Where did Yzerman go wrong with the rebuild?

[JohanFranzenstein]

Once again: Steve needs to come out and do a presser and tell the fans "hey, sorry, this season is a wash". Maybe I could afford to go to another game this year that way.

 

[Frk It]

Really impressive what the Caps have done with their retool

Tons of smart, high upside acquisitions paying off big time

We should have added 1 of the 2 defenseman they did. 100%.

 

[Snuggs]

We should have added 1 of the 2 defenseman they did. 100%.

Gustafsson and Lagesson. c'mon. brought up albertson/edvinsson.

 

[GMR]

Maybe the rebuild went wrong by hiring Yzerman.

I mean it was the correct move in hindsight since he was previously groomed for the job and had success in Tampa. But his decision making has progressively gotten worse in free agency. And he's too stubborn to fire bad coaches.

The final verdict will be on the recent draft picks but some of these guys are years away from NHL regulars.

 

[Frk It]

Gustafsson and Lagesson. c'mon. brought up albertson/edvinsson.

Not sure if you are being sarcastic or not, lol.

I’m assuming you are?

Anyhow the miscalculation that this group was ‘good enough’ on the back end looks bad every time we take the ice.

Having Chychrun and Edvinsson on two separate pairings would be so huge for us, IMO.

 

[Snuggs]

Maybe the rebuild went wrong by hiring Yzerman.

I mean it was the correct move in hindsight since he was previously groomed for the job and had success in Tampa. But his decision making has progressively gotten worse in free agency. And he's too stubborn to fire bad coaches.

The final verdict will be on the recent draft picks but some of these guys are years away from NHL regulars.

 

[Winger98]

Not sure if you are being sarcastic or not, lol.

I’m assuming you are?

Anyhow the miscalculation that this group was ‘good enough’ on the back end looks bad every time we take the ice.

Having Chychrun and Edvinsson on two separate pairings would be so huge for us, IMO.

I'm not sure Ottawa would have dealt with us again without getting a clear win in the deal.

I'm also not sold on the idea that anyone thought this group was good enough, but that cap/term costs of upgrading didn't offset just standing pat. If anything it probably reveals more of where the front office saw the team this season.

 

[GMR]

Elephant in the room. Many of us grew up idolizing him, but if he wasn't Steve Yzerman, wouldn't more people be asking for his job?

 

[Frk It]

I'm not sure Ottawa would have dealt with us again without getting a clear win in the deal.

I'm also not sold on the idea that anyone thought this group was good enough, but that cap/term costs of upgrading didn't offset just standing pat. If anything it probably reveals more of where the front office saw the team this season.

Could be the case.

As frustrated/disinterested I am with this current roster I still have a decent belief in the overall direction of the roster.

I just wish we would have done more to make watching games this year more enjoyable/compelling.

Oh well. I’m enjoying football right now, at least.

 

[RED WINGS STOMP]

Never saw Larkin retiring a redwing. Theres a reason his full contract doesnt have a ntc but I don't think itll be now that hes moved

To make big moves you need 1sts and assets your willing to move. I'd be moving debrincat to get some of those assets since I dont see him getting a longterm deal from yzerman in 2 years

To get rid of some guys earlier we should just retain 50% off some guys with an extra year

Holl or chiarot
Tarasenko
Copp or compher

Compher at 4 mill I think we can get a good return since it's his first struggle in a few seasons. Think avs gladly take him back at a reduced salary

Copp at 3.5 I think someone takes him

Tarasenko at 50% I think a cup contender takes a flyer on his name alone for a 2nd. Longer we wait and he keeps doing nothing we'll get back nothing

Anyways I think theres things yzerman can try to do, whether be does it who knows. If we have to eat 6 million in cap space next season so be it , who cares

We'll have rookie contracts in play shorterm. Time to Dump guys

Larkin's extension came with the first 5 years have NTC. The last three, he submits a 10 team list that he is willing to go to.

So Dylan is moving only if Dylan wants to, the team couldn't just accept any trade on him right now.

 

[Lazlo Hollyfeld]

Elephant in the room. Many of us grew up idolizing him, but if he wasn't Steve Yzerman, wouldn't more people be asking for his job?

The team has improved every single season so far except this one. Canning a GM prematurely is one way teams get stuck in purgatory.

I’ve been watching Yzerman since he was named captain, but that has zilch to do with how I think of him as GM.

A linear rebuild would be great but seems really optimistic. No matter who the GM was I wouldn’t be saying they should get fired yet. But this offseason is definitely under more pressure now.

 

[cvaicunas]

Interim fix??? Were close to bottom of the standings lmfao ... we're winning squat next 2 seasons lets be real

If someone wants to send a 1st for 50% retained on a goalie who'll be 38 next season it's a no brainer. Lyon has put on good stats he just can't handle 50+ games, give him 2 year deal and tandem him with cossa . Not much of a difference

Exactly! We're already losing with above average, often excellent goaltending. Do we really need to go back to getting blown out every game to feel better about the tank. As shit as a lot of the game play is this season. I would still rather watch a 2-1 loss than a 5-1 loss, (don't bring up last night, there were two empty net goals). We can assume that Lyon can handle a 1A role, but I'm not ready to throw Cossa in there next year if he proves to not be ready. Let the kid marinate if need be. A larger portion of this rebuild is hinging on Cossa and/or Augustine panning out. I'm not ready to sacrifice that for another future lottery ticket. To close, I would rather Talbot mentor Cossa on how to be an NHL than Lyon.

 

[cvaicunas]

Could be the case.

As frustrated/disinterested I am with this current roster I still have a decent belief in the overall direction of the roster.

I just wish we would have done more to make watching games this year more enjoyable/compelling.

Oh well. I’m enjoying football right now, at least.

I for one was ok watching losses that resulted in game scores higher than 2-1

 

[Michael Brand Eggs]

The rebuild is actually going quite well, it's just slow. 2 top pairing defensemen, 1 top line forward, a record breaking offensive defenseman prospect, 2 goalies of the future developing well, a whole bunch of credible middle of the lineup/complementary forwards and defensemen.

Like, okay, if you wanted to blow the doors off the league, maybe that's disappointing. But that's a really solid team in the making. And they're not done yet.

 

[Euro Twins]

The irony is that all that money Fedorov chased ended up being stolen by a fraudulent financial adviser he got tied in with. I think most all players in the happenings have moved on from it but in a sense Fedorov created all that drama for no real gain, at least not long term.

Fame was all a part of it too, he wanted to be like Ovechkin/Crosby level famous but then he went from being a household name the greatest hockey town on the planet to just another sports guy in California where there are cities filled with movie stars, and then to Columbus OH of all places.

To give some idea of scale of the theft Fedorov left in 2003, he filed charges against his financial advisor in 2009. Which means some time between 2003 and 2009 Fedorov was taken for most everything. In 2015 courts awarded 60 million in damages but there is no record if he ever collected.

He of course is not poor by any means but is probably financially worth about an 1/3th of what he would have been and ended up with a mixed NHL legacy. But will still always be my favorite player because holy cow did he light up the ice and was a playoff beast. I think when he got invited to the alumni game that was awesome. There is no way to ever really know but I think he might have been better off staying a wing even though the negotiations went sour.

This is kind of a misconception that Fedorov got greedy and created drama. He was going through a divorce and Ken Holland promised to offer him the same contract he was already offered in a few months once the divorce was finalized. Then Holland came back and low balled him. Fedorov felt betrayed and left. Both parties were at fault but Sergei took all the blame

 

[Winger98]

Could be the case.

As frustrated/disinterested I am with this current roster I still have a decent belief in the overall direction of the roster.

I just wish we would have done more to make watching games this year more enjoyable/compelling.

Oh well. I’m enjoying football right now, at least.

That's pretty much where I'm at, minus the football part.

I look forward to when the kids are ready to come up.

 

[Lazlo Hollyfeld]

This is kind of a misconception that Fedorov got greedy and created drama. He was going through a divorce and Ken Holland promised to offer him the same contract he was already offered in a few months once the divorce was finalized. Then Holland came back and low balled him. Fedorov felt betrayed and left. Both parties were at fault but Sergei took all the blame

Exactly. My memory of it is that Fedorov asked for more time to make the decision. Then Holland withdrew that offer and lowballed him.

The "greedy Russian" thing is BS too. People have to consider what these guys risked to leave the USSR. And the Wings got talented players in return. It's not like they were doing it out of charity.

Even with the offer sheet, it was extra painful for Ilitch because of Karmanos being the one doing it and the poison pill he built into the offer, but guys like Sakic and Tkachuk also accepted offer sheets around that time and don't have it held against them.

 

[The Zermanator]

Could be the case.

As frustrated/disinterested I am with this current roster I still have a decent belief in the overall direction of the roster.

I just wish we would have done more to make watching games this year more enjoyable/compelling.

Oh well. I’m enjoying football right now, at least.

I understand where people are coming from with this, obviously in a vacuum the choice between competitive vs non-competitive is an easy one. But I can't help but think that if Yzerman signed any of these contracts people wanted, there would be complaining a few years down the line if/when those contracts get in the way of big deals for Edvinsson, ASP, Cossa, etc.

I've been surprised at how poorly the team has done this season, that was unexpected. But I never had any expectations of anything until the 2026-27 season or thereabouts anyway. So that's why I'm not sore over missing out on a Matt Roy, or even committing more cap space to players like Chiarot, Copp, or Compher than they merit on their skills/contribution alone. Because I know that when the real fruits of the rebuild are on the team and contributing, those players are either not going to be here at all (Copp & Co.), or not clogging up the cap space (free agent premium deals for Roy, etc.). The amount of belly-aching that goes on around here over a guy like Copp is insane, like people don't understand he's a placeholder until the team actually becomes competitive. He's a complete non-factor when it comes to the actual rebuild, ditto those other players I mentioned (and several more).

The core process of the rebuild has been going smoothly. Yzerman's used his high draft picks to pick some very high-quality players, can't reasonably expect any better than he's done. As far as not signing a player like Matt Roy, or whoever else, that may very well end up better in the long run. We weren't going to be challenging for anything this season anyway, so Matt Roy would have only impacted our draft position. I'm much more concerned about the team in 2026/27 than the team in 2024/25. If we end up tanking this whole season, then there's a good chance the player we draft will be better than Matt Roy in the medium to long term (possibly even in the short term depending on how high we pick).

TLDR:
The team in 2026/27 is what matters. We were never going to be serious contenders this season anyway, with or without Roy (or whoever). If another bad season means we have an even brighter future (because of another blue chip prospect), then so be it. The team remains very well positioned going into the future, regardless of the standings this season.