Red Wings Yzerman Not Giving up on Adding to Lineup

Once again this summer, the Detroit Red Wings weren’t able to hit it out of the park as the NHL’s unrestricted free agent period was launching.

GM Steve Yzerman wasn’t surprised by that outcome.

“We’re going into free agency,” Yzerman said. “I think we all recognize that it was going to be difficult all around the league.

This was just a season that, for whatever reason, there weren’t as many what we would all consider high-end free agents available this year. So it wasn’t really a shock to us that we weren’t able to get anything done with any of the bigger-name guys.”

#RedWings GM Steve Yzerman: “We didn’t even get a chance to talk to those guys (the top free agents). They all signed with their clubs or were traded before free agency. Not much we can do about that.” #LGRW

— NHL News (@PuckReportNHL) July 3, 2025

While that result is leading a portion of the team’s fan base to lose hope, Yzerman isn’t giving up.

He intends to once again begin exploring the trade route as a method of bringing the necessary upgrades to his team.

“What I intend to do is once things settle down here and we get through the holiday weekend, would be to circle back after next week with everyone to see what their plans are for the offseason,” Yzerman said. “See if they have any holes to fill or players for whatever reason they want to move. So we’ll see if anything comes up here in the next week or so.”

Red Wings Didn’t Address Some Major Needs

Yzerman was able to go the trade route to significantly upgrade his goaltending by getting John Gibson from the Anaheim Ducks. However, two other glaring needs – a top-six forward and a top-four defenseman – went unfulfilled.

Steve Yzerman says there are still Trades on the Table for the Detroit Red Wings 👀 pic.twitter.com/WmxxGPtVLm

— Woodward Sports Network (@woodwardsports) July 3, 2025

“I’d love to add both of those things,” Yzerman admitted. “It would make us better for sure.”

Can he accomplish this via trade? At this juncture, that’s his only option. But that doesn’t mean he’ll be achieving this objective.

“Still got a long offseason and a long way to go till the trade deadline and whatever,” Yzerman said. “So we just kind of keep sticking with it.”