No, it was clearly about the Ducks and their division.
Understand what you read the next time maybe?
Only team that could push out Leafs or Lightning from top two spots next year is Panthers.
Fans are also allowed to have a realistic point of view and not thinking this is a video game where you can trade whoever you want to your team in the offseason because you managed to do so on NHL25.
Actually, I haven't played any NHL games since the PC version of NHL 2002 that year.
Nobody here said that Yzerman needed to trade the entire Griffins roster plus his first-born child for Rantanen.
A player like Ryan Donato likely wouldn't have cost anything more than a 2nd round pick. That wasn't unreasonable to have expected in the least, especially given the reaction of the locker room.
You most definitely do not speak for the fanbase, as you speak of things in an alternate reality where you think this is a video game and a quick fix in the offseason.
Yzerman wasn't my favorite player, and no one has said he is perfect. But you clearly have major lacks in understanding the time it takes to build a solid team from scratch in the salary cap era.
Actually, I've been following, studying, and playing hockey for the last 25 years. Additionally, Yzerman didn't start from scratch in 2019. That's a complete myth.
Know who did start from scratch? Vegas (it's a myth that they got elite talent in their first year, their club was literally made up of leftover trash nobody else wanted and every projection had them finishing as a lotto team in 2017-18). Know who else started from scratch? Seattle, who went to Game 7 of round 2 in their 2nd year of existence (yes, they've been bad 3/4 of the time, but have still accomplished more than Detroit has in 4 years.)
The Habs went to the Cup Final, bottomed out the last two years, and are back in the playoffs all since Yzerman arrived in Detroit. (and no, Juraj Slafkovsky, who was taken 1st overall, is nothing special).
The Stars have never had the 1st overall pick. How are they doing right about now?
The Senators never had the 1st overall pick. They made moves at the deadline and are in the playoffs before Detroit was. The Kings bottomed out and are back in the playoffs before Detroit was.
He is performing just as planned. Drafting well. Just need more of the kids to develop and be part of the team. He said this from the start, he is doing what he said he would.
It was never supposed to take over 6 years just to slip into the playoffs as a Wild Card. In what other profession do you get to say that you'll not deliver any meaningful results until over half a decade has passed?
The ownership agreed to the process and that it was going to take time.
Chris Ilitch is one of the worst, cheapest owners in professional sports. Using his stamp of approval isn't a flex.
Just as with other teams who have built good teams. Go look at them and how long it also took them.
See above.
So in one instance its stated that they must be traded for established NHL talent and in another let them develop. Which one is it?
Both at the same time. You cannot oversee the majority of the longest postseason drought in team history with zero timeline to get back into competition and continuously say "just wait for the kids".
In your opinion who just want to be playoff fodder year out year in and see that as success.
Detroit's young players need playoff experience to learn the realities of playoff hockey. Absolutely nobody (with extremely rare exception) cruises their way to the Cup with a group of young players in their 1st postseason experience, which has been the common refrain of the Yzerbots who think there's no point in playoff hockey unless they're bonafide title contenders.
"But there's no value in losing in the 1st round!" Yeah, there absolutely is. Even if Ottawa and Montreal get swept by the Leafs and Caps, their young core of players set to lead the franchise for the next decade already have a leg up on Detroit in learning what it takes to play playoff-style hockey.
Just like Yzerman did early on in his playing career (disproving another Yzerbot talking point of "but but but it took him until age 34 to win the Cup!!). He had to learn the realities that postseason hockey is 100% different from the regular season, and had over 90 games of playoff experience entering the 1997 postseason.
Otherwise, what kind of culture are you instilling in players like Larkin, Seider and Raymond, who know nothing but losing?
You don't know how success is built as you just want a playoff fodder team year out year in as long as you can say we made the playoffs.
Again, see above. You're confusing me with Ken Holland (and Mike Ilitch) from 2014 to 2016, who wanted to make the playoffs for literally zero reason other than to extend the stupid streak.
Just like I said with Montreal and Ottawa, even if they get sandblasted in Round 1, their young players learned a valuable lesson that will aid them in the long run.
You don't grade the cook when you put the ingredients in the pan, you do it when the ingredients are cooked and put together as a dish and gets to the table.
Except everyone else in the restaurant has finished their dessert and coffee, paid their bills, and left. Red Wings fans are still waiting for the meal, and Chef Yzerman has yet to turn the stove up from ultra-low heat. At some point, the promise of "trust me, it's gonna be delicious" wears thin. We're well past that point now.
