Detroit Red Wings Draw Criticism From Henrik Zetterberg Over Steve Yzerman Situation

Steve Yzerman addresses media at a Detroit Red Wings presser© X(formerly Twitter)/@detroitnews

Henrik Zetterberg has made his feelings clear. The Red Wings legend, who spent 15 seasons in Detroit and played four of them alongside Steve Yzerman, spoke to Swedish outlet Expressen this week and didn't hold back about how the organisation handled Yzerman's exit. Yzerman stepped down as general manager last July and was replaced by Shawn Horcoff, shifting into a senior advisor role under CEO Chris Ilitch. The move came abruptly, with little public explanation. Now one of Detroit's most respected former players has broken his silence and called it out directly.

Zetterberg Says Watching Yzerman Leave Was Difficult

Zetterberg wasn't vague. Speaking to Expressen, with Detroit Hockey Now picking up the translation for North American readers, he went straight to the point.

“I thought it was wrong. The current state of the Red Wings has been brutal. Things always happen, and there's a difference between what comes out and what doesn't, but it's sad. It was very hard to watch Steve step down,” Zetterberg told Expressen.

He stayed careful about what actually happened behind closed doors, but the sentiment was hard to miss. “I'm not going to go into the reasons for it or what happened, but it was obviously very difficult, because it was wrong,” he added.

For Zetterberg, this runs deeper than a front-office disagreement. Yzerman is tied to the best years Detroit hockey has seen. Three Stanley Cups. A Hall of Fame induction in 2009. An entire career spent in a Red Wings sweater. When he came back to the organisation as general manager, it felt like the right fit. That it unravelled the way it did clearly hasn't sat well with people close to him, Zetterberg being the most vocal so far.

Zetterberg Warns the Situation Reflects Poorly on Detroit

Beyond his personal frustration, Zetterberg raised something the organisation probably didn't want aired publicly: how the league is now viewing Detroit because of this.

“Yzerman's the icon I've been closest to and played with the most. I've really seen how much he has meant to Detroit and to the generation that won the Cups in the late nineties and early 2000s. His whole journey and the way he was as a player, he's the captains' captain in my eyes. It's sad that it ends this way, when he even came home to Detroit and took over as general manager,” Zetterberg told Expressen.

That kind of public rebuke from a franchise icon carries weight. It lands at a rough moment for a club already dealing with Dylan Larkin's unresolved trade request, a situation that has dragged on with no clean resolution in sight. The Red Wings are trying to maximise the return on Larkin while keeping some semblance of a rebuild on track. Zetterberg's words don't help that cause, but they do reflect a genuine frustration shared by many who watched Yzerman give so much to this city, only to exit without the dignity his legacy deserved.