Steve Yzerman dropped ball on trade for Quinn Hughes.

The frustration building around Detroit Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman reached a fever pitch this week after Red Wings captain and star forward Dylan Larkin demanded a trade out of the organization.

While it seems as though that frustration was at an all time high, the trade request from Larkin has reignited discussions around Yzerman's failure to build a competitive roster around the Red Wings captain, specifically as it pertains to a blockbuster trade that fell apart earlier this season. As per Big Head Hockey, Yzerman would have had a deal in place with the Vancouver Canucks that would have seen the Red Wings acquire star defenseman Quinn Hughes prior to him being traded to Minnesota. However without Hughes agreeing to sign a contract extension Yzerman refused to pull the trigger on the deal, giving up premium assets in a trade for Justin Faulk instead ahead of the NHL's trade deadline.

While you can certainly understand why Yzerman would hesitate to give up a ton of assets for a player who might leave down the line, that argument goes out the window when you realize Faulk, the player he did eventually trade for, is only under contract for one more season.

Trading for Hughes would have allowed the Red Wings to have Hughes in their lineup for a significant portion of the season, 49 games in fact, a span of games over which the Red Wings posted a record of 23-19-7. Did Yzerman's failure to pull the trigger on the Hughes deal cause the Red Wings to miss the playoffs? It's clear there are those who believe that is indeed the case.

Instead Yzerman would give up what turned out to be a lottery pick to the St. Louis Blues given that the Red Wings missed the playoffs, and will now have to explain to ownership why his relationship with the team's captain has caused him to demand a trade.