Dylan Larkin blames himself as Red Wings miss Stanley Cup Playoffs after loss to Devils

It happened again. The Detroit Red Wings squandered yet another lead in the third period and are now officially eliminated from playoff contention in the 2025-26 NHL season. For the 10th straight year, fans in Motor City will watch the Stanley Cup Playoffs on TV—without the Red Wings actually competing in them—and captain Dylan Larkin didn’t shift the blame for the last defeat.

“I’m as down as I could be right now,” Larkin admitted after the loss, via NHL.com. “We talked about it before the game – they are a transition team, and I needed to cover for (Simon Edvinsson) when he pinched in. Two guys jump by me, and it is in our net.”

Larkin made reference to Jesper Bratt’s game-winning goal for the Devils. Detroit was caught in transition after mishandling a puck in the offensive zone, and New Jersey was off to the races with a two-on-one. Moritz Seider was left all alone trying to contain Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt, and Larkin could never get back to cover for Edvinsson in the backcheck. The Devils made no mistake, and that was all she wrote for the Red Wings.

Larkin made the Stanley Cup Playoffs in his rookie campaign in the 2015-16 season. Ever since, though, he’s been treated to heartbreaks exclusively. It’s been a decade since Larkin and the Red Wings have had even the tiniest taste of success.

Dylan Larkin captain of the Detroit Red Wings

Red Wings did it to themselves

Back in January, the Red Wings were first in the Atlantic Division. It seemed all but certain that the playoff drought would come to an end. Finally, the “Yzerplan” would pay off, and Detroit would be back where it belongs. However, the Olympic break stopped NHL action, and the Red Wings came out of it a completely different team.

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Since the league resumed, the Red Wings are 9-14-4. Detroit is 3-6-1 over its last 10 outings and lost 11 of its last 15 home games. That’s a recipe for disaster if the NHL has ever seen one. Competing in a jam-packed playoff race in the Eastern Conference, the Red Wings did it to themselves.

Dropping crucial points in heartbreaking fashion night in and night out made the Stanley Cup Playoffs always feel like an utopian goal for a team that crumbled when the pressure mounted.

Longest active playoff drought

The 2025–26 NHL season will turn out to be historic after all—but for the wrong reasons. The Red Wings now hold the longest active playoff drought in the league, and continue to extend the franchise’s worst postseason hex. A bigger question surfaces for them: Where do they go now? Will heads roll in Motor City, or will there be another life given to the “Yzerplan”?

There is something clearly wrong with Detroit. Until the organization figures out where the root of that is, the Stanley Cup Playoffs will continue to look like a distant memory, fading further back in time.