The Yzerplan may be running out of time.
It’s been seven years.
The Red Wings have come a ways since Steve Yzerman inherited a nearly bare cupboard, but it’s been quite awhile and the franchise remains languishing on the wrong side of the playoff bubble while other NHL squads have gone from bad to good much faster.
The minors are once again stocked.
That’s the good news.
The bad? Few of those appear ready to contribute in a meaningful way this season, meaning another year of maintaining status quo with one of the worst penalty-kill units the NHL has ever seen, a porous defense and a bottom two lines that aren’t nearly productive enough to be a serious playoff contender.
Barring another surprise move like the trade for Alex DeBrincat — maybe the only trade the Red Wings have definitively won in Yzerman’s tenure — what are we to expect this season?
Maybe another year where the playoffs remain tantalizingly out of reach. But just making the playoffs isn’t the goal, of course.
Signing winger Mason Appleton for $2.9M a season over two years? Seems a bit much, but he does provide a penalty killer, something the Detroit roster sorely needs. Outside of that, it’s another signing of a third- or fourth-liner for more than third-line money. understanding that Detroit is no longer the hockey destination it once was, and the franchise has to overpay a bit to get talent to wear the winged wheel.
Trading for John Gibson is an upgrade in goal. It is worrisome, however, that the Wings’ brass might not think any of their developmental goaltenders like Sebastian Cossa (a first-round pick in 2021) and 2023 second-rounder Trey Augustine will be NHL-ready in the next two seasons. The Wings drafted seven goalies since Yzerman took over, and have one NHL appearance by Cossa to show for those investments.
Making bad moves just to be a playoff team isn’t the right angle. That’s what Ken Holland did that got the Wings into the predicament they were in when Yzerman was hired away from Tampa Bay.
The desperation to extend the franchise’s playoff streak apparently overrode long-term thinking, and the minor-league system was stripped for parts to keep the machine barely chugging along for another couple seasons.
It’s pretty clear Yzerman’s plan is to re-stock the minor leagues and let that talent pool work its way up without rushing young players to the NHL before they’re ready.
Aside from 108 games played by 2019 picks Albert Johansson (second round) and Elmer Soderblom (sixth), the Wings haven’t yet gotten production outside the first round.
Yzerman hit paydirt with four of his five first-rounders, Moritz Seider, Lucas Raymond, Simon Edvinsson and Marco Kasper. If the next four — Nate Danielson, Axel Sandin-Pellika, Michael Brandsegg-Nygard and Carter Bear — can be factors in the near future, things are definitely looking up.
If Yzerman isn’t going to make a splash in free agency or the trade market, he needs some of those young prospects to start making an impact. And maybe sooner that he wants.