Yes. It's a business, and it's Yzerman's job to deliver the best possible team. He's not doing it. His "stopgap" players have been between underwhelming to downright awful.
Once again, the draft isn't the only way to accumulate talent.
Yzerman is Telling You His Philosophy if You Listen
- Thread starter Steve Yzerlland
- Start date
Yes. It's a business, and it's Yzerman's job to deliver the best possible team. He's not doing it. His "stopgap" players have been between underwhelming to downright awful.
Once again, the draft isn't the only way to accumulate talent.
"Crying", lol. This product is dogchit, has been for damn near a decade now, and calling it like it is isn't "crying".
The only two Red Wings prospects that have the potential to actually be high-end talent are Pellikka and Cossa, the latter of which should be up right now as the 3rd goalie instead of the bizarre acquisition of Petr Mrazek and his 3.50 GAA for next season.
Nate Danielson and his 31 points in 56 AHL games? Talk about the next Brett Hull!
Amadeus Lombardi and his 5 goals in 70 AHL games last year and his 12 goals in 31 AHL games this year, he's definitely the next Zetterberg!
Brandsegg-Nygard and his 11 points in 42 games, he's definitely the next Pavel Datsyuk!
The above names aren't exactly lighting it up in the minors - what on Earth makes you think they're going to automatically turn into stars upon entering an even harder League?
The "just wait for the kids" strategy is nothing more than a shield for Yzerman to justify his horrible free agent signings and complete and utter lack of urgency, which is an insult to the fans - aka the paying customers.
So many people two years ago were saying the following year or 24-25 is the year the Wings will become good. Now it's oh it's only year 6 of the rebuild. The Habs started rebuilding after and it is Hutson's rooke year and they still have Demidov coming and they seem to be ahead of the Wings already.
Oddbob
Registered User
- Jan 21, 2016
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I am down right now too, but we have some players coming too. Cossa and ASP in particular along with Danielson haven't arrived yet. I get it, very disappointed in no trade deadline moves and very likely missing the playoffs again, but one thing I keep remembering is that not all of Yzerman's (wish he was more proactive) picks are in the NHL yet, and two in Ed and Marco are only in their first seasons, as this is their actual first full season. We could also get a boost if Buchelnikov is something as he had a very good season in the KHL. Elmer is also a rookie as well. A couple more good youngsters can change our outlook very quickly.
As is, Ed has had a very good rookie season, playing with another rookie partner so potentially having 2 very good top 4 for the long term in Mo and Ed is already a really good thing.
OgeeOgelthorpe
Baldina
- Feb 29, 2020
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Something tells me you don’t watch or understand AHL hockey.
12 goals in 31 games is a terrific scoring rate in the AHL. That’s a very tough, defensive league.
31 points in 56 games for a rookie is pretty respectable when you consider he’s getting tough matchups defensively as an AHL rookie.
11 points for MBN isn’t great, I’ll give you that. He’s also played a good chunk of the year on a groin injury. We don’t need him to be the next Datsyuk. But the next Crouse or Barbashev? I’ll take that.
Run the Jewels
Make Detroit Great Again
Comparing Lombardi and MBN to two HHoF caliber players is most definitely crying. You were probably crying about a 25 year old Zetterberg and 27 year old Datsyuk not being able to carry Sergei Fedorov or Steve Yzerman's jock strap when they lost to the Oilers in the 2006 Quarter Finals.
The AHL is a level below the NHL, which means the talent isn't as strong.
That means that the underwhelming performance of these supposedly god-like prospects isn't encouraging.
If the AHL is so tough defensively, how do you think he'll perform in the best and most talented hockey league on Earth?
How does another middle of the road Andrew Copp-JT Compher clone help the Red Wings?
That's the last thing they need right now. They need elite, game-changing talent.
Right now, the only player in their system who looks like they could potentially deliver that is ASP, and maybe Cossa.
The Red Wings aren't going to take the next step until they get elite talent. Since none of their current prospects are likely to deliver that, Yzerman had better get off his ass, do his job and acquire that talent via trade or free agency, or he needs to be fired.
Six years is more than enough time to return to the playoffs. It's time to s**t or get off the pot. His playing career and legendary god-like status of his on-ice accomplishments have absolutely zero to do with his performance as GM.
saska sault
Registered User
Kasper had 35 points in 71 games, how has he looked this season?
cvaicunas
Registered User
- Aug 25, 2021
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I'd argue it is drastically easier to overhaul an NFL and NBA roster.
The NFL, NBA, and NHL cannot be compared.
The NFL is designed for you to be able to turn it around in 3 years. You're drafting players at 21-23 years old. They're men physically and you can get players all through the draft that can come in and be contributors right away. In the NHL you draft 18 year olds and outside of sure fire, McDavid, Crosby, Ovechkin level prospects, you're not seeing them for 3+ years. I think what Brad Holmes has done with the Lions has warped some peoples' expectations for rebuilds in this town. And the Pistons have a legit, blossoming superstar who was a 1-1 on their team. He's doing things that only Oscar Robertson and Luka Doncic have done before him. The Red Wings don't have anyone comparable to that.
The stopgaps aren't supposed to be good lol. That's why they're here on shorter term, affordable contracts. They're placeholders for when Yzerman's guys are ready to make the jump to the NHL. Just making the playoffs isn't Yzerman's vision and he's been very forthright about that.
So in other words, you don't care if this team is competitive because, just wait for all of the McDavids and Matthews' in the pipeline who will immediately jump in and make this team a Cup contender.
Why are fans being charged to attend games if they're "not supposed to be good"? Why should fans care if the team isn't serious about winning?
(Obviously games are never going to be free or discounted, but you get my point.)
And in what universe are the underperforming Andrew Copp and J.T. Compher at over $5 million AAV "affordable" and "short term" at five years each?
His vision needs to change. Not being a playoff team in year 6 of his tenure is unacceptable.
At some point, they need to make serious progress. This was the year they absolutely had to be comfortably a playoff team.
No other profession would allow you not deliver meaningful results just because you think that's not the goal for damn near going on a decade now.
Sorry, but yours is the fan mindset that will allow Yzerman to justify continuing at this glacier-like pace, coasting on his last name, and justifying his horrible free agent signings with "just wait for the kids".
BeersHockey
Registered User
This thread is so amusing, I think some people have wiped from their minds how truly bad this team was like 4 years ago. Or like when the second third and fourth best guys on the team were AA, Bert, and Mantha, lol. The league has gotten better too, wildcard race used to be like 3-4 teams, now it’s like 7 teams within 6 points for the last spot, and parity is much better across the league except for teams that are in true tank mode.
It's not 2008 anymore. A $5 million cap hit for a center isn't that much. Plus, the Red Wings have been a bad to mid team. Nobody is giving Yzerman a discount on the free agent market to come play here. It's called a bad team tax.
You realize 6 years isn't that long of a rebuild, right? Year 1, Yzerman comes in and drafts Seider (who btw, was the first legit top pairing d-man drafted by this team since Kronwall in 2000) and that first year was Yzerman observing what he had to work with, if you remember. The cupboard was desolate in 2019. Seider, Raymond, Ed, Kasper are all playing well in the NHL right now. Yzerman is hitting on his 1st round picks. There's a salary cap, you can't buy your way to a Stanley Cup anymore. You HAVE to build through the draft. I'm sorry you don't like it how long it takes to do it but you, as a fan, don't have any options unless you want to hop on another team's bandwagon and then when the Red Wings are playing up to your standards then you can hop back on their bandwagon. It's a win-win for you!
Run the Jewels
Make Detroit Great Again
Still have one more season of paying Justin Abdelkader his buyout.
Frk It
Mo Seider Less Problems
- Jul 27, 2010
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Mrazek looks good so far. Maybe our pro scouts finally got something right? (lol)
Happy to be wrong if he takes us on a playoff run.
JediOrderPizza
Registered User
It's cute people think we could get a top 5 pick even if we were bad.
Lalonde might have been able to pull it off, but then we would have also had Lalonde for the whole year doing lord knows what other damage to the organization.
JediOrderPizza
Registered User
I still think 5th worst at best, and then move back one because the Penguins won the lottery.
But you can add and retain complimentary players to hasten the process. He's missed the mark badly on most of these. I feel like we'd be a playoff team with Ghost and Walman on the blue line. I can't believe we've got Tarasenko for another year. Ugh. Mrazek doesn't seem like an upgrade over Lyon or
I don't think anyone expects the Wings to be contenders right now. But there's something to be said for solid improvement and "only" making the playoffs. I get the cap management part of it as well, but he seems to be bungling that too.
That argument is no longer valid. Yzerman is entering year 7.
It’s Yzerman’s job to have the Red Wings rise above that.
Pavels Dog
Registered User
Definitely agree that some different moves to round out the roster could have given the Wings a 1st round loss last year and this year.
Given a choice, I'd like a GM that gets everything right. My second choice is a GM that gets the "big" stuff right though, and I think Yzerman is mostly hitting those marks.
JohanFranzenstein
Registered User
- Dec 6, 2013
- 2,126
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Thats why the 2010-15 Oilers won 6 straight championships. All the elite game changing talent.
You need Crouse/Bennett/Barbashev level guys to win, pure and simple.
Edit: and before the "you can get those level players in free agency" comments come in, you would have to drastically overpay in FA due to the intangibles aspect. I'd rather draft MBN and give him a raise after his ELC than give Sam Bennett 8 million in an open market.
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