So Walman fell out of favor with the coaching staff...huh, seems to me that Lalonde has fallen from favor amongst the fan base... going into the season with him coaching again already puts the team in the hole.... should move him for future considerations, and I'm not against moving Walman, but for something, anything will do..... I won't bury Yzerman yet, but if Trouba comes to the Wings I'm out... Im not against the team getting a complete p.o.s., but st least a serviceable one please..... hopefully that rumor is not true....and God forbid please don't trade for Gibson......

Yzerman loses his mind in the summer. He has no problem signing Holl for 3 years and now giving up a second to trade Walman. WTF is he smoking.

The drafting has not improved since the Kenny years. It hasn't beyond the second round at least.

The defense remains a mess as it has for 5 years. It's Seider and a bunch of pylons.

The goaltending still lacks a difference maker. It's been a revolving door ever since Yzerman got here.

So far, I have to say Yzerman has been a massive disappointment as GM..
- wingz4life

In the post salary cap era, it takes about 10-12 years to complete a rebuild. Many teams are in much better shape when they start the rebuild because they don't try to stretch things out just to keep a playoff streak alive. Detroit should have been a lottery team from 2013 to 2017. Because Holland tried to keep it going, they had few assets to trade for draft assets and prospects when the rebuild started. Yzerman inherited an absolute mess. When he started, the previous six 1st round picks resulted in exactly one first line player and two duds. He inherited horrific contracts for Nielsen, Abdelkader and DeKeyser, along with nearly $13 million in cap hits for Zetterberg, Weiss and Franzen.

IMO, expecting him to rebuild in half the time as most other teams is a bit unrealistic. I wish they would have just bit the bullet and collapsed in 2018 and stayed at the bottom for a solid 5 years, while only signing FAs to trade them each trade deadline. I suspect ownership didn't want an empty arena, so they would have never put up with that. Chicago is doing it right. They were able to trade some solid veterans away for picks, collapsed and they will be absolutely loaded in a few years, with probably a bonified superstar or two. Utah, Anaheim, Philly and SJ are going to be loaded as well with a riches of high-end prospects. Sadly, Detroit will never be in that position.

In the post salary cap era, it takes about 10-12 years to complete a rebuild. Many teams are in much better shape when they start the rebuild because they don't try to stretch things out just to keep a playoff streak alive. Detroit should have been a lottery team from 2013 to 2017. Because Holland tried to keep it going, they had few assets to trade for draft assets and prospects when the rebuild started. Yzerman inherited an absolute mess. When he started, the previous six 1st round picks resulted in exactly one first line player and two duds. He inherited horrific contracts for Nielsen, Abdelkader and DeKeyser, along with nearly $13 million in cap hits for Zetterberg, Weiss and Franzen.

IMO, expecting him to rebuild in half the time as most other teams is a bit unrealistic. I wish they would have just bit the bullet and collapsed in 2018 and stayed at the bottom for a solid 5 years, while only signing FAs to trade them each trade deadline. I suspect ownership didn't want an empty arena, so they would have never put up with that. Chicago is doing it right. They were able to trade some solid veterans away for picks, collapsed and they will be absolutely loaded in a few years, with probably a bonified superstar or two. Utah, Anaheim, Philly and SJ are going to be loaded as well with a riches of high-end prospects. Sadly, Detroit will never be in that position.
- bluelineenforcer

Steve is that you?

In the post salary cap era, it takes about 10-12 years to complete a rebuild. Many teams are in much better shape when they start the rebuild because they don't try to stretch things out just to keep a playoff streak alive. Detroit should have been a lottery team from 2013 to 2017. Because Holland tried to keep it going, they had few assets to trade for draft assets and prospects when the rebuild started. Yzerman inherited an absolute mess. When he started, the previous six 1st round picks resulted in exactly one first line player and two duds. He inherited horrific contracts for Nielsen, Abdelkader and DeKeyser, along with nearly $13 million in cap hits for Zetterberg, Weiss and Franzen.

IMO, expecting him to rebuild in half the time as most other teams is a bit unrealistic. I wish they would have just bit the bullet and collapsed in 2018 and stayed at the bottom for a solid 5 years, while only signing FAs to trade them each trade deadline. I suspect ownership didn't want an empty arena, so they would have never put up with that. Chicago is doing it right. They were able to trade some solid veterans away for picks, collapsed and they will be absolutely loaded in a few years, with probably a bonified superstar or two. Utah, Anaheim, Philly and SJ are going to be loaded as well with a riches of high-end prospects. Sadly, Detroit will never be in that position.
- bluelineenforcer

uhhh.. Florida just bulit most of their cup winning team through signings and trades. So did Vegas. Whats Yzerman out here doing? Signing and trading for guys like Holl, Copp, Chiarot, Petry.

So, Yzerman was in a bad situation with Kennys signings but hasnt got himself out of the bad situation with his own signings. Like I said before. Right now, he's Kenny 2.0

In the post salary cap era, it takes about 10-12 years to complete a rebuild. Many teams are in much better shape when they start the rebuild because they don't try to stretch things out just to keep a playoff streak alive. Detroit should have been a lottery team from 2013 to 2017. Because Holland tried to keep it going, they had few assets to trade for draft assets and prospects when the rebuild started. Yzerman inherited an absolute mess. When he started, the previous six 1st round picks resulted in exactly one first line player and two duds. He inherited horrific contracts for Nielsen, Abdelkader and DeKeyser, along with nearly $13 million in cap hits for Zetterberg, Weiss and Franzen.

IMO, expecting him to rebuild in half the time as most other teams is a bit unrealistic. I wish they would have just bit the bullet and collapsed in 2018 and stayed at the bottom for a solid 5 years, while only signing FAs to trade them each trade deadline. I suspect ownership didn't want an empty arena, so they would have never put up with that. Chicago is doing it right. They were able to trade some solid veterans away for picks, collapsed and they will be absolutely loaded in a few years, with probably a bonified superstar or two. Utah, Anaheim, Philly and SJ are going to be loaded as well with a riches of high-end prospects. Sadly, Detroit will never be in that position.
- bluelineenforcer

Building a crap team into a contender within a 5ish year window requires both skill and luck.

Yzerman clearly had no luck. The roster Holland left him was a complete disaster and the cupboard was bare. Then he missed on every lottery and all the elite prospects were gone by the time the Wings were on the board. Seider and Raymond were excellent picks under the circumstances. Time will tell how Edvinsson/Kasper/Danielson turn out but even if any or all of them bust it's not like there are any clear future stars Detroit could have taken instead at those draft positions.

So my frustration with Yzerman is not because he hasn't built a contender yet. If the ping pong balls had behaved and he was able to snag a Jack Hughes or Tim Stutzle, or if Holland had given him Quinn Hughes and not Zadina, the expectations would be different. But he had a crap hand to work with, so things take time even with a great GM at the wheel.

However, there's also the "skill" side of the equation to consider. I thought Yzerman did a great job with the teardown. He made the most of his first rounders in 2019 and 2020. But the last couple of years there have been some pretty questionable decisions with signings and asset management.

I wouldn't go so far as saying Yzerman is Kenny 2.0; none of his contracts have been as bad as the ones Holland gave out to Ericsson, Abdelkader, Helm, Howard, Kronwall, Nielsen, etc. But he did give out a lot of slightly above market rate deals for slightly too long to a lot of very mid vets. The ones we committed to long term (Copp, Compher) haven't exactly hit it out of the park. The ones that were obvious stopgaps, that might have actually gotten us assets back in trade with better contracts, are now costing us assets to grease them out the door.

I don't think Yzerman is a terrible GM. I don't even think he's a bad one. There are plenty worse. And he did get dealt an absolutely terrible hand. But I've been less than impressed with the way he's played it the last couple of years.

I heard they are looking for a D man that plays roller coaster tycoon instead of Fortnite.
- Feds91Stammer

I think the Tigers had a player hit the injured list after playing too much guitar hero and hurting his wrist. Good Lord

I think the Tigers had a player hit the injured list after playing too much guitar hero and hurting his wrist. Good Lord
- Jeremy Laura

Well I don’t expect much from baseball players.

I am not at all willing to criticize the drafting at this point. To be ranked as having one of the top prospect pools in hockey speaks to something. Especially when you consider what was inherited from the previous regime.
Many on here mention the lack of success outside of the first round. Please keep in mind, those players either have a longer development path still ahead of them or they are lacking in certain areas that management is hoping to be able to address through proper development. Otherwise they would be first rounders.
I think we still need to be patient and reserve judgement on those picks at this point. Grand Rapids also had a fairly successful season which they could not have done simply on the backs of the first-rounders.

I think the Tigers had a player hit the injured list after playing too much guitar hero and hurting his wrist. Good Lord
- Jeremy Laura

Lance Parrish broke his hand protecting Tina Turner when he was her body-guard during his first few off-seasons.....I think THAT'S more impressive than Fortnight

Building a crap team into a contender within a 5ish year window requires both skill and luck.

Yzerman clearly had no luck. The roster Holland left him was a complete disaster and the cupboard was bare. Then he missed on every lottery and all the elite prospects were gone by the time the Wings were on the board. Seider and Raymond were excellent picks under the circumstances. Time will tell how Edvinsson/Kasper/Danielson turn out but even if any or all of them bust it's not like there are any clear future stars Detroit could have taken instead at those draft positions.

So my frustration with Yzerman is not because he hasn't built a contender yet. If the ping pong balls had behaved and he was able to snag a Jack Hughes or Tim Stutzle, or if Holland had given him Quinn Hughes and not Zadina, the expectations would be different. But he had a crap hand to work with, so things take time even with a great GM at the wheel.

However, there's also the "skill" side of the equation to consider. I thought Yzerman did a great job with the teardown. He made the most of his first rounders in 2019 and 2020. But the last couple of years there have been some pretty questionable decisions with signings and asset management.

I wouldn't go so far as saying Yzerman is Kenny 2.0; none of his contracts have been as bad as the ones Holland gave out to Ericsson, Abdelkader, Helm, Howard, Kronwall, Nielsen, etc. But he did give out a lot of slightly above market rate deals for slightly too long to a lot of very mid vets. The ones we committed to long term (Copp, Compher) haven't exactly hit it out of the park. The ones that were obvious stopgaps, that might have actually gotten us assets back in trade with better contracts, are now costing us assets to grease them out the door.

I don't think Yzerman is a terrible GM. I don't even think he's a bad one. There are plenty worse. And he did get dealt an absolutely terrible hand. But I've been less than impressed with the way he's played it the last couple of years.
- Sven22

Listen, I'd LOVE to see a SCF team in Detroit, and we will....in a few years maybe. This team, this rag-tag team with a woeful GM who can't draft, scouts who can't assess players, etc..... made it to the last period of the last game of the season as a contender for the SCPO. Ain't too shabby.

Again, there HAVE been issues, well-documented and mostly agreed upon. But, like you, I feel there's time before the lynch mob runs to the Pizza Palace demanding heads.....GR had a good run last season as well. YES; some moves are head-scratchers, but unless some of us are really The Captain with a nom de-guerre, no one knows what's said in the building. Now, THAT in itself breeds more confusion. The folks who are frustrated have valid points and I agree with many of their assertions, but I DO NOT agree that The Captain should be put on notice....YET.

I still say this is a good team, it will get better, and it will continue to frustrate us. Part of being a fan.........


LFGFRFW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Completely unrelated side note:

I think we can all agree that Yzerman made an unforced error by overbuilding the defense corps and loading up with a whole buncha third pair vets. I was not thrilled about adding both Petry and Holl in the offseason, but one of the things that at least sort of helped me cope was the thought that "oh well, give it a few weeks and a few of these guys will probably be hurt and we'll see some call ups."

Well, on top of being full of crap, Detroit's defense corps was shockingly, almost annoyingly healthy all year. The entire unit only had 23 total man-games lost to injury all season long:

Seider: 0 games missed to injury
Gostisbehere: 0 games missed to injury (plus 1 healthy scratch)
Maatta: 2 games missed to injury (plus 8 healthy scratches)
Petry: 4 games missed to injury (plus 5 healthy scratches)
Chiarot: 5 games missed to injury
Walman: 11 games missed to injury (plus 8 "healthy" scratches, at least officially)
Holl: 1 game missed to injury (plus 43 healthy scratches)

It's kinda funny to me that Yzerman's bad decisions were made worse by our players being too healthy. We might have been a lot more forgiving of his offseason roster moves if only these chumps hadn't been so inexplicably indestructible.

Completely unrelated side note:

I think we can all agree that Yzerman made an unforced error by overbuilding the defense corps and loading up with a whole buncha third pair vets. I was not thrilled about adding both Petry and Holl in the offseason, but one of the things that at least sort of helped me cope was the thought that "oh well, give it a few weeks and a few of these guys will probably be hurt and we'll see some call ups."

Well, on top of being full of crap, Detroit's defense corps was shockingly, almost annoyingly healthy all year. The entire unit only had 23 total man-games lost to injury all season long:

Seider: 0 games missed to injury
Gostisbehere: 0 games missed to injury (plus 1 healthy scratch)
Maatta: 2 games missed to injury (plus 8 healthy scratches)
Petry: 4 games missed to injury (plus 5 healthy scratches)
Chiarot: 5 games missed to injury
Walman: 11 games missed to injury (plus 8 "healthy" scratches, at least officially)
Holl: 1 game missed to injury (plus 43 healthy scratches)

It's kinda funny to me that Yzerman's bad decisions were made worse by our players being too healthy. We might have been a lot more forgiving of his offseason roster moves if only these chumps hadn't been so inexplicably indestructible.
- Sven22

The Holl and Petry moves didn't make much sense to me and I wasn't a fan of the Copp signing either. My take is, he's trying to keep a balance. Ownership probably wasn't willing to completely gut the team and have empty an empty arena. Part of it was probably they aren't going to compete without a world class goalie. Those aren't found via FA and we're probably looking at 3 to 4 or more years before we may have one. Also, I think teams like Buffalo and AZ ruin prospects by bringing them up way too soon and destroying their confidence. I think sink or swim ruins a lot of players who aren't ready to play at that level. Only two of Stevie's six 1st round picks are in the show, the rest are developing. Finally, if only two of his draft picks are in the NHL, if he's building a team around that core, then these next few years don't mean a lot, so part of it could just be buying time.

Welp, here ya have it:

Ek says "Patrick Kane not returning to Detroit...." no "e" rating, and he's the source, sooooooooooooo

Welp, here ya have it:

Ek says "Patrick Kane not returning to Detroit...." no "e" rating, and he's the source, sooooooooooooo
- mcmastermike1968

He also says Chicago when Chicago's GM said a long time ago they were not interested.

He also says Chicago when Chicago's GM said a long time ago they were not interested.
- StargateSG1

Yeah, I thought it was a funny read.....Until something happens, nuthun's happenin'.....and we're all just spit-ballin'. I'd like to keep him, for sire. But we need to undork the team D.....

Stamkos still not resigned in Tampa.... Will he be a Red Wing?
He definitely fits the character profile Yzerman likes and he would be a heck of a leader for this group. He is still producing at an elite level as well.

Stamkos still not resigned in Tampa.... Will he be a Red Wing?
He definitely fits the character profile Yzerman likes and he would be a heck of a leader for this group. He is still producing at an elite level as well.
- Diller

No. He will not be a red wing.

Stamkos still not resigned in Tampa.... Will he be a Red Wing?
He definitely fits the character profile Yzerman likes and he would be a heck of a leader for this group. He is still producing at an elite level as well.
- Diller

I say he stays in TB...will take a minute to get it done, but his asking price is too high for what we currently have for Cap, and who we need to retain/obtain. And, frankly, he's older than we need. I'd offer any moves would bring in someone younger who can potentially be part of the team for a while. Not saying we're only gonna do long-term deals, but maybe 2-3yr deals as a trial run, if that makes sense....... He's a phenomenal player and leader, no doubt...but I just don't think he's what we need.

I say he stays in TB...will take a minute to get it done, but his asking price is too high for what we currently have for Cap, and who we need to retain/obtain. And, frankly, he's older than we need. I'd offer any moves would bring in someone younger who can potentially be part of the team for a while. Not saying we're only gonna do long-term deals, but maybe 2-3yr deals as a trial run, if that makes sense....... He's a phenomenal player and leader, no doubt...but I just don't think he's what we need.
- mcmastermike1968

He’s exactly what Detroit needs. It just makes zero sense for Stamkos.