McLellan: Red Wings Should’ve Made Playoffs

Major trade deadline move or not, coach Todd McLellan is adamant that the Detroit Red Wings had – and still have – a team that should be in the NHL playoffs. And he’s equally certain who the Wings can blame for that not coming to fruition.

That would be the guys that the see in the mirror.

“You look at some of the teams that made it,” McLellan said. “We were good enough the way we were constructed to make and play in the playoffs.

"We were good enough with the way we were constructed to make & play in the playoffs."

Red Wings HC Todd McLellan had some strong words on his team's performance down the stretch in some winnable games.

"It's not about who wasn't here, it's about who is here."

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— Hobie Artigue (@HeyItsMeHobie) April 29, 2025

“We didn’t play well enough. And when it got shitty for us, we went deeper into it instead of pulling ourselves out. That’s on us.”

Game Management Finished Red Wings

Game management – or rather, game mismanagement – is what was ultimately finishing of the Red Wings. They simply let too many winnable games get away from them.

McLellan’s frustration with his players’ inability to close out games was palpable while he was discussing many of the games that they threw away.

“If we don’t piss away the points against Tampa Bay (in a 6-4 loss) before the 4 Nations break,” McLellan said. “We weren’t prepared to play that night.

Man. Todd McLellan is honestly a breath of fresh air at pressers like this. Handles the tough criticism and almost always seems to include his job and his staff's job when acknowledging that the organization didn't do well enough.#LGRW

— Kevin Coons (@KevCoons) April 29, 2025

“We go into Washington, it’s 2-1 (for Detroit entering the third period). We pissed that one away (5-2 loss). There’s two more points.

“Then we go into Montreal, we have an opportunity to win. We go to St. Louis, it’s 1-0 (for Detroit) with 30 seconds left, we have a chance to win (Detroit lost 2-1 in overtime.

“There’s enough points right there in games that we had control of, that we gave away. So it’s not about who wasn’t here, in my opinion, it’s about who is here and who is here has to do a better job.”

Players Needed To Look Within

McLellan scoffed at the notion that the team was let down by not making a major move at the NHL trade deadline, as captain Dylan Larkin was suggesting following the season.

“It doesn’t matter who (GM) Steve (Yzerman) drops in or who shows up and walks into the locker room,” McLellan said. “If the mentality of the group as a whole is like that, we can bring three people in, it doesn’t matter.

“So the group has to change (its approach) and then we can augment with others. We were good enough as a group to make the playoffs and we didn’t. And we proved that with the win streaks that we went through. We proved that with the games that we were in.

“We were good enough to make it. We’re good enough right now if we perform the way we can.”