Yzerman’s plan is to build a team that wins multiple stanley cups! Not to just to get to the playoffs as quick as possible! He built Tampa who did exactly that. The last team to do so btw. I trust Yzerman more than any team builder on the planet! Cutting corners leads to us still paying Abdelkader until 2026! Holland’s contract. Stevie was given a dumpster fire, without a single top 75 player(NBC) and some horrendous contracts eating cap. He has done a tremendous job flipping it around so far! There is this clip from WoodwardSports https://youtu.be/oyf03cHgCBI Where they say “How can you call something a 5 year rebuild. When your first year on the job you have 13.5 million dollars in Jimmy Howard, Frans Nielson, and Justin Abdelkder!”.
Stevie has had to clean house, to get closer to a clean slate first. And now that he has, build a foundation from the ground up.. with brave picks! Which he has done! He went out there and drafted Mo Seider! You all freaked out, just like this years draft! Now look at him. Then Raymond, Edvinsson, Cossa, Kasper, ect. He is taking swings and they are panning out already! All the posts/media questioning Yzerman are insane to me.
I get the worry and need for goalscorers & trades, & how we want more goals/to be back in the mix. I do too. I wanted Leonard or a goal scorer in this years draft. At 1st I was taken back, but I think we actually got 2 future goal scorers in the 1st round with Danielson and ASP! I think just like Seider, Danielson will surprise us all! I think he will be the underated steal of the draft, just like Mo! We said the same thing about him/his offensive upside. I was initially unhappy with the pick, until I watched Nate’s highlights! You should check them out! I think he could be our 1C one day! He is big, a good skater, high IQ, high compete, a good shot, good stick handling. I think Stevie see’s himself in this player, and one day we will too/he will surprise us like Mo. I looked at Wheat Kings season stats. Nate led the team with 78 points & #2 had 70. The next person on the list only had 50 points. 20 points less. It was a bad team, & he would have scored way more points on a good one. Bedard said he was the toughest player to play against in the WHL!
Stevie and Draper have always said they are picking draft picks based on best available player on THEIR list! Not youtuber/mock draft lists. Players best for their vision, of what they are brewing in their lab. It appears this draft is no different. They just happened to have more D men who happened to be best availlable in those spots on their lists. Yzerman builds team from the backend out. I think our D will be elite one day, and deep from all of these draft picks.
You look at Vegas and Panthers, both had grit, big D-men, toughness/forechecking. It is evident with Danielson and Kasper, that is the direction we are going! Like Draper said about both 2nd round D prospects this year, they have bite/an edge. After the last how many years of having a soft team,.. this is what we need as a team to be contenders again! Tkachuk-like forwards, who still have skill, high IQ, & 2-way compete. To add to our future top notch D-core. Seider – Walman, Edvinsson – ASP, Wallinder/Johannson- and whoever rises to the top with all the heavy hitting, giants we drafted. We have Mazur coming to add to the archtype of Kasper, Nate, Kostin, ect. I think Soderblom will breakout and be a star! I have since his 1st year in wj scoring 2 between the legs goals at 6″8. Raymond & Berg are good set-up men, will get better. Along with maybe Lombardi, Hanas, & Buchelnikov becoming top 6 goal scorers one day. Lots of big tough D. Hot take, I think Brady Cleveland has potential despite so many crying about that pick. I saw video of him blocking a shot &proceeding to hit 3 different people in 1 shift. He placed 3rd in combine with right lateral movement, & apparently has an ok shot. A project pick, but if he improves areas of his game, could have potential. And he is a scary fighter to finally have someone to keep our team more than safe from a Brady Tkachuk, lol. Kostin will do that for us now btw. Cossa looks good, and maybe Augustine. So much D competition! And like Yzerman likes to say, “kicks at the can” for our D to pan out. We need goalscorers. Yzerman and staff know this, and will get the job done via F.A. and trades.They are 1st getting our foundation set for multiple cups with a big, tough team to play against.
We will be a defensively sound, physical/forechecking team, with high IQ & compete. A type of team similar to the Panthers and Knights, who all bought into their system..and played a hard game to play against. After years of Nyquists, Tatars, Ericssons, ect, being soft. After our Hayday in the 90’s/early 2000’s. I think we will get a welcome change/bring things back to our 90’s style. Lead by guys like Kasper, and Danielson crashing the net. Accompanied by guys like Kostin & Mazur, ect, doing the same. And a future elite, D-core.
Yzerman is brewing, and I hope he retires with us.. after a very long, victorious career, winning multiple cups. These armchair GM’s don’t have a clue if they are doubting him, when he has done so much already with what he was given. He is not going to trade for a guy like ABD without even being allowed to talk to him about an extension. Cutting corners lead to us still paying Abdelkader until 2026 from Holland. Stevie will add the goalscorers/make the right trades, when the time & price/term is right. I really, really hope we get some goal scorers in trades & F.A. in the next few days. I think he will, but if not, Stevie Y knows best. He is building a dynasty. Not just trying to make the playoffs. Let Stevie cook!
by Lady-Aurorah
17 Comments
HALLELUJAH
There’s no quick fix in the NHL. Vast majority of these 18 year olds take 4-5 years to amount to anything if they do it at all. To expect us to contend already with the dumpster fire he inherited is short sighted. He’s building this correctly. Has he made a mistake or two. Sure but nothing that will set us back years. He’s been who he is and stuck to his plan. These same people complaining will be jumping on the bandwagon in a year or two. Go Wings
Too many bandwagoners think they know better. These kids are just that; kids. 17-18 year olds when drafted from major-junior hockey leagues from around the western world. They’re not 22-23 year old college athletes whom have developed physically to that point in schools that dole out MILLIONS for their sports programs. An OHL is lucky to invest 2-3 years and maybe a few hundred thousand from 16-18 years of age. Before that it was all on the parents dime. Hockey players take time. And building a dynasty takes just as long. So suck it up buttercups and enjoy the ride. This current drag is no where near the Dead Wings era of the 70’s & 80’s. New building, kids, veteran players, but a known and trusted pedigree in winning is at the helm. If it isn’t going fast enough for you, go jump on the Hawks and Bedard bandwagon, we don’t need ya’s!!!
Finally a person who isn’t so doom and gloom. This sub is tough to be around as of late.
So if we completely rely on the draft for our roster, at the rate it’s going, Yzerman hits on about 2 picks per draft. So by 2031, we should have our roster.
Bottom line, he’s not being aggressive and he should be. We have cap space, we have assets, we have everything in place to make SOME kind of play to at least make the playoffs. You guys can say, “You obviously are a band wagoner and never watched how a team is built.” Which I guarantee 99% of these “trust the Yzerplan” folks are just blindly loyal to Yzerman because of what he’s done as a player. I guarantee if Yzerman the player were on this current team, he’d be pissed at what direction they’re going. Larkin is going to be 31, and had maybe 1 or 2 playoff series under his belt if we don’t get aggressive. More and more teams are keeping their stars, it’s gonna get a lot harder to add players who will put us over the top. I want to win, now, not 5 years from now…NOW! Sports has always been simple, you play to win, not, “Well, we’ll collect assets and maybe down the road we will win.” Barry Trotz had the best approach, told his guys to make some home runs, I’ll handle the rest. THAT’S what I want to hear if I’m a player.
I accept any and all downvotes for criticizing Lord Yzerman of Hockeytown now.
I am on your side. Yzerman solved all of Tampa’s issues and he will (eventually) solve ours.
LGRW!! 😃
I think Rasmussen, Kostin, Kasper, & Edvinsson(after a potential slower start), will have big years for us, and the aforementioned direction we are heading in!
The KHL team just said they are no longer trying to compete for Kostin, now that the Wings have him. Danielson is a character, leadership type guy. Becoming the Captain of the Wheat Kings at only 17. I think Yzerman see’s himself, when he drafted him. I think Danielson and Kasper will elevate their offensive game big time/be steals of their draft years, like Mo was! And will be our 1C & 2C one day! I think ASP has potential to be like a Karlsson/Makar mashup type player, but only time will tell.
I am a lifelong Red Wings fan from B.C. Canada, where Yzerman is from. I became a Wings fan watching the 97, & 98 cups as a 7 yr old girl with my family. I have been a fan since then. I am distant relative of a former HOF captain, so hockey has always been an interest/the only sport I watch. I am super excited seeing what Stevie is building, more reminiscent of the team I watched him captain back then! After so many years of a bad, soft team.. And yelling at Blashill on my t.v. screen, for putting Sheehan on the pp after an 81 game goal drought in a single season, ect..
I am beyond excited to have Yzerman at the helm, building a multiple cup winning team like he did in Tampa! It just takes time with what he was given, and bad lottery luck, ect. I trust the Yzerplan 100%!
Rare W
The only thing longer than the rebuild is your post lol
My firm belief is that Detroit sports fans are, by and large, absolute idiots.
People are complaining about the rebuilds for every team as if Yzerman, Weaver, and Harris have all been on the job for the past 15-years.
People don’t seem to understand that the reason all those years the teams were bad but not rebuilding was because of idiotic “win now” moves made by previous front offices.
You can’t just back up a brinks truck to every slightly above average role player and expect them to lead your team to the promised land.
Very well said! Thanks for the passionate and analytical defense of Yzerman!
It’s starting to become clear that he’s trying to build a very smart and defensive team. We’re going to be big and tough to play against once these guys start to mature. We’re building the type of defensive team that wins in the playoffs. The kind of team that doesn’t need a 40, 50, or 60 goal scorer to win.
A lot of these forwards we get are middle six type of guys that can chip in the occasional goal. That type of depth matter so much. Guys like McCarty, Draper and Maltby weren’t superstars but they could shut teams down and score big goals. The guys we’re drafting probably won’t be superstars, but a lot of what I read says they play responsible defense. We’re not going to be the highest scoring team in the league, but we’re building a team that should win a lot of 2-1 games.
I get inpatients but you gotta trust the process
I’d rather have multiple years of winning than burn out after 1
This fandom is insanity
So few people complained about the job Ken Holland was doing when he was doing it
And now people are jumping at the opportunity to criticize Yzerman who is *clearly* trying to avoid Holland-ing this team over and over again
I have no idea what a large portion of this fanbase wants
I really don’t think you can build a winning team just through 7 picks per draft. That means you have to have something worth selling to get those additional picks to develop into a real core. And the Wings of 2016 had nobody worth selling, or just about. So we had to build for a few years to have assets (like Tatar, Mantha, Bert, Hronek) to get the picks we’ll need to set a championship core. I hope we’re getting close.
League shows this is true, just look at many of the winners lately. Avs sold off on the Stasny-Duchene core; Tampa had to move on from St. Louis-Lecavalier to make room for and acquire parts of their next winning core.
Great analysis and you carry the right mindset, thank you
We have come a long way already. Stevie’s laying the foundation, a solid one..after having to break the mess he was given down, first. We have 30 million in projected cap space now (2nd most) ..after starting with zero in his 1st year, tied up in a bad team/bad contracts. (13.5 in Abdelkder, Howard and Nielson alone. And still paying Ab until 2026). With 30M cap space, we will only get better! High paid goal scorers could be injured by the time our core is ready to compete, giving us negative cap. Goal scorers can be acquired/traded for to add to multiple lines. A young competitive core poised to win multiple stanley cups, with a tough to play against style, is not. It needs to be built. LGRW!!
https://www.reddit.com/r/DetroitRedWings/comments/14mp6f1/weve_come_along_way_since_then/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button