A week and a day after their season ended in ignominy, Detroit Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman will meet with reporters.
Yzerman and head coach Todd McLellan – last seen holding a 44-second scathing indictment of the team's last game – will hold court on Thursday, April 23 at Little Caesars Arena.
It's a commonplace enough event, but one many have been anxiously waiting for since the season ended. Yzerman has had such a news conference every season since he was named GM of the Wings on April 19, 2019. But he's never had one under quite these circumstances.
MORE: 7 years ago, Steve Yzerman returned to Red Wings. So what's changed?
The 2025-26 Wings were booed off their home ice by fans at Little Caesars Arena on April 11, when they were eliminated from the race to earn a berth in the 2026 NHL playoffs. That made it 10 straight years the Original Six franchise has sat out the hockey's premier event, the longest active streak in the NHL. On April 15, McLellan was so upset by the team's performance in an 8-1 loss that he limited his postgame comments to complimenting the Florida Panthers (who also were eliminated) and cut things short after 44 seconds.
Players met with reporters last Friday, and sounded the same variation: That they were embarrassed by missing out on the playoffs after holding a 12-point cushion on Jan. 24.
Yzerman just crossed seven years in charge of the Wings. He inherited a roster that was old and slow and not very skilled, and he's done a great job drafting the likes of Moritz Seider, Lucas Raymond and Simon Edvinsson, and trading for players including John Gibson, Alex DeBrincat and Justin Faulk. But the fact the Wings have yet to make the playoffs during Yzerman's time is not a good look, and that will make his end-of-season thoughts all the more interesting.
Contact Helene St. James at hstjames@freepress.com. Read more on the Detroit Red Wings and sign up for our Red Wings newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Red Wings' Steve Yzerman to finally address season