Failure to make playoffs should end Yzerplan in Detroit

The Detroit Red Wings are entering crunch time as the final quarter of the NHL season gets underway, quickly slipping out of the Stanley Cup Playoff race following a string of underwhelming results. 

Just how bad could things get and keep general manager Steve Yzerman and his “Yzerplan” in action, and how critical is it for the Red Wings to make the playoffs for the first time since 2016 this season?

On Wednesday’s episode of Daily Faceoff Live, hosts Tyler Yaremchuk and Steve Peters broke down the issues amid a tense playoff race in the Eastern Conference. 

Tyler Yaremchuk: Detroit has just four wins in its last 10, and they have. They’re scoring just 1.47 goals per game at five-on-five over their last 10, like the offense has dried up there; they’re not quite getting the same defensive play they had earlier in the season. So let me ask you to fill in the blank. The Detroit Red Wings missing the playoffs would be _____?

Steve Peters: It would be devastating. The Yzerplan has got to go. I think we’ve heard about this for years. We’ve talked about Detroit, Buffalo and Ottawa six years ago. Hey, these three teams are coming out of their rebuild, and they’re going to be playoff teams. Well, Ottawa has achieved that. Buffalo looks to achieve that, and then some this year. If Detroit can’t make the playoffs this season, after the push they had in the first half, I don’t know where you turn, because you look at last season from March to the end of the season… They were five points out when the season ended. They did the exact same thing last year with the late-season collapse. You’ve got to look at John Gibson and Dylan Larkin. They’re going to have to be not just healthy, but they’re going to be the best players on the ice for Detroit. This is a tough schedule for Detroit, and they’re on the precipice of falling out of the playoffs again.

You can catch the full Red Wings discussion and the rest of Wednesday’s show here…