Where did Yzerman go wrong with the rebuild?

[ShanahanMan]

One thing people need to understand about the rebuild is that SY has as much if not more job security than any GM in the league. He doesn't have to play by anyone else's time clock, the rebuild game will be over when he says it's over. There has been no announced "five-year plan" or any number of years to reach intermediate or final goals that many other GMs have to reach in order to keep their jobs, but which SY doesn't need to do so he won't. His time clock has an infinite (or at least unknown) number of years and he is using that to max advantage, taking it slow with prospects, keeping expectations down, advising patience, etc. For many fans this can be anywhere from frustrating to intolerable. They want to see tangible results ASAP. They want a known frame of reference to judge him by along the way. Small but steady improvement is okay but boring. A temporary but harmless step backward one year would be unacceptable. Creating a deep prospect pool, keeping options open with limited long-term Cap commitments is nice but not of immediate benefit. People saying there will be a couple of big trades someday are met with the rational response, "Alright, but when?"

In some ways, compared to other rebuilds in the past and present, this rebuild is being conducted in an alternate universe to the normal state of affairs in the NHL. Considering how many "normal" rebuilds fail, this strikes me as a good way to do it, or at the very least interesting. But, it requires an adjustment to a different frame of reference than one is perhaps used to. I'm fine with it and others are too, but it's understandable if some fans can't or don't see the point in looking at things differently.

I’m sorry but having some expectations to make the playoffs five years into a rebuild is more than reasonable and not “asap”.

 

[OldnotDeadWings]

I’m sorry but having some expectations to make the playoffs five years into a rebuild is more than reasonable and not “asap”.

You're wrong of course but that's fine. I wouldn't expect you to understand the point.

 

[AlwaysSunnyInDetroit]

One thing people need to understand about the rebuild is that SY has as much if not more job security than any GM in the league. He doesn't have to play by anyone else's time clock, the rebuild game will be over when he says it's over. There has been no announced "five-year plan" or any number of years to reach intermediate or final goals that many other GMs have to reach in order to keep their jobs, but which SY doesn't need to do so he won't. His time clock has an infinite (or at least unknown) number of years and he is using that to max advantage, taking it slow with prospects, keeping expectations down, advising patience, etc. For many fans this can be anywhere from frustrating to intolerable. They want to see tangible results ASAP. They want a known frame of reference to judge him by along the way. Small but steady improvement is okay but boring. A temporary but harmless step backward one year would be unacceptable. Creating a deep prospect pool, keeping options open with limited long-term Cap commitments is nice but not of immediate benefit. People saying there will be a couple of big trades someday are met with the rational response, "Alright, but when?"

In some ways, compared to other rebuilds in the past and present, this rebuild is being conducted in an alternate universe to the normal state of affairs in the NHL. Considering how many "normal" rebuilds fail, this strikes me as a good way to do it, or at the very least interesting. But, it requires an adjustment to a different frame of reference than one is perhaps used to. I'm fine with it and others are too, but it's understandable if some fans can't or don't see the point in looking at things differently.

i think the copp signing was yzerman's signal of when his windows starts. he had just drafted kasper, no one except for core players are signed past the expiration of copp's contract (except compher has 1 year left), and it budgets an appropriate amount of development time for his top picks.

over the next three years i see us making the playoffs a couple times, most of kasper, danielson, cossa, mbn, asp, mazur, buchelnikov, wallinder, soderblom, lombardi, etc will have made the team, gained nhl experience and by 27-28 will be ready to seriously contend.