the irony of what you posted is the bolded is what you actually need to win. Anyone with money to spend and a destination that players will go to can sign a Perron, a Petry, a Ghost, a Compher.
i don't have a dog in the fight, it really doesn't matter to me but the actual truth of it is this:
- gifted two young Hall of famers and an attractive destination and he thrived
- minus two young Hall of famers and he's failed to make the playoffs in 5 years
and all I will say it's hard to f*** up the first situation and hard to dig your way out of the second one
So what has he really done that is special?
Yzerman had to completely rebuild the Wings because aside from Larkin he didn't have much to work with.
Yes he had Stamkos and Hedman, but you have to build around them. He was proactive enough to make short term moves to acquire pieces that led to an ECF and their 1st finals run (acquired Roloson, McElhinny, Brewer in 2011), and then acquired Bishop who's Vezina calibre season helped them get to the finals (plus Yzerman's draft picks like Kucherov started to breakout).
Yzerman drafted and developed the following players that he could move as capital or helped them in the postseason:
-Kucherov, Palat, Vasilevsky, Point, Cirelli,
-Connolly, Gudas, Paquette, Drouin, Erne, Joseph, Raddysh, Ross, Foote, Perbix,
Look at the core guys that were drafted by Yzerman that have lead to their success and all the other talent that ended up playing in the NHL. I didn't even mention guys like Howden who TBL drafted but were able to move.
Look at how he handled trades:
-Conacher and a 4th for Bishop
-Disgruntled St.Louis and a 2nd for Callahan, and two 1sts
-Expiring RFA Connolly for 2nds
-Tony D for a 2nd
-Bishop for Cernak
-Pending UFA Boyle into a 2nd
-Drouin for Sergachev + 2nd
-Namestnikov, Howden, Hájek and a 1st for McDonagh and JT Miller
Yzerman built a foundation that is built to be competitive for years. Brisebois had to come in and finish it off, but given what we've had with Dorion, I'd love to have a GM that can build a foundation via draft, wins more trades than loses, and knows how to make good signings.