This is it.

This should be Steve Yzerman’s last shot at doing his job well enough to prove that he can guide the Detroit Red Wings to the playoffs.

If the Wings don’t make the playoffs for a seventh straight season under Yzerman – barring extraordinary circumstances, such as serious injuries to key players – the only explanation the organization would have for not firing him would be that owner Christopher Ilitch is too busy drying off from all those beer showers in the Detroit Tigers clubhouse to care about his hockey team.

So how bad is it going?

The Wings have missed the playoffs for nine straight seasons, surpassing the previous franchise record – a 1971-77 outage that delivered the "Dead Wings" nickname – by two. There are now signs of dysfunction between Yzerman and captai

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