Picture you are the GM of the Detroit Red Wings and you could go back in time to 1983. With the benefit of hindsight would you trade Steve Yzerman for the 17 players drafted behind him in the first round? 1983 Draft 4. Steve Yzerman 5. Tom Barrasso 6. John MacLean 7. Russ Courtnall 8. Andrew McBain 9. Cam Neely 10. Norman Lacombe 11. Adam Creighton 12. Dave Gagner 13. Dan Quinn 14. Bobby Dollas 15. Bob Errey 16. Gerald Diduck 17. Alfie Turcotte 18. Bruce Cassidy 19. Jeff Beukeboom 20. David Jansen 21. Nevin Markwart
I'm confused do you mean Yzerman for all those players or Yzerman for one of them? If it is for all of them i'd have to say yes.
Regardless, I don't think the GMs of the other teams would agree to taking their 1/17th shares of Yzerman. (Although it might be getting awfully close for teams like Buffalo when you start adding up shares...)
Tough, very tough. Beukeboom, Neely, Gagner, and Barasso were awesome players in their own right but Yzerman was special.
Basically, the trade would be for the guys I left on the list. I'd be leaning towards yes, as you got a number 1 goalie, an all star winger, a few other top forwards, some elite defensive forwards and a few reliable defensemen. On the other hand, Stevie Y is the face of a franchise.
I'd do it. Once those guys developed, you'd have very competitive team adding them to the Detroit roster. Beukeboom-Diduck would be one mean shutdown pairing.
I would trade Gretzky in his prime for an entire first round of an NHL draft. A whole team of top-notch guys? Come on. You'd run out of fingers for the rings.
On the surface I'm leaning towards a yes, but factoring in other considerations at that time the answer is a resounding NO. Mike Ilitch had just bought the team and they were desperate for something to market to rebuild the fan base. All those other players would have made for a solid team, but they lacked one key: Star power. There is no "face of the franchise" in that group to build your entire marketing campaign around the way you could with Yzerman (with the possible exception of Neely). None of those guys were ready to step into the NHL right away and become an instant star. Yzerman was the player who brought fans to the games, which generated more revenue, which led to signing better players, which led to more fans and revenue, which eventually led the modern "machine" you see today. In many ways, the Wings ongoing success would never have happened without that first draft pick to make Detroit a hockey hotbed once again and give a new generation their own "Gordie Howe" icon.
Tom Barasso did a pretty good job of stepping in and becoming an instant impact guy (Vezina and Calder I believe)
