Yzerman exits Red Wings front office role
Steve Yzerman steps down as Red Wings GM for an advisory role after 10th straight missed playoffs; search underway.
Three months have passed since the Detroit Red Wings exited the 2025-26 season in humiliation, and the team is trying to recover from an offseason that now includes finding a new general manager.
Steve Yzerman is moving into a role as an advisor, the team announced on Wednesday, July 15, after seven years trying and failing to guide the team into the NHL playoffs.
The Wings are a team in turmoil, at a low point not experienced by an Original Six team since Bruce Norris’ attempt to celebrate 50 years of Norris ownership in the spring of 1982 was so soundly derided it led him to sell the franchise. Mike and Marian Ilitch stepped up, and the Wings slowly embarked on a path back to glory.
But now it’s four-plus decades later, and the franchise is mired in misery.
Let’s examine how we got here:
Poorly chosen
We’ll get to Yzerman and Dylan Larkin shortly, but first, it bears reminding what shape the franchise was in when Yzerman was named GM in April 2019. To wit: Missing on first-round picks in 2015 (Evgeny Svechnikov, No. 19), 2016 (Dennis Cholowski, No. 20) and most egregiously, in 2018, when the sixth overall pick was used on Filip Zadina. Not one of those panned out − they washed out of the organization without any return on investment − and that sets a rebuilding organization back years.
In fairness, every team would look better drafting in hindsight, but to miss on three first-round picks in four years was a bad look for former GM Ken Holland and his scouts.
The Dylan Larkin mess
Larkin wanting out is a bad look for both him and the team.
For him, it’s because he’s a homegrown player (Waterford) drafted by the Wings in 2014 (at No. 15) and the captain of the team. He’s three years into a five-year, $69.6 million contract that carries a very favorable $8.7 million salary cap hit for a top-line center that consistently scores 30 goals. It’s also favorable from the standpoint it was front-loaded, so the Wings already have paid $31 million in actual salary.
Larkin, who turns 30 on July 30, has a no-trade clause, and when he submitted his list of teams to where he would accept a trade shorly after the season ended with missing the playoffs for a 10th straight year, it was limited to the Florida Panthers, Minnesota Wild and Vegas Golden Knights. Yzerman can listen to any offer, of course, and has heard from Dallas Stars front man Jim Nill, a former Wings player who joined the club’s hockey operations.
But the Wings know what they have in Larkin − a top-line center − and aren’t looking for future assets in return. They want value-now players − specifically, first and foremost, a top-line center − and that has stalled a trade. The team lacks depth down the middle, and to subtract Larkin without receiving a center in return would further weaken efforts to make the playoffs this upcoming season.
Odd timing for Steve Yzerman
Yzerman, 61, didn’t make the bold moves that excite a franchise and its base. This past December, he was in on the talks for Quinn Hughes but balked when Hughes (who shares an agent with Larkin) wouldn’t commit to a contract extension.
But the season still looked it would be the one where the Wings crossed the finish line and kept playing past 82 games. On Jan. 24, they were 12 points inside the playoffs. When the NHL paused for the 2026 Olympics, they still had a seven-point cushion. When they came out of the break, Yzerman traded the Wings’ 2026 first-round pick for defenseman Justin Faulk.
But the Wings folded in March for a third straight year and were eliminated from the playoff race on April 12. Soon after their season ended with an 8-1 loss at the Florida Panthers, Larkin asked for a trade. Since then, Yzerman tried to sign Patrick Kane (who also shares an agent with Larkin), but as of mid-July, Kane is unsigned. According to Chris Chelios, Kane is deciding between Chicago and Buffalo. Larkin and Kane accounted for 34 and 16 goals, respectively, in 2025-26.
Yzerman’s job change makes for a further disruptive summer, especially given the timing.
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