The Red Wings rolled out a goaltender tandem of Cam Talbot and Alex Lyon to start 2024-2025. Each goalie had success prior to this year, but both were prone to faltering late in the season and Detroit was hoping that a tandem would mitigate this decline.
At the start of the year, the tandem worked to near perfection and both goalies kept the Wings afloat when other parts of the team struggled. Unfortunately, the production did not continue throughout the season and Lyon was at the heart of that.
Lyon's popularity led to optimism for the 2024-2025 season.
Although Detroit’s top brass was planning on using a goalie tandem, Red Wings fans did not share this same sentiment and many hoped that Lyon would eventually become the unquestioned starter.
In 2023-2024, Lyon burst onto the scene and stole the starting job from Ville Husso and James Reimer. He was stellar for much of the year and was a large reason for the Red Wings nearly making the playoffs. His fun personality and easy-going demeanor quickly endeared him to the Red Wings faithful as well.
Despite Lyon’s performance dipping down the stretch in 23-24, most attributed it to the poor defense around him and he remained a fan favorite.
After a strong start, Lyon struggled down the stretch and contributed to the Red Wings' late-season collapse.
Lyon backed up the fan support to start the year, posting a save percentage over .900 in October and November along with a 2.7 GAA. Then, the bottom fell out for Lyon.
Aside from an incredible January where he had a .927 save percentage and 2.08 GAA across five games, Lyon was awful for the latter part of the season. He failed to record higher than a .866 save percentage in December, February, and March, while also giving up over three goals per game.
Beyond the stats, Lyon was prone to lapses during games, either missing easy saves, scoring on himself, or turning the puck over in the D-zone and leading to goals.
Whereas Lyon was a big part of the turnaround for Detroit in 23-24, he was an equally large reason for their collapse in 24-25. He joins Husso and Alex Nedeljkovic as recent Wings goalies to have strong first years with the team before declining in year two.
Lyon’s poor performance combined with his injuries led to Steve Yzerman trading for Petr Mrazek at the deadline, essentially moving Lyon to third on Detroit’s goalie depth chart.
Alex Lyon’s 2024-2025 season grade: C-
Lyon is a difficult player to grade because of his up-and-down season, but he gets a C- because he did not meet the expectations many hoped entering the season in spite of his strong glimpses. He is just not consistent or healthy enough to be a true starter or even a tandem starter. His NHL destiny seems to be that of a really strong backup.
The other difficult reality is that Lyon is a free agent and has likely played his final game for the Red Wings. Talbot and Mrazek are still under contract, while Sebastian Cossa is waiting in Grand Rapids for his shot at the NHL. There is just not enough room on the roster for Lyon to be re-signed.
While his tenure did not have a great ending, Lyon’s tenure in Detroit has been mostly positive and he will always be a favorite among fans. His good vibes will be missed.
