NHL Roundtable: Steve Yzerman and the Detroit Red Wings

In a roundtable discussion, the staff of Puck Prose talks about the Detroit Red Wings hiring Steve Yzerman.

Steve Yzerman has officially returned home. After a ton of speculation, what everyone thought to be true became true. Yzerman has been hired as the Detroit Red Wings general manager. Everyone is talking about the news.

Yzerman comes into Detroit with a high bar of expectations. After all, he turned the Tampa Bay Lightning from an also-ran into a consistent Stanley Cup contender. With Yzerman as general manager, the Lightning made it to four Eastern Conference Finals and one Stanley Cup Final.

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The staff here at Puck Prose discussed the road ahead for him in a recent roundtable. Let’s get to it.

What do you think Yzerman’s biggest hurdle is?

Dave Stevenson (expert): Yzerman’s biggest hurdle will be the lack of top-notch talent. When he came to Tampa, he had Steven Stamkos, Martin St. Louis, and Victor Hedman as building blocks. Dylan Larkin, Anthony Mantha, Tyler Bertuzzi, Filip Hronek, Michael Rasmussen, and Andreas Anthanasiou are good players, but Larkin’s the only one close to be a building block guy.

Ryan Stern (contributor): I don’t know if Yzerman will have any big hurdles to overcome. Yes, obviously some of the vets on unfriendly contracts isn’t great but Yzerman is a god in Detroit so I don’t believe pleasing the fan base will be a challenge for him.

Also, he’s already a proven exceptional general manager. He rebuilt the Lightning, turning them into legit cup contenders the past few years. He’s won GM of the Year. The Red Wings also have some solid young pieces in place currently.

Abi Hamilton (contributor): Yzerman’s biggest hurdle is going to be attracting youth to Detroit. The team lacks the speedy youth that the NHL has begun to build itself around. Yzerman is going to have to take advantage of the 10 draft picks Detroit had this upcoming Draft, especially the three picks in the second round.

Players that franchises build themselves around aren’t always drafted in the first round and it will be up to Yzerman to find a young gun that can keep up with Dylan Larkin. After that, focus on picking up maybe a player or two off of free agency to get this team started come the beginning of this season.

It’ll be next to impossible to pull someone like Artemi Panarin, who is in his prime, into a city that’s going through a rebuild. There are smaller fish that can add a lot of production to this lineup when met with the right players.

Jasmine Yen (contributor): Kill this year’s draft. The Red Wings have ten picks this year and Yzerman is the best at finding talent and developing them. (Kucherov in the second round, Point in the third, etc.) The Red Wings have some good talent on the rise like Andreas Athanasiou and Anthony Mantha, but they need to find high-end talent to play with Dylan Larkin. Yzerman has ten cracks at it and this could be pivotal in how long this non-contending period is.

Rohan Yaradi (contributor): Patience. Yzerman was too aggressive early on with Tampa, which prolonged their rebuild after some early, unsustainable playoff success. With the Atlantic as competitive as it is, and a new CBA plus expansion potentially allowing teams to get out of expensive contracts, he can be patient and let things take their course.

Ant Barbeiro (contributor): Goaltending. Jimmy Howard is great but at age 34, his shelf life isn’t going to last long enough until the Red Wings are cup contenders again. My advice to Yzerman is to take a page out of Lou Lamoriello’s playbook when he traded for Corey Schneider in 2013 – find an underused gem out there and find a way to grab them.

Drafting their next franchise goaltender will take too long, but he should be on the lookout to get a few good goaltending prospects in the pipeline.

Jeremy Tuch (contributor): Getting rid of bad contracts. Frans Nielsen, Darren Helm, and Justin Abdelkader are all over 32, under contract for 3 years or more, and have a no-trade clause. None of them really play a role in the future when the contention window is open. Getting out from these big contracts is a must to be able to pay guys like Bertuzzi and Athanasiou what they deserve.

Kevin Gesterling (contributor): I think Yzerman’s biggest hurdle might be the contracts on the books for the Red Wings. They’re overpaying the likes of Frans Nielson, Jonathan Bernier and Darren Helm so that limits the amount of money he can spend. So I think his biggest challenge will be getting the finances in order to really make a big splash.

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How long do you think it will take for the Red Wings to be contenders?

Dave Stevenson (expert): In his press conference, Yzerman said “patience” and “be patient” about as often as players say “get pucks in deep”. This tells me he knows it’s going to be a while. The Atlantic Division is very deep and the Red Wings aren’t in good shape right now. Yzerman’s going to make them prosperous, but it’ll take time. My estimation is they’ll be a playoff team within the next five seasons.

Ryan Stern (contributor): Playoff contenders within the next two years. Cup contenders within the next four years.

Abi Hamilton (contributor): Three years at least until we see a team strong enough to hold their own in playoffs. The Atlantic is cut throat with younger teams in the rise. Within a season or two seems unlikely but if Detroit works to build themselves up, we could see a deadly team that can keep up with the big dogs.

Jasmine Yen (contributor): The Red Wings have good players to build around but the Atlantic division is on the rise. Toronto, Tampa, and Boston are powerhouses while Montreal and Florida are getting closer. The Red Wings will probably take at least four years to get themselves back into the conversation

Rohan Yaradi (contributor): Three to four years. In another division, the answer may be different, but the Atlantic is stacked. There will be some tough years ahead, but by the time teams like Tampa and Boston are slowing down, the Wings should be ready to compete.

Ant Barbeiro (contributor): I say a return to the playoffs or at least playoff contention in the next two to three years isn’t out of the question. I’d put it at a solid five years before we start having the progress far in our cup brackets. The rebuild has been going on for three years now and they still haven’t taken a step forward.

Kevin Gesterling (contributor): I think it’ll be a good two to three years before they are ready to be serious contenders, they will probably be in the playoffs before that point. But they’re still quite a bit away from competing with the likes of the Bruins, Lightning and Maple Leafs for the top team in the Eastern Conference.

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Jeremy Tuch (contributor): Three years at least. Once those contracts start to shed themselves, their younger talent percolates, and their big drafts start producing NHL talent, their window will start to open.

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