There’s no question that the Detroit Red Wings are not having the offseason they hoped for. After climbing out of obscurity and inching toward postseason play in the Eastern Conference gauntlet, the Red Wings’ path back to competitiveness hit major roadblocks this summer.
Nearly a month before the beginning of free agency, Detroit’s captain, Dylan Larkin, requested a trade from the organization. As is typically the case with Steve Yzerman-run teams, information regarding Larkin’s trade request is scarce, although it’s well known that he prefers a trade to the Dallas Stars, Florida Panthers, Minnesota Wild, or Vegas Golden Knights.
Still, given how close they have been to reaching the postseason the past few years, Yzerman had little interest in acquiring a return package full of futures.
Then, after the team had already traded away goaltending prospect Sebastian Cossa, made seven selections in the 2026 NHL Draft, signed Viktor Arvidsson and Daniil Tarasov in free agency, and acquired Keegan Kolesar in a trade with the Golden Knights, a surprising move came at the top of their front office hierarchy. Two weeks after the beginning of free agency, the Red Wings announced that they would be “promoting” Yzerman to senior advisor to the owner, and Detroit would quickly begin the search for a new General Manager.
Simply put, that leaves an abundance of questions needing to be answered. Until the Red Wings find his replacement, Yzerman will continue as the acting General Manager with the Red Wings, but it’s unlikely that ownership would want him making any franchise-altering moves. However, there are several of those moves that need to be made sooner rather than later.
Despite his “frosty” relationship with Yzerman, there’s no indication that Larkin has withdrawn his trade request or is planning to do so after Detroit makes its hire. Still, a new voice in the room could do wonders for the situation, and the team’s next General Manager may be more open to acquiring futures for Larkin, or at least getting him to expand his trade list by a few more teams.
Given how the situation unfolded between Larkin and Yzerman, it appears that Larkin had no desire to help Yzerman facilitate a deal that would be acceptable for both parties.
As for the next General Manager, that’s anyone’s best guess. Shawn Horcoff, the Assistant General Manager, has been a popular candidate, though it may be best for the Red Wings to hire from the outside. Especially for teams like Detroit that have completely stalled out, a fresh perspective could bring many benefits.
Although the typical hiring cycle has concluded, several external candidates remain who may be of interest to the Red Wings. Ryan Martin, formerly the Assistant General Manager in Detroit and currently the Associate General Manager of the New York Rangers, has a strong resume that combines familiarity with the organization and a fresh perspective. Additionally, the Red Wings could poach from successful teams and target candidates such as Scott White (Assistant General Manager of the Dallas Stars), Darren Yorke (Associate General Manager of the Carolina Hurricanes), or Brett Peterson (Assistant General Manager of the Florida Panthers).
Unfortunately, the questions don’t end with trading Larkin and finding a replacement for Yzerman. Detroit has three quality players that are headed for unrestricted free agency next offseason, namely winger Alex DeBrincat, defenseman Justin Faulk, and goaltender John Gibson. Given that he’s coming off the best performance of his career and is still under 30, DeBrincat has the most value of the trio.
However, that also means his extension will be the priciest.
DeBrincat, 28, already has three 40-goal campaigns under his belt. Alex Tuch, who hasn’t had one in one additional season played, just signed an eight-year, $84MM ($10.5MM AAV) contract with the Washington Capitals. It would be foolish to think that DeBrincat would sign for anything below that, especially with the upper limit of the salary cap continuing to rise.
If Detroit is unwilling to meet that price, the next General Manager would have to consider moving not only the team’s top center, but arguably its top winger, too (though Lucas Raymond would have something to say about this).
The next immediate question is the contract for defenseman Simon Edvinsson. On a team with so few impact players, Edvinsson is objectively Detroit’s second-best defenseman behind Moritz Seider, and aside from a few injury concerns, has proven he can play on the team’s top-pairing in all situations.
There has been some speculation about a potential offer sheet for Edvinsson, though it doesn’t seem likely. As good as Edvinsson is, if a team wanted to put the Red Wings in a bind and offer Edvinsson more than $9.551332 per season, Detroit would gladly accept two first-round picks, a second-round pick, and a third-round pick, and it wouldn’t take them a week to figure that out.
Additionally, if a team signed Edvinsson for anything below that, the Red Wings would easily match it.
Still, he’s an important player to get signed, and should be a foundational piece for whatever the next iteration of the Red Wings looks like. And that will also be the most important long-term question: who exactly are the foundational pieces? There are a few easy ones, such as Raymond, Seider, Edvinsson, Axel Sandin Pellikka, and Trey Augustine.
However, Detroit has so many underperforming veterans on the roster that it’s hard to keep track at times.
Those were a big part of Yzerman’s misses as General Manager. Andrew Copp, J.T. Compher, Michael Rasmussen, Mason Appleton, and Ben Chiarot have largely been non-factors, but they account for nearly $21MM of the team’s spending.
Fortunately, none of them are anchored by long-term contracts (anymore), but it’ll still be hard to move all of them.
It’s already clear which players need to be shown the door as quickly as possible. The next General Manager of the Red Wings shouldn’t have too much trouble with that. However, the challenging part will be deciding which prospects have a long-term future with this team.
If Yzerman can be commended for anything throughout his time as General Manager of Detroit, it’s that he built one heck of a prospect pipeline. In early April, Scott Wheeler from The Athletic ranked the Red Wings as having the fourth-best farm system in the NHL, and Yzerman built that without having any top-three picks in the NHL Draft.
That arrow in the quiver will give the next General Manager a lot of options. On one hand, he or she could retain the prospect capital, and lean into an aggressive youth movement in Detroit similar to the Chicago Blackhawks or San Jose Sharks. Additionally, he or she could have a different opinion on the prospects and be more aggressive in trading them for immediate talent.
Regardless, the flaws of the Red Wings organization extend far beyond the issues in the headlines. To get into the same conversation as the Carolina Hurricanes, Florida Panthers, or Tampa Bay Lightning, Detroit needs a serious reset, save for a few faces. If the fan base can lose patience with Yzerman, they can lose patience with anybody.
The next General Manager will have to be as calculated as they come, because there is not much room for error with where the club is at right now.
Photo courtesy of Nick Turchiaro of Imagn Images.