If you're looking for a blueprint to build a winning NHL franchise, there's one piece of advice that keeps surfacing: don't follow the Detroit Red Wings' playbook. That's the blunt takeaway from a recent article in the Calgary Herald, which offered the struggling Calgary Flames—who finished 29th in the 32-team league during the 2025-26 season—a roadmap to recovery. The first rule? Avoid becoming the Red Wings.

The article takes aim at general manager Steve Yzerman, who was hired in 2019 to restore Detroit's glory days. The "Yzerplan" generated plenty of buzz when he left the Tampa Bay Lightning, but the results have been underwhelming. During Yzerman's seven-year tenure, the Wings have posted a 0.475 points percentage and zero playoff appearances. They've clawed their way from a rock-bottom 39-point season in 2019-20 to a respectable 90-point club, but as the Herald's Kent Wilson notes, "there is no clear path to contention as things stand."

For Red Wings fans, this critique isn't exactly breaking news. But what is revealing is how the franchise is perceived across the league. Once the gold standard of NHL success—the "after photo" in every team's makeover fantasy—Detroit has become the cautionary tale. During Yzerman's playing days, the Wings were the envy of the NHL, a model of consistency and championship pedigree. Now, under his leadership as GM, the team has become the bloated "before image" that others warn against.

The Herald points to three main culprits behind Detroit's stagnation: underwhelming draft performance, questionable roster moves, and a failure to build sustainable depth. For a franchise that once drafted legends like Yzerman himself, Nicklas Lidstrom, and Pavel Datsyuk, the drop-off has been steep. The lesson for any team hoping to climb the standings is clear: even the most storied franchises can lose their way, and copying their missteps is a surefire path to mediocrity.