GMs To Get The Post-Season Axe

[VivaLasVegas]

Place yer bets, place yer bets.

I'm going to ante the pot with Ron Francis in Seattle as the Kraken seem to be headed in the wrong direction.

Which GMs are going to get a Thank You note, a $25 Starbucks gift card and a cardboard box for their personal effects?

 

[Iggys Dome]

Drury, Lamiorello, Davidson

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

I don’t know if they’ll have the balls to do it to a franchise legend, but Steve Yzerman hasn’t made much progress. No playoff appearances in 6 years as a GM, the seat’s gotta be hot by now I would imagine.

 

[Miller Time]

Verbeek, Davidson, Drury, Lou, Adams

Should but won't... Guerin

 

[edevils]

Fitzgerald has taken a lot of flack from Devils fans since December.

I think he's got another year to prove he can take the Devils deep in the playoffs, but some fans are doubting whether he's the right guy.

The criticism has been aimed at some of the UFA signings and his inability to add skill to support the core.

I think the way he handles some of the anchor contracts - Palat, Haula, Hamilton - will determine how much runway he has left.

 

[LOFIN]

Drury should be, but judging all reports it seems unlikely.

 

[ColbyChaos]

Davidson and Verbeek being mentioned by the casuals.

Correct answer is Drury, Lou, and Adams

 

[FriendlyGhost92]

I don’t know if they’ll have the balls to do it to a franchise legend, but Steve Yzerman hasn’t made much progress. No playoff appearances in 6 years as a GM, the seat’s gotta be hot by now I would imagine.

To say Yzerman "Hasn't made much progress" is complete ignorance to how bad Detroit was when he started.

 

[GMR]

I don’t know if they’ll have the balls to do it to a franchise legend, but Steve Yzerman hasn’t made much progress. No playoff appearances in 6 years as a GM, the seat’s gotta be hot by now I would imagine.

It would be a surprise. There aren’t any rumors of him being fired. The current Ilitch running the team doesn’t seem to be pushing Yzerman much.

Many fans are indeed calling for his job but I’d be shocked if he’s fired now.

We’re probably another missed playoff or two away from a possible firing.

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

To say Yzerman "Hasn't made much progress" is complete ignorance to how bad Detroit was when he started.

Alright, let’s bring some stats in to analyze this further. Let’s go by PTS%.

2018-19 (the season before Yzerman took over): .451
2019-20: .275
2020-21: .429
2021-22: .451
2022-23: .488
2023-24: .555
2024-25 (so far): .506

Where do you see significant progress? It looked like they were trending upwards and got so close to the playoffs last year, but they took a step back and are in no man’s land again.

 

[HockeyVirus]

Yzerman would be fired by now in most franchises but I don't see it. I think he has one more offseason to try and save his job. There will be some interesting contracts handed out by him July 1

 

[Kojo]

Yzerman tarnished his legacy a little bit. Should have stayed in Tampa.

 

[FriendlyGhost92]

Alright, let’s bring some stats in to analyze this further. Let’s go by PTS%.

2018-19 (the season before Yzerman took over): .451
2019-20: .275
2020-21: .429
2021-22: .451
2022-23: .488
2023-24: .555
2024-25 (so far): .506

Where do you see significant progress? It looked like they were trending upwards and got so close to the playoffs last year, but they took a step back and are in no man’s land again.

Literally improvement every single year up until now lmao.

And this wasn't exactly unexpected. Last year was a great deal of overachieving. An offseason full of signing plugs to 1-2 year deals made it very evident that they weren't rushing to compete and were rather coasting while their imminent prospects continued to develop.

Then add in the first two months of the season being absolutely abysmal thanks to Lalonde.

Yzerman has been saying from Day 1 "Build through the draft". His pro scouting has sucked, but that has nothing to do with building through the draft, and has, for the most part, been plug signings. When his draft picks start failing, that means his approach failed. At that point he's a failure. They haven't failed yet.

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

Literally improvement every single year up until now lmao.

And this wasn't exactly unexpected. Last year was a great deal of overachieving. An offseason full of signing plugs to 1-2 year deals made it very evident that they weren't rushing to compete and were rather coasting while their imminent prospects continued to develop.

Then add in the first two months of the season being absolutely abysmal thanks to Lalonde.

Yzerman has been saying from Day 1 "Build through the draft". His pro scouting has sucked, but that has nothing to do with building through the draft, and has, for the most part, been plug signings. When his draft picks start failing, that means his approach failed. At that point he's a failure. They haven't failed yet.

The way I see it is a marginal improvement compared to the roster he blew up in 2019. Even if you think they overachieved last year, the timeline’s not moving very fast IMO.

Kudos to you for having that much patience as a fan, but 6 years is a long time to wait for even a single playoff appearance. In a big league with so much parity, you can’t afford to be out of the picture too long. The Wings have a long way before they are the next Sabres… but the playoff drought would be nearly half as long as the Sabres’ if they don’t make it next year.

Also, pro scouting is a key responsibility of a GM, can’t afford to suck there either. If you look at recent winners in this league, they did well in both the drafts and FA/in-season roster moves.

I don’t think I’d have as much patience if I were you, I’d be questioning the methods employed at this point.

 

[FlyguyOX]

Briere, hopefully

 

[Fatass]

I don’t know if they’ll have the balls to do it to a franchise legend, but Steve Yzerman hasn’t made much progress. No playoff appearances in 6 years as a GM, the seat’s gotta be hot by now I would imagine.

Yup. Yzerman for sure should be gone. Francis should be too.

 

[Voight]

Davidson and Verbeek being mentioned by the casuals.

Correct answer is Drury, Lou, and Adams

Pegula wont fire Adams, he has his perfect yes man.

He also won't be able to hire anyone better until hes completely hands off where hockey ops is concerned.

 

[Voight]

Yzerman would be fired by now in most franchises but I don't see it. I think he has one more offseason to try and save his job. There will be some interesting contracts handed out by him July 1

Incoming Sam Bennett 10 million x 7 years

 

[rypper]

Yzerman has a concept of a plan!

 

[Hockeyfan2390]

I don’t know if they’ll have the balls to do it to a franchise legend, but Steve Yzerman hasn’t made much progress. No playoff appearances in 6 years as a GM, the seat’s gotta be hot by now I would imagine.

Any other GM not named Yzerman would have been fired by now.

 

[FriendlyGhost92]

The way I see it is a marginal improvement compared to the roster he blew up in 2019. Even if you think they overachieved last year, the timeline’s not moving very fast IMO.

Kudos to you for having that much patience as a fan, but 6 years is a long time to wait for even a single playoff appearance. In a big league with so much parity, you can’t afford to be out of the picture too long. The Wings have a long way before they are the next Sabres… but the playoff drought would be nearly half as long as the Sabres’ if they don’t make it next year.

Also, pro scouting is a key responsibility of a GM, can’t afford to suck there either. If you look at recent winners in this league, they did well in both the drafts and FA/in-season roster moves.

I don’t think I’d have as much patience if I were you, I’d be questioning the methods employed at this point.

"The roster he blew up in 2019" is quite the rewrite of history.

He literally was handed that shit and started with it.

 

[Hockeyfan2390]

Literally improvement every single year up until now lmao.

At some point, you need more than "incremental improvement".

The Red Wings needed to make the playoffs last year, and needed to comfortably be in the playoffs this year. If the Red Wings aren't firmly in the playoffs in March of next season, the Red Wings need to move on from him.

The time for patience is over. He's been on the job now nearly six full years.

And this wasn't exactly unexpected. Last year was a great deal of overachieving. An offseason full of signing plugs to 1-2 year deals made it very evident that they weren't rushing to compete and were rather coasting while their imminent prospects continued to develop.

Fireable offense. That's not the standard in Detroit.

Then add in the first two months of the season being absolutely abysmal thanks to Lalonde.

That's correct, but who made the decision to not only retain him but keep him around until after Christmas this season?

Yzerman has been saying from Day 1 "Build through the draft". His pro scouting has sucked, but that has nothing to do with building through the draft, and has, for the most part, been plug signings. When his draft picks start failing, that means his approach failed. At that point he's a failure. They haven't failed yet.

So much longer are the fans supposed to tolerate this "wait and see" garbage in the midst of the literal longest playoff drought in franchise history?

 

[Mosby]

Barry Trotz spent like $130 million and missed the playoffs by 30 points. Try explaining that to ownership.

 

[ShootIt]

As an outsider Stevie Y sounds like Dale Tallon in Florida.

Build through the draft, and some meh FA signings. But without the one and done playoff appearances

 

[banks]

All 3 guys in New York. Drury, Lau Lam, and Adams. But they'll probably all stay somehow.