Yzerman and the 1983 Draft

[Leaf Army]

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

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[CanuckistanFlyerfan]

No.

 

[Northern Dancer]

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

What a great question!!! I think yes altho Stevie Y. was the Detroit red Wings.

 

[Artie]

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


9. Cam Neely

The only guy I'd consider trading Yzerman for. (discounting the injury of course)

 

[Zim]

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.

 

[Leaf Army]

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.

Sorry I should clarify. I meant trade Yzerman for all 17 of those players.

 

[dank]

Sorry I should clarify. I meant trade Yzerman for all 17 of those players.

of course..

 

[Blind Gardien]

Sorry I should clarify. I meant trade Yzerman for all 17 of those players.

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...)

 

[Fido22]

I love this question. I really do.

 

[thestonedkoala]

Tough, very tough. Beukeboom, Neely, Gagner, and Barasso were awesome players in their own right but Yzerman was special.

 

[WVP]

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
9. Cam Neely
12. Dave Gagner
13. Dan Quinn
15. Bob Errey
16. Gerald Diduck
19. Jeff Beukeboom

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.

 

[pitseleh]

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.

 

[Stephen]

4. Steve Yzerman

5. Tom Barrasso
6. John MacLean
7. Russ Courtnall
9. Cam Neely
11. Adam Creighton
12. Dave Gagner
13. Dan Quinn
14. Bobby Dollas
15. Bob Errey
16. Gerald Diduck
19. Jeff Beukeboom

Of course, this is already over half of a pretty damn good team.

 

[OHLArenaGuide]

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.

 

[WVP]

I would trade Gretzky in his prime for an entire first round of an NHL draft.

There's a lot of years where you'd get burned on that.

 

[FissionFire]

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.

 

[SeLaine]

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)