Steve Yzerman blames NHL refs for the Red Wings missing the playoffs

The Detroit Red Wings narrowly missed the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs and GM Steve Yzerman believes a few bad calls determined the Red Wings season.

One of the harsh realities of the current NHL landscape is that poor officiating can dictate the result of an entire season. It seems like every game one team gets screwed due to one call or another.

In his last press conference of the season, Red Wings legend and GM Steve Yzerman called out a play that seemed to have determined the Red Wings' fate.




Here is the play Yzerman is talking about.


If the Flyers had scored this goal, then they would have been leading 2-1 late in the third versus the Capitals and would have not needed to pull their goaltender, losing the game.

Because the Flyers lost to the Capitals, the Red Wings were the final team out of playoff contention but if the refs had not blown this call, we could have seen Detroit as the final team to qualify facing the New York Rangers.