The Score’s Josh Wegman examines 3 reasons why Steve Yzerman’s master plan for renovating the Detroit Red Wings did not work out, and if I had to circle one and only one reason why things didn’t work out, I’d agree with Wegman’s assessment that the Wings management team mismanaged its blueline:
Detroit’s biggest weakness over the last several years has been the blue line. Seider and Edvinsson formed an excellent top pairing this past season, but the rest of the defense struggled to pull its weight, which was a major culprit in Detroit crumbling down the stretch and missing the playoffs for the 10th straight season.
In an alternate universe, defense could’ve been one of the team’s strengths.
Filip Hronek and Jake Walman are two players Yzerman should regret trading. Hronek has developed into a legitimate top-pairing defenseman. He was an ascending 25-year-old when the Red Wings shipped him to the Vancouver Canucks in 2023, even though he was young enough to fit in Detroit’s contention window. The return of first- and second-round picks wasn’t terrible, but Detroit would surely rather have Hronek anchoring the second pair behind Seider right now.
The Red Wings were unable to retain the services of Shayne Gostisbehere, too, and that really set them back…
The Walman trade was arguably Yzerman’s most puzzling move. Although Walman came into his own with the Red Wings and had good chemistry with Seider on the top pair, the Red Wings traded him – along with a second-round pick – to San Jose for future considerations during the 2024 offseason. Less than a year later, the Sharks flipped Walman to the Edmonton Oilers for a first-rounder. Last year, the Oilers deemed Walman worthy of a seven-year, $49-million extension.
If Yzerman had kept Walman and Hronek, the Red Wings wouldn’t have had to trot out Ben Chiarot in a top-four role he clearly can’t handle for the last several seasons. (To make matters worse, Yzerman gave the 35-year-old a three-year extension with a $3.85-million AAV this past season.) And the Red Wings also wouldn’t have had to give up a package including a first-round pick for 34-year-old Justin Faulk at the 2026 deadline.
Continued; Chiarot’s gotten better over time, but the Faulk trade was an over-payment…And we’ll just have to see whether he’s able to play well over the course of the next two seasons to justify his cost.
Faulk only one year left