Yzerman is Telling You His Philosophy if You Listen

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.
It's very comfortable to me, because he "ran his candidacy" to the ownership based on this is what its gonna take to make a longstanding competitive team. He for sure has told Illitch'es that this period in modern time will be similar to early period prior to when he himself as a player came up as long as they have a philosophy to build through the draft. The ownership have accepted that approach and so have the majority of the fans.

What other franchises besides those handed to them franchise-players have been back in the playoffs and become a stabile competitive team within 5-6 years to win a Stanley Cup? I can't name one.
Thus unless lucky, you have an unrealistic viewpoint.

Could we have been in the playoffs last year? Yes. Could we be there this year? Yes. Is it a crisis if we are not? Not really.

Could we have had better performances from some stop gaps? Yes. Have some performed as expected or below par? Yes. As expected.

When it comes to MBN. I'm not worried. Sweden is historically hard on young players, they fired the coach and new coach came in and put him on the 4th line like has happened with plenty young players before. He will be alright, he's still very young. Middle six winger with good top six potential and maybe top line potential.
 
Yzerman's drafting has been fairly good. I would have liked to have seen him take a few more risks in the early drafts on some higher skilled guys in later rounds, but he has done well in the 1st rounds so far making sure that he hits on his picks. Seider, Ed, Kasper, Ray all look like value picks where he took. He never got a top 3 but we've definitely snagged some top 3 talent in the drafts. Danielson, MBN, ASP, and Cossa are TBD but trending pretty well.

His trades have been decent outside of the Walman deal. Even the Kiiskanen deal is looking solid if you separate it from the Walman deal. The only clear loser has been the Walman deal. Everything else has been either a win or fairly even I'd say.

He has over committed to vets a bit, and this has lead to some less than great UFA signings. Like we didn't need both Petry and Holl. We also didn't need both Compher and Copp. I don't mind overpaying a bit on one or the other but not both. We didn't need any of the UFA signings this year except Talbot. Gus, Tank, Motte, Fischer (I give him a bit of a break on this one) have all been bad. I wouldn't have even minded taking a chance on Tank for a 1 year deal but committing to two was risky.

You don't need to rush out to get meh 3rd/4th liners, and 3rd pair d guys. They are always available on waivers, and honestly some of the waiver guys have been better. If the kids can't cut it, use a low pick to deal for one. I'm still bummed we didn't take a flier on Fabbro.

I get the want to not rush guys to the NHL level, but Berg, 1 Extra Kid Forward (won by Kasper), Ed, and Aljo should have all had planned roster spots this year. Heck Ed and Berg probably should have had planned spots the year before. The tie shouldn't go to the vet when you aren't even a for sure bet to make the playoffs. The kids are the ones that have the greatest chance to improve their play.

The RFA deals on the marquee players has been solid. Mantha (& then dealing) Seider, Ray, Larkin, DBC are all on really solid deals. The mid guys have been more meh. I don't has the Ras deal but the Zadina and Veleno deals weren't great. I just didn't see the potential in either by the point they were signed. Ras at least has 20 games a season were he looks like he could be more, and is a legit nightmare for teams on the boards.

This year was really the 1st that Yzerman disappointed me. This was the first time I didn't really understand the moves he was making or his vision. Hanging onto Lalonde and not addressing the defense were major fails for me. Also not having Kasper up from day 1 was also a joke. Again it wasn't even a tie with a vet, he was clearly the better player compared to most of our bottom 6.

He needs to start moving this team in a direction. Its either lets move for the playoffs starting next season or lets wait on the kids and start getting some assets for this mid aged vets. Being a bubble team lands you in NHL purgatory. You either need high picks or you need playoff experience. Hovering at the bubble is not acceptable after this season, and honestly makes this season a bit of a disappointment. This is the first year I don't feel like the team grew.
 
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Yzerman's drafting has been fairly good. I would have liked to have seen him take a few more risks in the early drafts on some higher skilled guys in later rounds, but he has done well in the 1st rounds so far making sure that he hits on his picks. Seider, Ed, Kasper, Ray all look like value picks where he took. He never got a top 3 but we've definitely snagged some top 3 talent in the drafts. Danielson, MBN, ASP, and Cossa are TBD but trending pretty well.

His trades have been decent outside of the Walman deal. Even the Kiiskanen deal is looking solid if you separate it from the Walman deal. The only clear loser has been the Walman deal. Everything else has been either a win or fairly even I'd say.

He has over committed to vets a bit, and this has lead to some less than great UFA signings. Like we didn't need both Petry and Holl. We also didn't need both Compher and Copp. I don't mind overpaying a bit on one or the other but not both. We didn't need any of the UFA signings this year except Talbot. Gus, Tank, Motte, Fischer (I give him a bit of a break on this one) have all been bad. I wouldn't have even minded taking a chance on Tank for a 1 year deal but committing to two was risky.

You don't need to rush out to get meh 3rd/4th liners, and 3rd pair d guys. They are always available on waivers, and honestly some of the waiver guys have been better. If the kids can't cut it, use a low pick to deal for one. I'm still bummed we didn't take a flier on Fabbro.

I get the want to not rush guys to the NHL level, but Berg, 1 Extra Kid Forward (won by Kasper), Ed, and Aljo should have all had planned roster spots this year. Heck Ed and Berg probably should have had planned spots the year before. The tie shouldn't go to the vet when you aren't even a for sure bet to make the playoffs. The kids are the ones that have the greatest chance to improve their play.

The RFA deals on the marquee players has been solid. Mantha (& then dealing) Seider, Ray, Larkin, DBC are all on really solid deals. The mid guys have been more meh. I don't has the Ras deal but the Zadina and Veleno deals weren't great. I just didn't see the potential in either by the point they were signed. Ras at least has 20 games a season were he looks like he could be more, and is a legit nightmare for teams on the boards.

This year was really the 1st that Yzerman disappointed me. This was the first time I didn't really understand the moves he was making or his vision. Hanging onto Lalonde and not addressing the defense were major fails for me. Also not having Kasper up from day 1 was also a joke. Again it wasn't even a tie with a vet, he was clearly the better player compared to most of our bottom 6.

He needs to start moving this team in a direction. Its either lets move for the playoffs starting next season or lets wait on the kids and start getting some assets for this mid aged vets. Being a bubble team lands you in NHL purgatory. You either need high picks or you need playoff experience. Hovering at the bubble is not acceptable after this season, and honestly makes this season a bit of a disappointment. This is the first year I don't feel like the team grew.
Now this is the best post in here for awhile. Not because I agree on absolutely everything, but its reasonable arguments both ways.

Agree, drafting especially 1st round been so far good. I hope we see why some of these players picked in the 2nd-7th round were picked. That's where I see a little downside at the moment, but it is also early for many to give a grade on it.

Agree on the trades, for the absolute majority its been good. Walman a question mark when the overall plan didn't work out and there has been other smaller trades that have been sort of filler trades. I know Yzerman don't mind using a pick on a player if he see some long term benefit for the younger guys.

I also think we signed to many plugs, which in one way is good to not rush anyway, but we also need to put the young ones under a bit of pressure when they are borderline ready and give them some leeway to get into position when the opportunities are there, like Kasper.

RFA deals great. Yzerman gets his way.

Yes I also am on that side of things that we should avoid staying in the bubble for too long, or where we are now a bit below bubble. Better to jump past the bubble status and be seen as a playoff competitive team fighting for 4-6th overall in the conference and build into a contender than hovering around the 7th to 10th spot for too long. Some of it is getting more young guys into it, some is finding the right guys that fit into the chemistry with others than too many equal players. Meaning, one have to take some risk on few guys than spread out on more.
 
It's very comfortable to me, because he "ran his candidacy" to the ownership based on this is what its gonna take to make a longstanding competitive team. He for sure has told Illitch'es that this period in modern time will be similar to early period prior to when he himself as a player came up as long as they have a philosophy to build through the draft.

Building through the draft isn't the only way to bring talent to the organization. At some point, you need to make a major trade/free agent signing. Yzerman needs to sack up and do his job - no more of this milquetoast "I'm too scared to make a major move until we're Cup contenders" garbage.

Also, you realize that by this point in Yzerman's playing career (the end of year 6), he had nearly 30 games of playoff experience, right?

Nobody said Detroit has to be in Cup contention by the end of year 6. Being a regular playoff team in a League where literally half the teams qualify isn't too much of an ask - it should be the bare bones minimum expectation.

The reason why he's getting an endless runway with no realistic timeline is 100% because of his last name and the lazy "Oh you think you know more than the CAPTAIN???" talking point.

The ownership have accepted that approach and so have the majority of the fans.

That's certainly debatable given the entire comment sections on Detroit's Twitter account updates on the Deadline and each of the most recent losses indicate otherwise.

Meanwhile, Detorit's ownership is ranked near dead last in the NHL, barely above Buffalo's. Chris Ilitch's commitment to the success of the Red Wings is about as fruitful as District Detroit, which is still nothing but a collection of empty lots.

What other franchises besides those handed to them franchise-players have been back in the playoffs and become a stabile competitive team within 5-6 years to win a Stanley Cup? I can't name one.

Again, nobody said Detroit should be winning the Cup by now.


Could we have been in the playoffs last year? Yes. Could we be there this year? Yes. Is it a crisis if we are not? Not really.

In other words, just kick the can down the road, waste another year of Larkin's prime, and have your two franchise cornerstones in Raymond and Seider go 4 full NHL seasons without a single playoff game.

Could we have had better performances from some stop gaps? Yes. Have some performed as expected or below par? Yes. As expected.

Copp was signed to be Detroit's 2nd line center. He woefully underperformed.

Compher had a decent year last season, and has been abysmal this year. Tarasenko was signed with the expectation of reaching at least 20 goals. He's been awful.

No, Detroit's stopgaps have not performed "as expected".

When it comes to MBN. I'm not worried. Sweden is historically hard on young players, they fired the coach and new coach came in and put him on the 4th line like has happened with plenty young players before. He will be alright, he's still very young. Middle six winger with good top six potential and maybe top line potential.

Detroit doesn't need more "middle 6" forwards. That's the last thing they need. They need franchise-changing talent - and drafting isn't the only way to acquire it.
 
Building through the draft isn't the only way to bring talent to the organization. At some point, you need to make a major trade/free agent signing.
It's not the only way, but its the way Yzerman has said he wanted to use. You trade for a major player if it makes sense to do so. We traded for DeBrincat, okay he's not franchise altering guy, but a solid pickup.
Also, you realize that by this point in Yzerman's playing career (the end of year 6), he had nearly 30 games of playoff experience, right?
And you realize that besides one season, they were just playoff fodder. And besides two seasons in his first nine, they were playoff fodder. Yzerman doesn't target to be playoff fodder.
Nobody said Detroit has to be in Cup contention by the end of year 6. Being a regular playoff team in a League where literally half the teams qualify isn't too much of an ask - it should be the bare bones minimum expectation.
Why should you target to "just be a regular playoff team" that bounces early? You want to be in the playoffs most of the time to compete for a cup right, not to just "get in" and hope for the best. That is what many of you "have to be in the playoffs"-guys think and believe that one should magically be up there by now.
That's certainly debatable given the entire comment sections on Detroit's Twitter account updates on the Deadline and each of the most recent losses indicate otherwise.
I wouldn't put Detroit's twitter follow up comments as a baseline for how the fanbase thinks.
Again, nobody said Detroit should be winning the Cup by now.
Yes, many have said they should be a competitor by now and none of them have contact with reality. They don't get its 31 other teams trying and don't get this is real life with a salary cap system and trades and/or signings with real other people and not just computer game algorithm saying yes if you through enough the other way.
In other words, just kick the can down the road, waste another year of Larkin's prime, and have your two franchise cornerstones in Raymond and Seider go 4 full NHL seasons without a single playoff game.
Well, barely scraping in and make the playoffs to be bounced in the first round or with a little luck bounced in the 2nd round vs. not making it is potato/potato. It's per definition still wasted.
Copp was signed to be Detroit's 2nd line center. He woefully underperformed.
Yes he has underperformed. Too bad we couldn't predict the future. I didn't mind the signing, but the contract length.
Compher had a decent year last season, and has been abysmal this year. Tarasenko was signed with the expectation of reaching at least 20 goals. He's been awful.
Yes he hasn't been good enough. I think we only needed to sign one of those two (Copp/Compher), but yeah here we are. Neither were going to be long term franchise players, the hope was they would establish themselves better and maybe one be a keeper and the other trade bait at some point, which could still happen if they improve again.
Detroit doesn't need more "middle 6" forwards. That's the last thing they need. They need franchise-changing talent - and drafting isn't the only way to acquire it.
Drafting isn't the only way. You can trade or sign a UFA. But, no solutions presented by yourself. Stamkos didn't want to. Rantanen didn't want to. If you trade for someone you have to trade for someone with term or someone you know want to re-sign. Also you run the risk of them being bad too. There isn't a risk free option, what if they get the guy you want and he bombs, you gonna sit there and complaint about how a bad trade they did?
 
It's year 6. It's well past time to already be a playoff team. "But but look at what he inherited" is no longer a valid argument.



That's a terrible strategy.



Building through the draft isn't the only way to attract talent. At some point you have to start delivering results - no other profession would allow someone to say "buckle up for the long term, you'll start seeing tangible results maybe by year 8-9." Sports executives, even if they were your childhood hero, shouldn't be any different.



Yeah, no. He needs to be instructed by Chris Ilitch to make a major talent splash during the offseason, or his job is in danger. It's unacceptable to continue this middling, glacier-speed rebuild.




He's in Year 6 and is about to miss the playoffs for the 6th straight year. Unacceptable.

Anyone not named Yzerman would have been run out of town a long time ago.




We're the paying customers. It's well past time to move this along. Again, it's completely unacceptable to be near the end of year 6 and still playing the "well we're still not ready to commit" nonsense. Nobody else would have gotten this long and still kept his job despite failing to deliver.

This was the year that the Red Wings needed to be comfortably in a playoff spot, not scratching and clawing to barely be in the final Wild Card spot.

Yzerman has been at the absolute best a severely underwhelming gm of the Red Wings, and it's your fandom of his playing career that's keeping you from seeing that.
boo hoo
 
"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.
this whole post is wack
 
Expecting to be a playoff team by the end of year 6 of the supposed best GM in hockey is "unrealistic"?

That's....a take.

Yes. This team was historically bad when yzerman took over and he committed to building through the draft. This isn’t the NFL/NBA where you can do that in 3 years. Baring lottery luck it takes upwards of 3/4/5 years to develop a prospect.

Building through the draft isn't the only way to bring talent to the organization. At some point, you need to make a major trade/free agent signing. Yzerman needs to sack up and do his job - no more of this milquetoast "I'm too scared to make a major move until we're Cup contenders" garbage.

Also, you realize that by this point in Yzerman's playing career (the end of year 6), he had nearly 30 games of playoff experience, right?

Nobody said Detroit has to be in Cup contention by the end of year 6. Being a regular playoff team in a League where literally half the teams qualify isn't too much of an ask - it should be the bare bones minimum expectation.

The reason why he's getting an endless runway with no realistic timeline is 100% because of his last name and the lazy "Oh you think you know more than the CAPTAIN???" talking point.



That's certainly debatable given the entire comment sections on Detroit's Twitter account updates on the Deadline and each of the most recent losses indicate otherwise.

Meanwhile, Detorit's ownership is ranked near dead last in the NHL, barely above Buffalo's. Chris Ilitch's commitment to the success of the Red Wings is about as fruitful as District Detroit, which is still nothing but a collection of empty lots.



Again, nobody said Detroit should be winning the Cup by now.




In other words, just kick the can down the road, waste another year of Larkin's prime, and have your two franchise cornerstones in Raymond and Seider go 4 full NHL seasons without a single playoff game.



Copp was signed to be Detroit's 2nd line center. He woefully underperformed.

Compher had a decent year last season, and has been abysmal this year. Tarasenko was signed with the expectation of reaching at least 20 goals. He's been awful.

No, Detroit's stopgaps have not performed "as expected".



Detroit doesn't need more "middle 6" forwards. That's the last thing they need. They need franchise-changing talent - and drafting isn't the only way to acquire it.


I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again,he committed to building through the draft and you guys are evaluating it before his 3rd year draft picks are even 22 years old.

Let that sink in, more than half of yzerman’s draft picks are 21 or younger. Only two of his drafted players have had the opportunity to play a full season. Edvinsson, who is viewed as a foundational piece and only yzerman’s 3rd 1st round pick only has 96 games played over 3 years. He hasn’t played an entire NHL season.

Think about this another way, the majority of yzerman’s picks are younger than the average age of an NFL player.

Let Edvinsson, Kasper ASP, Danielson, Cossa etc. develop before you cast judgement because the plan was always based on building around these draft choices.

Yzerman has drafted 6 classes, zero of those players are prime aged (his first pick isnt even in his prime) Expecting a playoff team out of that is extremely unrealistic.
 
And you realize that besides one season, they were just playoff fodder. And besides two seasons in his first nine, they were playoff fodder. Yzerman doesn't target to be playoff fodder.

Why should you target to "just be a regular playoff team" that bounces early? You want to be in the playoffs most of the time to compete for a cup right, not to just "get in" and hope for the best. That is what many of you "have to be in the playoffs"-guys think and believe that one should magically be up there by now.

Well, barely scraping in and make the playoffs to be bounced in the first round or with a little luck bounced in the 2nd round vs. not making it is potato/potato. It's per definition still wasted.
I just wanted to reply to these points. These are truly terrible points IMO.

No team goes from being a bottom of the barrel team to instantly being a contender. Every single team is playoff fodder before they become playoff contenders. Tampa Bay with a dominant team in the regular season was swept in the first round before they won their cups. Making the playoffs and becoming fodder is a necessary first step to then contending. The experience matters. The growth in your young playres becaues they get to experience playoff hockey matters.

The people in here expecting this team to go from missing the playoffs to contending because Yzerman "built a contender" are in for a rude awakening. It won't happen, and has never happened, ever.
 
I just wanted to reply to these points. These are truly terrible points IMO.

No team goes from being a bottom of the barrel team to instantly being a contender. Every single team is playoff fodder before they become playoff contenders. Tampa Bay with a dominant team in the regular season was swept in the first round before they won their cups. Making the playoffs and becoming fodder is a necessary first step to then contending. The experience matters. The growth in your young playres becaues they get to experience playoff hockey matters.
No you can go from being out of the playoffs to being competitive. And I'm not meaning a true contender. But a team that can take it to game 6 in the second or third round.

Not bounce 0-4 or 1-4 in the first round.
 
No you can go from being out of the playoffs to being competitive. And I'm not meaning a true contender. But a team that can take it to game 6 in the second or third round.

Not bounce 0-4 or 1-4 in the first round.
Can you list a few recent examples that went from missing to being consistent 2nd-3rd round hard outs?
 
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I expect Husso to be our main FA acquisition in the offseason FA period and I expect half the board to tell me I'm not a GM and don't understand the process. Some of you have such low expectations and the staff seems to consistently underwhelm them.
 
Yes. This team was historically bad when yzerman took over and he committed to building through the draft. This isn’t the NFL/NBA where you can do that in 3 years. Baring lottery luck it takes upwards of 3/4/5 years to develop a prospect.

Irrelevant. Start producing results. It's Year 6.

Once again, literally every general manager that takes over a team takes over a bad situation. Saying "I don't even count his 1st three years" isn't reality.

It's not the only way, but its the way Yzerman has said he wanted to use. You trade for a major player if it makes sense to do so. We traded for DeBrincat, okay he's not franchise altering guy, but a solid pickup.

And that was a great pickup. He needs to do more, because "wait for the kids" (who we don't even know will be effective NHL players) isn't a winning strategy.

And you realize that besides one season, they were just playoff fodder. And besides two seasons in his first nine, they were playoff fodder. Yzerman doesn't target to be playoff fodder.
Why should you target to "just be a regular playoff team" that bounces early? You want to be in the playoffs most of the time to compete for a cup right, not to just "get in" and hope for the best. That is what many of you "have to be in the playoffs"-guys think and believe that one should magically be up there by now.


As another poster said, multiple recent Stanley Cup champions were "playoff fodder" before finally reaching the top.

You should know that the playoffs are a completely different animal than the regular season. Detroit's young players like Seider and Raymond need that experience, even if it's brief.

I wouldn't put Detroit's twitter follow up comments as a baseline for how the fanbase thinks.

MOD EDIT


Well, barely scraping in and make the playoffs to be bounced in the first round or with a little luck bounced in the 2nd round vs. not making it is potato/potato. It's per definition still wasted.

Again, it's a valuable experience for Detroit's young core of players who need to understand what it takes to win in the playoffs, even if it means getting smacked in the mouth a few times (like Yzerman was in his first several playoff years).

Detroit's philosophy cannot be making the playoffs only when they're ready to legitimately contend for a Cup.

Drafting isn't the only way. You can trade or sign a UFA. But, no solutions presented by yourself. Stamkos didn't want to. Rantanen didn't want to. If you trade for someone you have to trade for someone with term or someone you know want to re-sign. Also you run the risk of them being bad too. There isn't a risk free option, what if they get the guy you want and he bombs, you gonna sit there and complaint about how a bad trade they did?

I'm not the supposedly best GM in hockey. It's Yzerman's job to make this team better through trades and free agency. So far, he's badly underperformed other than the DeBrincat trade.
 
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Irrelevant. Start producing results. It's Year 6.

Once again, literally every general manager that takes over a team takes over a bad situation. Saying "I don't even count his 1st three years" isn't reality.



And that was a great pickup. He needs to do more, because "wait for the kids" (who we don't even know will be effective NHL players) isn't a winning strategy.





As another poster said, multiple recent Stanley Cup champions were "playoff fodder" before finally reaching the top.

You should know that the playoffs are a completely different animal than the regular season. Detroit's young players like Seider and Raymond need that experience, even if it's brief.


MOD EDIT.




Again, it's a valuable experience for Detroit's young core of players who need to understand what it takes to win in the playoffs, even if it means getting smacked in the mouth a few times (like Yzerman was in his first several playoff years).

Detroit's philosophy cannot be making the playoffs only when they're ready to legitimately contend for a Cup.



I'm not the supposedly best GM in hockey. It's Yzerman's job to make this team better through trades and free agency. So far, he's badly underperformed other than the DeBrincat trade.


You want to talk about reality but call the past irrelevant when trying to evaluate the present.

It takes 5-8 years to build through the draft if you’re starting from near scratch like Yzerman did. It’s really just simple math.

The guy you draft in year 1 is only 23 after year 5. The guy you draft in year 2 of the rebuild is only 22 after year 5 of the rebuild, the guy you drafted in year 3 is only 21, etc, etc. This is fundamentally not the competitive window for a team built through the draft.

By year 7, your first and 2nd picks (moritz and Raymond) are 25 and 24 and finally entering their primes. Your next wave (Ed + Kasper) will be 23 and 22 and have a couple seasons under their belt and be emerging as established players. After that you have developed some NHL ready players ready to step in on value contracts with the guys you drafted in years 4-6 of the rebuild adding depth to your first couple waves of drafted talent.
 
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Right now it looks like the Caps might be that team...Squeaking into the playoffs last season, getting hammered in the 1st round, added some new faces this past summer, and now 1 of the top teams in the league.
…but…they squeaked in first…that’s my whole point…
 
The caps also made the playoffs 8 straight years before falling out that one year. Then another six straight years before that.

This is going to be the first year in Yzerman's tenure we don't make a points gain over the previous season. It sucks, but it's also not like we haven't been getting measurably better.
 
The caps also made the playoffs 8 straight years before falling out that one year. Then another six straight years before that.

This is going to be the first year in Yzerman's tenure we don't make a points gain over the previous season. It sucks, but it's also not like we haven't been getting measurably better.

This season was also the first season Yzerman actively made the team worse since his arrival.

The coaching change was a move in the right direction but all the others made to make us harder to play against were flops.
 
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If yzerman doesn’t put the pedal down this summer and fix the D-core while also adding a legit top 6 player, then he needs to go. No excuses anymore. He’s had enough time to build, he’s had enough time to let the prospects come in. It’s put up or shut up time. No reason this team shouldn’t be in the playoffs next year
 
Can you list a few recent examples that went from missing to being consistent 2nd-3rd round hard outs?
You can look it up yourself. There is several teams. And I'm not saying they can't have a year of going out in the 1st round in there, it depends who you meet. But I'm saying no point to just make it if you aren't competitive and go out without really having any chance whatsoever.
Once again, literally every general manager that takes over a team takes over a bad situation. Saying "I don't even count his 1st three years" isn't reality.
No, ever GM don't take over a bad situation. Yzerman took over a roster with bad contracts and few tradeable assets that you wanted to trade away. The first couple of years was just about really getting to scratch.
And that was a great pickup. He needs to do more, because "wait for the kids" (who we don't even know will be effective NHL players) isn't a winning strategy.
I think the "wait for the kids" have worked for other franchises out there. Pittsburgh, Chicago, Colorado and Tampa Bay being among them. For the last three it took quite a while too.
As another poster said, multiple recent Stanley Cup champions were "playoff fodder" before finally reaching the top.
No, not necessarily. Teams could be a competitive team in the 1st round.
Again, it's a valuable experience for Detroit's young core of players who need to understand what it takes to win in the playoffs, even if it means getting smacked in the mouth a few times (like Yzerman was in his first several playoff years).

Detroit's philosophy cannot be making the playoffs only when they're ready to legitimately contend for a Cup.
But, it can be legitimately when they are ready to be somewhat competitive as an underdog and not dust that get swept.
I'm not the supposedly best GM in hockey. It's Yzerman's job to make this team better through trades and free agency. So far, he's badly underperformed other than the DeBrincat trade.
Yet you complain like you are one, Thus you should provide examples of who he realistically should have traded for or should trade for that 1. makes the team competitive and 2. don't give up the farm.

So far he has equal or won almost every trade beside Walman and some minor trades. Besides this season, the team improved every year. Have filled up the prospect pool with interesting prospects.
Yes, UFA stop gaps haven't performed to standard. Would have liked them to perform well enough to stay and be a part long term or as tradeable assets. That is almost the only mistake he has done and not being able to acquire a big asset through FA or trade. But it would need to make sense to do.

That's why, come with tradeable options that makes sense to do, or put a sock in your yap (said in a fun way). Cause otherwise this complaining has no weight.
 
Can you list a few recent examples that went from missing to being consistent 2nd-3rd round hard outs?
I think Carolina is a good example. Similar to Detroit in that they never won the lottery or drafted a generational player. They consistently missed the playoffs from 2009-10 to 2017-18, but since then have made the playoffs 6 years in a row and are currently in 2nd place in the conference. They've had a couple losses in the Conference Final along with several 1st and 2nd round exits.

That looks like the trajectory for us, hopefully McLellan is our Brind'Amour who can get us back into the playoffs consistently and we can have a little better luck come playoff time.
 
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…but…they squeaked in first…that’s my whole point…
They did, after missing the playoffs in 2022/23, however, where were the Caps before that? Say from 2015/16 until 2020/21?

Comparing the stage in competitiveness in a hard cap world of the Caps versus the wings is, shall we se say, unfair at best.

Between 2015/16 and 2019/20 the Caps finished 1st in the Met, 2020/21 #2 in the East and WC2 in 2021/22 then missed the playoffs in 2022/23 before getting WC2 again in 2024/25. (In other words, by hook or by crook, they only missed the playoffs once in 9 seasons)

They are not in the same place for organizational depth as the wings were after 2015/16 (the wings last playoffs, their last gasp), I will give them credit to being able to retool without sacrificing their future (at least for now) and having some regular season success, but they do seem to have a fair share of players having abnormally good years (it happens), but the Caps will be in the 2016/17 wings place one day in the future, it is the nature of the Hard Cap world.
 
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adding hide avatars option

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