The result is a conspicuously mediocre club that is competitive at times, but nowhere near joining the ranks of the NHL’s true contenders.”

As we said, there might not be any true revelations in this article, other than perhaps one telling truth.

The Red Wings have become the NHL’s poster boys for how not to get it done.

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