“I don’t feel satisfied at all”: Alex Lyon driven by hunger for growth after strong 2024–25 season with Detroit Red Wings

After a season of professional growth with the Detroit Red Wings, goaltender Alex Lyon is entering the NHL offseason with one idea in mind — getting better. The 32-year-old goaltender, who played 30 games in the 2024-25 campaign, is not letting satisfaction get the better of him as he looks to pursue his personal pursuit of consistency and durability in the league.
Before signing a two-year free-agent deal with the Detroit Red Wings before the 2023–24 season, Alex Lyon had an NHL career that consisted of sporadic outings — just 39 games in six seasons. But in the past two seasons, he's been a steady asset in the crease in Detroit, playing 44 games in 2023–24 and 30 this season.
His 2024–25 stats were a 14-9-1 record, a 2.81 goals-against average,.896 save percentage, and one shutout — fine statistics that reflect his developing role as a quality netminder.
However, Lyon is not drowning himself in the praise.
“I don’t feel satisfied at all,” he said during his end-of-season media availability on April 19, 2025. “I still feel very hungry. Honestly, I feel like a 24-year-old again. I still just want to keep improving and accomplish more. That’s a big motivation for me, is that I would like to accomplish more in this League and in hockey in general. I just don’t want to sit there and be like, ‘Oh, what a great two years and wow, I played a lot of NHL games.’ It just makes me hungrier and the fire bigger.”
His words are a reflection of a larger trust in sustained effort and self-drive — qualities that have defined his late-blooming NHL career.
Although Detroit lobbied for a Stanley Cup Playoffs spot the past two seasons, Lyon acknowledged that missed opportunities still sting — particularly slow starts that left the team scrambling late in the season.
“I think us as players didn’t do a good enough job maybe early in the season,” Lyon admitted. “Especially last year, I think the team showed really impressive fight obviously those last few games. But, just down the stretch, I think it’s almost inevitable that every team, good or bad, is going to hit a rough time in February, March or April. That’s just the reality of the situation. I think you almost have to build that in and prepare for that.”
Also read: “Playing our best”: Marco Kasper's heroics keep Red Wings in playoff hunt
The experiences of fighting for playoff contention have fueled Lyon's drive to raise his performance ceiling. And despite his uncertainty with unrestricted free agency looming, he has not ruled out a return to Detroit.