Steve Yzerman is not a good GM.

[SoupNazi]

I love how people say things like "nobody else will say it" as if they're about to say something controversial or ground breaking when it's something a million other people have already said.

As you know, OP isn’t the only one saying it. He obviously hasn’t paid much attention to the other threads about this.

 

[norrisnick]

As you know, OP isn’t the only one saying it. He obviously hasn’t paid much attention to the other threads about this.

From the sounds of every post within this thread he hasn't paid attention to anything involving the Wings over the last 5 years, let alone discussions about them. It's a binary analysis. Playoffs = good, Not playoffs = bad. Nothing else needs to be looked into.

 

[Pavels Dog]

That sounds like a whole lot of nothing.

What concerns me with Detroit is that teams on the same timeline as them such as NJ are already competing, and now teams that have begun rebuilding recently like CHI and SJS are leapfrogging over them in the rebuild. When is it going to be Detroit's window to win? It's going to be Bedard's and Celebrini's league before you know it.

As i see it, Detroit is heading slow and steady towards bubble team territory.

The reason so much of Yzerman criticism falls flat is because he's being held up to a standard that is simply "be really, really lucky with the draft lottery". Like.. that's it. That's how far 90% of critics dig into it.

Oh and btw; teams like NJ are "already competing", while Detroit, who were 10 points ahead last season, are apparently a massive failure. Yep, makes total sense, no bias there.

Most reasonable people would say that Detroit's rebuild is progressing well, possibly even really well, within the context of not being really, really lucky with the lottery.

My general take would be this: Because they missed the playoffs last year -- which is a year some people thought they would/should make it --, Yzerman's status as GM right now is something like "moderate failure".

Absolutely no one outside the most optimistic Detroit fans thought they had a chance at playoffs.

Can we stop rewriting history to fit narratives? It's not that hard to go back a year and look at offseason standings predictions. Detroit exceeded expectations by a fairly substantial margin last season.

 

[Fledgemyhedge]

Seriously? How's he even working right now? Weird. Must be more luck I guess.

Holy straw man. If it wasn’t a fluke why can’t he recreate that? 21 games played from picks past 30 with Detroit. Yikes

 

[GMR]

So if the Wings made the playoffs last season (which they barely missed) and got pasted by the New York Rangers in the first round, that would be considered progress? Would that appease the critics in this thread?

In my view, getting destroyed in the first round and barely missing the postseason is the same thing. They're not ready to win a playoff series (or two). The goal is to contend for a Cup. We're at least several years away from that.

I don't think Yzerman honestly expects them to make the playoffs this season either. He's waiting to see how the most recent prospects develop (Edvinsson, Kasper, Danielson). If this prospect pool isn't good enough then we can safely label Yzerman's tenure a failure.

From the sounds of every post within this thread he hasn't paid attention to anything involving the Wings over the last 5 years, let alone discussions about them. It's a binary analysis. Playoffs = good, Not playoffs = bad. Nothing else needs to be looked into.

Exactly, hence my post above. If the Flyers don't pull their goalie, the Wings qualify for the playoffs, and get beat by the Rangers in 5, this thread likely doesn't get started.

Yet, there's little difference between the above scenario and what actually occurred.

 

[Frank Drebin]

I think the biggest thing about Stevie y is that he was heralded as some sort of hockey genius during his time in Tampa and Team Canada.

Turns out its very tough to build a winner without superstars.

 

[Hippasus]

I think the biggest thing about Stevie y is that he was heralded as some sort of hockey genius during his time in Tampa and Team Canada.

Turns out its very tough to build a winner without superstars.

Is it though? Maybe you have a different definition of superstar, but Vegas, St.Louis, even Florida and Los Angeles come to mind.

 

[nbwingsfan]

When he inherited:
Best 3 forwards were Larkin, Mantha, Bertuzzi

Best two D were:

Hronek and….. the ghost of mike green??

Top prospects:
Zadina, Joe Veleno and Cholowski

Truly a shock they aren’t contenders yet, isn’t it?

 

[Pavels Dog]

That’s a pretty “just average” prospect group for a team that’s missed the playoffs 5 times in his tenure.

A lot of that are players who were taken earlier than they should have (Danielsson), players who have stalled or haven’t progressed as originally projected (Kasper, Wallinder, Soderblom), and some decent but no blue chip talent (Brandsegg-Nygard, Augustine, ASP).

It’s decent but Detroit lacks a franchise talent. Perhaps Detroit gets lucky and one of these players turns into one, my bet being MBN. But missing the playoffs for 8 years, not exactly having a true franchise talent is rough.

Yzerman has only been here for 5, and some of us would definitely argue that Seider & Raymond can be labeled franchise talent.

 

[Frank Drebin]

Is it though? Maybe you have a different definition of superstar, but Vegas, St.Louis, even Florida and Los Angeles come to mind.

Yeah good point
Florida la and Vegas's had good starting pieces but the teams were built with draft capital

First rounders and existing players for impact players

 

[WetcoastOrca]

I think he’s overrated and is probably about an average GM. But like others have said he has only been there 5 years and needs a couple of more years to really judge him. Apart from Seider though I don’t think he managed to get the high end pieces while the team was tanking. Time will tell.

 

[Ezekial]

I think he’s overrated and is probably about an average GM. But like others have said he has only been there 5 years and needs a couple of more years to really judge him. Apart from Seider though I don’t think he managed to get the high end pieces while the team was tanking. Time will tell.

Lucas Raymond had a more productive 21 year old season than Pettersson's 23 year old season

 

[SirKillalot]

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

How do you measure this fact exactly?

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.

This was the first year where they could have gone to the playoffs. It's not a playstation game where you can trade Matthews for a couple of picks and 3rd and 4th liners.

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

Actually his best move was not signing anyone from the outside to huge albatross contracts that will hurt the team 4-6 years from now.

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

This I'd say was a bad move in a sense that if he waited he could have gotten a return. He wanted to do a move now, Wallman became a cap casualty because of what seems to be some off ice issues.

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.

Oh no, a log jam of goalies most others don't want, how shall they survive this?

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.

Maybe let those picked players mature enough to be given the chance to make the team or get into the team. Some gonna play in Sweden this coming season, you think tossing them out there too early is gonna help them make the playoffs?

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.

What other teams do is their own fault. Detroit following a process they accepted taking about 8 years to do from Yzerman got into the position, with the first 2-3 being how to ship out contracts and see what core pieces are there and what's needed.

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.

Yes, of course, making the playoffs is everyone's dream! Where is the parade and the hand out of the You Made the Playoffs-Trophy to put in the cabinet next to the You made it again on the Golf Course-Trophy? As a Leafs-fan I guess you should know this right?

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

And if that is what is needed to become stronger bit by bit for long term success then that is what will happen and its perfectly fine.

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

Agree, Yzerman is not a good GM, he is a Great GM!

Also why do you even bother with the post, when they become a solid contender Leafs got one more team to lose to, so why are you bothering? Are you scared?

 

[The Hockey Tonk Man]

Am I mistaken, or were they not sitting in the playoffs pretty comfy last year till Larkin went down & went on a 10 game losing streak or something?

 

[raymond23]

This will be the first year we have Yzerman-era draft picks on the roster besides Seider and Raymond, so it’s going to get a lot more telling moving forward

His roster building has been questionable so far but we've improved considerably every single year he's been in charge. Can't really afford any more questionable contracts

The lengths some posters are going to discredit his Tampa tenure is comical

 

[albator71]

Rebuilds are tricky man just look around the league you have Detroit, Buffalo, Ottawa, Montreal, Columbus, Philadelphia, Utah, Anaheim, San Jose, Calgary, Chicago that have been rebuilding for awhile now it's not just Detroit. Rebuilds are not an exact science!

 

[KJoe88]

Ok.

 

[weastern bias]

I love how people say things like "nobody else will say it" as if they're about to say something controversial or ground breaking when it's something a million other people have already said.

 

[T REX]

I gotta ask...if posters think Yzerman got lucky and stumbled into superstars then what the heck did JBB do then?

He inherited everything. He didn't even get lucky and draft a superstar. If Yzerman is average or below then what the heck is JBB?

 

[Theodore450]

Hilarious, every few month dumb hockey fans dunk on this guy. Dude is taking the long approach and knows exactly what he’s doing. Red wings will be fine. Red wings were in a worse position than the current pens. They cleaned up the cap and drafted a core. He needs to hit on a superstar level player and add on trades. It’s going to come . Leaf fans shouldn’t be saying a word

 

[Albatros]

Seider, Boldy, Zegras & Caufield the 1st rd steals of the 2019 draft.

Harley (#18)

 

[Nick Lang]

The reason so much of Yzerman criticism falls flat is because he's being held up to a standard that is simply "be really, really lucky with the draft lottery". Like.. that's it. That's how far 90% of critics dig into it.

Oh and btw; teams like NJ are "already competing", while Detroit, who were 10 points ahead last season, are apparently a massive failure. Yep, makes total sense, no bias there.

Most reasonable people would say that Detroit's rebuild is progressing well, possibly even really well, within the context of not being really, really lucky with the lottery.

Absolutely no one outside the most optimistic Detroit fans thought they had a chance at playoffs.

Can we stop rewriting history to fit narratives? It's not that hard to go back a year and look at offseason standings predictions. Detroit exceeded expectations by a fairly substantial margin last season.

They had a a good 3/4 of the season and were one of the best teams in the league for a stretch before struggling down the final stretch. I find most of the criticisms unwarranted as well. This is a super tough league and like you said they haven't been overly lucky in their drafting. Didn't bottom out for an overly long period and have tried to be competitive lately. I'm pulling for them in the East. Hopeful guys like Kasper, Edvinsson, and Danielson, have strong years.

As a Canuck fan I watched them several times casually but was very impressed when we played them. Very fast and extremely tricky in the offensive zone. Just like a swarm of gnats, ha.

 

[Matty Sundin]

That time for the weekly "Yzerman is a bad GM thread" huh?

He came in to an absolute mess left behind by Ken Holland, next to nothing in the pipeline, piss poor lottery luck. Ended up with Seider and Raymond in those drafts. And has still made progress every year he's been back with Detroit. And thats without most of his draft picks making the team yet, because he isnt rushing things. Sure some contracts dont look great right now, but they will expire by the time guys like Kasper or Danielsson or MBN or Cossa makes the team or need raises.

The guy has preached patience since day one, so its weird to me that fans of other teams are so crazy obsessed with the job he's done so far.

I mean this board is known for “I can do a better job from my mom’s basement” so it’s not surprising.

 

[leaffann]

Harley (#18)

Yes Harley also a great pick at 18rh

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

Am I mistaken, or were they not sitting in the playoffs pretty comfy last year till Larkin went down & went on a 10 game losing streak or something?

Doesn't that kind help my point? If ONE injury can do that, that's not a good thing and that's on Yzerman