Yzerman Speaks: Post-Season Presser Breakdown ft. Max Bultman - Apr. 23rd, 2026

Winged Wheel Podcast - A Detroit Red Wings Podcast

Winged Wheel Podcast

Sports, Hockey

4.9 • 968 Ratings

🗓️ 24 April 2026

⏱️ 90 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Yzerman and McLellan have finally taken the stage. This Detroit Red Wings podcast breaks down Steve Yzerman's end-of-season press conference after a disappointing end. Max Bultman joins for our full analysis, digging into what will come of the bottom-six roster shakeup, and what a real offseason pivot looks like after another March collapse.

(00:00) - Intro and Yzerman's Presser's Tone
Setting the scene on a very different Yzerman presser and the tone shift from last year, and Max Bultman on why Steve Yzerman sounded more accountable and less defensive this time around.

(06:40) - "We Need Better Players"
Unpacking Yzerman's bluntest line and whether it signals real change or more of the same. What Todd McLellan though of Lucas Raymond's performance.

(13:20) - Reclamation Targets
Why Detroit needs to find its own Morgan Geekie or Dylan Strome instead of chasing another known-quantity signing.

(23:45) - Bottom Six Additions
Mason Marchment, Charlie Coyle, Anders Lee, and whether Patrick Kane returning is the domino that shapes everything else.

(32:10) - Yzerman's Job Security
What "I intend to see this through" actually means for the GM's future in Detroit.

(35:42) - Dylan Larkin's Leadership
Yzerman defends his captain while also calling for more five-on-five production from Larkin.

(40:50) - Michael Rasmussen and Core Changes
Rasmussen's hits and penalty minutes cratered this season — is he the litmus test for whether Yzerman means it?

(58:30) - Successful Offseason
What will constitute a successful season in Hockeytown? Jason Robertson or Robert Thomas? Multiple bottom six changes?

(1:01:25) - Goaltending Concerns
Sebastian Cossa losing waiver exemption, John Gibson's workload, and why the crease is far from settled with Postava, Gylander, and Augustine in play.

(1:11:35) - Patreon Q&A
Grand Rapids Griffins call-up candidates, Michael Brandsegg-Nygard's off-wing question, and more.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the Wingwheel podcast, the number one source for news, analysis, and discussion on the Detroit Red Wings, the NHL, and all things hockey.
0:19.2	Here are your hosts, Ryan Hanna,
0:21.5	Brad Criscoe,
0:22.5	and Evan Lopsinger.
0:28.5	So you guys are all familiar with Groundhog Day, right?
0:31.4	The movie and yeah,
0:32.6	yeah,
0:32.8	you've seen the movie?
0:33.8	Yeah.
0:35.5	Apropos of nothing.
0:37.2	I'm just,
1:12.5	yeah, anyways, Max Baldwin, the Athletic Detroit, welcome to the show. And we are speaking a few hours after, more than a few hours after Steve Eisenman and Todd McClellan speak to the media. A lot of thoughts and feelings. A little bit of a different pressure. My joke aside, like that was a little bit of a different feeling pressure than what we've done. So I don't know, Max, you were there. Yeah, I was. I mean, I definitely felt like a different, different kind of tone to me, maybe a little bit on our end, but certainly on his end, I mean, you go back to last year and it was kind of the defiant, you know, It was on the heels of the larkin comments about the trade deadline in 2025 and eisenman had like a prepared statement and he there i thought it
1:18.6	was pretty defensive last year this year every question i thought was kind of met with an
1:23.7	acknowledgement of you know the situation that they're in but But I, like, in the room, I always
1:30.3	have kind of one read. And I'm sometimes surprised to see what people think outside of the
1:34.7	rooms. Like, like, what was your, I mean, it sounds like you did feel like it was different this year,
1:38.7	but like, what was your big feeling on? Like, what did you come away thinking from it?
1:44.0	Yeah, I thought, like thought like first off if you
1:46.1	watched steve eisenman only once a year at these pressers you might think that it was run in the
1:50.7	mill because he kind of always sounds the same doesn't let too much go right but it did feel different
1:56.2	and it felt like i was almost expecting based out of habit for Eisenem to come in and maybe be defensive
2:02.8	and maybe be a little bit dismissive of probing questions or questions that were a little bit
	...

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