Yzerman Still Has One Big Red Wings Issue

Steve Yzerman already made his clearest offseason move when Detroit acquired John Gibson on June 28, 2025, for Petr Mrazek, a 2027 second-round pick, and a 2026 fourth-round pick, locking in a new direction in goal . By the end of the 2025-26 season, the bigger unresolved issue for the Detroit Red Wings sat up front, where Detroit still needed more top-six offense after another playoff miss.

Gibson projects as the move that settled the crease. He entered Detroit expected to start ahead of Cam Talbot after posting a .912 save percentage and a 2.77 goals-against average in 2024-25, and the goaltending picture tightened further when Alex Lyon moved on, leaving Gibson and Talbot as the main NHL tandem .

Detroit’s early 2025 offseason showed where the front office found a real answer. Yzerman added Gibson before free agency ramped up, then later said the market did not offer many high-end players, which helps explain why the trade route mattered so much .

The rest of the summer additions looked more like support moves than lineup-changing swings. Detroit signed James van Riemsdyk, Mason Appleton, John Leonard, Ian Mitchell, and Jacob Bernard-Docker, but the Detroit Red Wings forward group still lacked a clear answer for more scoring near the top of the lineup.

That concern followed the team into the next offseason cycle. The Detroit Red Wings still needed another top-six winger in July 2025, with van Riemsdyk viewed as a possible fit there and Appleton slotted more naturally into a checking-line role, leaving the offense short on proven help .

By April 2026, the focus had narrowed even more. Yzerman’s primary offseason task was identified as adding a top-six forward because of Detroit’s five-on-five scoring deficiency, and goal-scoring at even strength was described as the club’s biggest need, with center standing out as the preferred target area.

Detroit’s season-ending backdrop made that priority harder to ignore. The club missed the Stanley Cup playoffs for the 10th straight year, and Yzerman vowed change after the season , putting the spotlight on a Detroit Red Wings forward group that still had not produced enough at five-on-five.

The defense looked more settled than the attack entering the offseason, while the bottom six also remained a spot for possible changes, keeping the top six at the center of Detroit’s roster work . The next question for the Detroit Red Wings is whether that help comes from a winger, a second-line center, or a larger trade that finally lifts the club’s even-strength scoring.