Steve Yzerman is not a good GM.

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

It's factually true, nobody else will say it because It's Yzerman but it is the reality of the situation.

The man has been GM in Detroit since April 19 2019, and in that time the team has played in a grand total of 0 playoff games and let's be honest they don't look they are making it next year either, in fact they look like they took a step back.

Other than possibly replacing Perron with Tarasenko NOTHING Yzerman did this off season was good.

Trading Wallman and a 2nd literally for free, and then not replacing him was an awful choice.

Signing Jack Campbell and Cam Talbot was an awful choice because all it does is create a logjam in net, and yeah I know Campbell is probably going to be in the AHL but that still leaves you with 3 goaltenders that all expect NHL minutes and you can't give NHL minutes to 3 goalies that all know they are at least backups at this point.

Yeah there is a couple good draft picks in there and I know people will point that out but again those picks have led to 0 playoff games.

If it were any other GM in any other city, in any other sport and that GM missed the playoffs for 5 straight years that GM would get fired.

But It's Yzerman and Detroit so it won't happen but his track record is his track record he's missed the playoffs for 5 straight years, the team has missed the playoffs for 8 straight years, their goaltending is a mess, their defense is an overall mess, their forwards are OK.

If this team misses the playoffs again and they look like they it will be their 9th straight year and Yzerman 6th.

At what point do you stop living in denial and admit Yzerman has done a shit job?

Click to read more...

 

[Mr Kot]

"nobody else will say"

literally there is a thread about yzerman not being a good gm

or was can't find now, maybe we need a new one then

 

[13to40]

I mean as an average hockey fan that doesn’t know much about how the team looked when he inherited the GM position, yeah one could say he hasn’t had success because they haven’t made the playoffs.

But then if you dig deeper you can see how the team did not have any stock pile of prospects and regardless of horrible lottery pick luck, still managed to replenish a rather anemic prospect pool.

He isn’t trying to put together a bubble playoff team. He’s building a Stanley cup winning team. Again if you take a bit of a deeper look you can see what he’s trying to accomplish by who he’s been drafting: lots of character guys. Fast. Bigger size….

Is the process taking longer than most hoped? I would agree to the average hockey fan, yes it seems like the team hasn’t been progressing fast enough.

If you check the teams stats over the past few seasons, they have constantly improved while being able to properly develop some of the prospects year after year.

Will the team regress this year? In all honestly this isn’t the roster that’s going to be winning the next cup for the franchise, pending a small miracle, this is the roster to help insulate some of the younger players on the team, while creating the basis of a winning culture styled attitude; being a true pro and allowing some extra time for the younger players not yet on the big team to develop for the new future. So if it regresses…. It’s not the end of the world.

The Walman trade happened because of a locker room altercation that took place during the season. He put himself in a bad position moving forward this year, hence why he was given away. Trading him also created more cap flexibility for signing Stamkos who Detroit was highly rumoured in being interested in.

At the end of the day winning a championship is the ultimate goal, and if you compare Detroit to the majority of the league, they have all won the same amount of cups in the past 10 years. If you look even closer at their division, teams not named Tampa or Florida haven’t had much if any success progressing deep into the playoffs at all.

So at the end of the day I guess the question really comes down to if you’re satisfied as a fan just making the playoffs and losing after a round or maybe 2, or if your goal is a few steps further and less short sighted, of actually winning a Stanley Cup.

 

[PaulD]

I mean as an average hockey fan that doesn’t know much about how the team looked when he inherited the GM position, yeah one could say he hasn’t had success because they haven’t made the playoffs.

But then if you dig deeper you can see how the team did not have any stock pile of prospects and regardless of horrible lottery pick luck, still managed to replenish a rather anemic prospect pool.

He isn’t trying to put together a bubble playoff team. He’s building a Stanley cup winning team. Again if you take a bit of a deeper look you can see what he’s trying to accomplish by who he’s been drafting: lots of character guys. Fast. Bigger size….

Is the process taking longer than most hoped? I would agree to the average hockey fan, yes it seems like the team hasn’t been progressing fast enough.

If you check the teams stats over the past few seasons, they have constantly improved while being able to properly develop some of the prospects year after year.

Will the team regress this year? In all honestly this isn’t the roster that’s going to be winning the next cup for the franchise, pending a small miracle, this is the roster to help insulate some of the younger players on the team, while creating the basis of a winning culture styled attitude; being a true pro and allowing some extra time for the younger players not yet on the big team to develop for the new future. So if it regresses…. It’s not the end of the world.

The Walman trade happened because of a locker room altercation that took place during the season. He put himself in a bad position moving forward this year, hence why he was given away. Trading him also created more cap flexibility for signing Stamkos who Detroit was highly rumoured in being interested in.

At the end of the day winning a championship is the ultimate goal, and if you compare Detroit to the majority of the league, they have all won the same amount of cups in the past 10 years. If you look even closer at their division, teams not named Tampa or Florida haven’t had much if any success progressing deep into the playoffs at all.

So at the end of the day I guess the question really comes down to if you’re satisfied as a fan just making the playoffs and losing after a round or maybe 2, or if your goal is a few steps further and less short sighted, of actually winning a Stanley Cup.

what he said !

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

I think judging a GM that took over a full rebuild before that rebuild window is supposed to be closed is a bit dubious. Not many teams are contenders after only 5 years of a rebuild.

 

[CallMeShaft]

It hasn't been a great performance with him at the helm, but to be fair, Detroit has had awful lottery luck. They spent a lot of the last decade being terrible and have zero top 3 picks to show for it.

Hard to turn around a team in a rebuild when you get that sorta luck.

 

[Malkinstheman]

I don't think you're gonna find much disagreement here. Fan perception of Yzerman has completely flipped since his Tampa days.

 

[JediOrderPizza]

I'm not there yet. I like most of his picks and we will just have to see how they pan out. Stuff like Campbell being in the AHL or signing Talbot until Cossa/whatever isn't something that gets me angry. We have improved every year so far, so will just have to see how it goes.

There are things like Chiarot, Holl and Copp which is whatever because none of that money has really stopped the Wings from doing anything. Once they are looking to really turn the corner they are gonna be gone.

Things like making the playoffs for 20+ years and then Holland/Management holding onto it for dear life by making bad moves takes a while to come back from.

I really don't get why other teams fans get so pissed about him.

 

[takimaki]

What a bunch of nonsense

 

[MichaelFarrell]

When does the Yzerplan start getting criticized?

Hughes/Seider would be the best pairing in the league though. God that would be disgustingly good. The Seider draft was when Jack Hughes was drafted not Luke, so losing that lottery doesnt really hurt. The year the devils took Luke Hughes the wings took Edvinsson who could be better than...

forums.hfboards.com

This thread goes into a ton of depth if anybody is interested

 

[JohanFranzenstein]

Asking all of hfboards:

Does Steve Yzerman live in your heads rent free? Christ almighty.

 

[Lazlo Hollyfeld]

I mean, whatever let's you sleep at night.

 

[Shane Diesel]

I mean as an average hockey fan that doesn’t know much about how the team looked when he inherited the GM position, yeah one could say he hasn’t had success because they haven’t made the playoffs.

But then if you dig deeper you can see how the team did not have any stock pile of prospects and regardless of horrible lottery pick luck, still managed to replenish a rather anemic prospect pool.

He isn’t trying to put together a bubble playoff team. He’s building a Stanley cup winning team. Again if you take a bit of a deeper look you can see what he’s trying to accomplish by who he’s been drafting: lots of character guys. Fast. Bigger size….

Is the process taking longer than most hoped? I would agree to the average hockey fan, yes it seems like the team hasn’t been progressing fast enough.

If you check the teams stats over the past few seasons, they have constantly improved while being able to properly develop some of the prospects year after year.

Will the team regress this year? In all honestly this isn’t the roster that’s going to be winning the next cup for the franchise, pending a small miracle, this is the roster to help insulate some of the younger players on the team, while creating the basis of a winning culture styled attitude; being a true pro and allowing some extra time for the younger players not yet on the big team to develop for the new future. So if it regresses…. It’s not the end of the world.

The Walman trade happened because of a locker room altercation that took place during the season. He put himself in a bad position moving forward this year, hence why he was given away. Trading him also created more cap flexibility for signing Stamkos who Detroit was highly rumoured in being interested in.

At the end of the day winning a championship is the ultimate goal, and if you compare Detroit to the majority of the league, they have all won the same amount of cups in the past 10 years. If you look even closer at their division, teams not named Tampa or Florida haven’t had much if any success progressing deep into the playoffs at all.

So at the end of the day I guess the question really comes down to if you’re satisfied as a fan just making the playoffs and losing after a round or maybe 2, or if your goal is a few steps further and less short sighted, of actually winning a Stanley Cup.

The Avs went from 48 points to Cup champs in five years. How many more years does Yzerman need?

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

I mean as an average hockey fan that doesn’t know much about how the team looked when he inherited the GM position, yeah one could say he hasn’t had success because they haven’t made the playoffs.

But then if you dig deeper you can see how the team did not have any stock pile of prospects and regardless of horrible lottery pick luck, still managed to replenish a rather anemic prospect pool.

He isn’t trying to put together a bubble playoff team. He’s building a Stanley cup winning team. Again if you take a bit of a deeper look you can see what he’s trying to accomplish by who he’s been drafting: lots of character guys. Fast. Bigger size….

Is the process taking longer than most hoped? I would agree to the average hockey fan, yes it seems like the team hasn’t been progressing fast enough.

If you check the teams stats over the past few seasons, they have constantly improved while being able to properly develop some of the prospects year after year.

Will the team regress this year? In all honestly this isn’t the roster that’s going to be winning the next cup for the franchise, pending a small miracle, this is the roster to help insulate some of the younger players on the team, while creating the basis of a winning culture styled attitude; being a true pro and allowing some extra time for the younger players not yet on the big team to develop for the new future. So if it regresses…. It’s not the end of the world.

The Walman trade happened because of a locker room altercation that took place during the season. He put himself in a bad position moving forward this year, hence why he was given away. Trading him also created more cap flexibility for signing Stamkos who Detroit was highly rumoured in being interested in.

At the end of the day winning a championship is the ultimate goal, and if you compare Detroit to the majority of the league, they have all won the same amount of cups in the past 10 years. If you look even closer at their division, teams not named Tampa or Florida haven’t had much if any success progressing deep into the playoffs at all.

So at the end of the day I guess the question really comes down to if you’re satisfied as a fan just making the playoffs and losing after a round or maybe 2, or if your goal is a few steps further and less short sighted, of actually winning a Stanley Cup.

It's been 5 years for Yzerman, and 8 years overall, there comes a point where the only progress is playoffs, Detroit is at that point, how many years does Yzerman get before you see there has been no progress?

My team was in the same position, they made little to no progress for 5 years and then they fired the guy responsible for that, and now there is a relatively new GM, a brand new coach and we will see what happens.

At some point you have to be held responsible and Yzerman hasn't been It's all excuses.

 

[FoxYou727]

imo I think one of the more underrated reasons why Yzerman was better in Tampa vs Detroit is that it is easier to convince someone to play in warm tax free Florida vs Michigan

 

[EXTRAS]

"It's factually true." I don't think you understand what a fact is. I believe you are a poor evaluator of talent and facts.

 

[Lazlo Hollyfeld]

When does the Yzerplan start getting criticized?

Hughes/Seider would be the best pairing in the league though. God that would be disgustingly good. The Seider draft was when Jack Hughes was drafted not Luke, so losing that lottery doesnt really hurt. The year the devils took Luke Hughes the wings took Edvinsson who could be better than...

forums.hfboards.com

This thread goes into a ton of depth if anybody is interested

Agreed. But I don't think the OP here was looking for a ton of depth or a nuanced argument.

 

[Bleedred]

I'm not sure if he's good or not. I think most of his praise is due to Tampa.

He was pretty overrated for a while there by fans, and he still is overrated by the media. I don't think he's really overrated by fans anymore for several reasons. Because no one is really pumping him up anymore, and we also have threads like this popping up frequently.

Detroit was in shambles when he took over. They realistically still shouldn't be a competitive team yet, due to how badly Ken Holland FUBAR'd them. I've been saying not to expect much before 2026, other than maybe some brief attainable success. but not sustainable success before 2026.

But I feel like Yzerman has signed at least one bad UFA contract every offseason, sometimes multiple bad UFA signings per year. I think he's been doing some patchwork, possibly in order to take shortcuts and cut corners to a playoff berth, perhaps under pressure from ownership. I'm still confused as to what this ''Yzerplan'' actually is or even means.

 

[Gaylord Q Tinkledink]

imo I think one of the more underrated reasons why Yzerman was better in Tampa vs Detroit is that it is easier to convince someone to play in warm tax free Florida vs Michigan

Less pressure, too

 

[Lazlo Hollyfeld]

It's been 5 years for Yzerman, and 8 years overall, there comes a point where the only progress is playoffs, Detroit is at that point, how many years does Yzerman get before you see there has been no progress?

My team was in the same position, they made little to no progress for 5 years and then they fired the guy responsible for that, and now there is a relatively new GM, a brand new coach and we will see what happens.

At some point you have to be held responsible and Yzerman hasn't been It's all excuses.

If you think that the only progress is simply making the playoffs, you're definitely a fan of the right team.

 

[weastern bias]

He constructed the best team of the last 20+ years in Tampa and he's turned the most moribund franchise in the league into a bubble team in Detroit after having the worst lottery luck of all time

He makes headscratching moves in the offseason and he hasn't turned one of the worst teams of all time (2020 Wings) into a playoff team in the span of 5 years, but on the whole he's been wildly successful as a GM

I think the current criticisms are overly focused on the current moment, when you zoom out he's mostly been an incredible GM, but I also understand why Detroit fans might start to get impatient with him

 

[JoVel]

Congratulations Red Wings fans, you're about to have a great season.

 

[Romang67]

The Avs went from 48 points to Cup champs in five years. How many more years does Yzerman need?

The Avs' rebuild started 4 years before the season they finished with 48 points.

 

[JediOrderPizza]

The Avs went from 48 points to Cup champs in five years. How many more years does Yzerman need?

When did they hire Sakic? They also drafted Mackinnon in 2013, but sure only 5 years.

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

He’s a good GM. Just not the generational god tier AINEC GM wings fans made him out to be