ShelbyZ
Registered User
- Apr 8, 2015
- 3,823
- 2,590
I honestly don't want Yzerman to ever be GM in Detroit. I'd rather his legacy here stay untarnished as a hall of fame player who captained them through the type of Dynasty that the league will probably never see again.
I see Yzerman coming back as GM being met with the expectation that he'll turn things around quickly like he did in Tampa. Unfortunately, the Red Wings are much further behind where Tampa was when Yzerman took over. When Yzerman arrived in Tampa, the team had some good pieces with a 20 old Stamkos coming off a 51 goal season, a likely future top pairing Dman in Hedman, and still productive Lecavalier and St. Louis in the fold. Their biggest issue was the idiotic clownshow around Koules/Barrie/Feaster/Lawton/etc and their inability to build around those pieces. With Detroit, Yzerman would likely be starting way lower on the rebuild ladder than where Tampa was when he joined them. It would be painful to watch if Yzerman ends up looking more like Joe Sakic in Colorado trying to rebuild this team. Or like where Harbaugh is currently trending after a similar "return home" hiring that brought on lofty expectations...
I do think the Red Wings would love to welcome him back, but I don't see him leaving Tampa until he gets that team a Stanley Cup or their window as a contender shuts. For some reason I also think Yzerman rather enjoys the dimmer spotlight that comes with running a team in a non hockey market. The weather during the winter might make it tough to come back to Detroit too...
In all reality, we likely see a repeat of what they did in '97 and/or what they recently did with the Tigers. Holland likely slides up to some higher up VP role and they move Martin and Draper/etc. into the GM and AGM roles. The team will probably shuffle in a couple of head coach changes before we ever see a drastic shake up at the management level...
I see Yzerman coming back as GM being met with the expectation that he'll turn things around quickly like he did in Tampa. Unfortunately, the Red Wings are much further behind where Tampa was when Yzerman took over. When Yzerman arrived in Tampa, the team had some good pieces with a 20 old Stamkos coming off a 51 goal season, a likely future top pairing Dman in Hedman, and still productive Lecavalier and St. Louis in the fold. Their biggest issue was the idiotic clownshow around Koules/Barrie/Feaster/Lawton/etc and their inability to build around those pieces. With Detroit, Yzerman would likely be starting way lower on the rebuild ladder than where Tampa was when he joined them. It would be painful to watch if Yzerman ends up looking more like Joe Sakic in Colorado trying to rebuild this team. Or like where Harbaugh is currently trending after a similar "return home" hiring that brought on lofty expectations...
I do think the Red Wings would love to welcome him back, but I don't see him leaving Tampa until he gets that team a Stanley Cup or their window as a contender shuts. For some reason I also think Yzerman rather enjoys the dimmer spotlight that comes with running a team in a non hockey market. The weather during the winter might make it tough to come back to Detroit too...
In all reality, we likely see a repeat of what they did in '97 and/or what they recently did with the Tigers. Holland likely slides up to some higher up VP role and they move Martin and Draper/etc. into the GM and AGM roles. The team will probably shuffle in a couple of head coach changes before we ever see a drastic shake up at the management level...