Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman engaged in a press conference with the media earlier today…
And this evening, the Wings’ beat writers have weighed in on Yzerman’s remarks regarding re-signing Anthony Mantha and Tyler Bertuzzi, as well as the state of his team as a whole.
Regarding Mantha, the Free Press’s Helene St. James noted that Yzerman would prefer that the big power forward keep his gloves on if at all possible…
“All our guys should be trying to improve every year they play,” Yzerman said. “We’re trying to stress that. For Anthony, the biggest thing is, I want him to stay healthy. I’m sure he wants to stay healthy, too.”
Mantha missed six weeks last season healing from a punctured lung suffered while attempting to engage Toronto’s Jake Muzzin after a legal hit on then-teammate Madison Bowey. The season before, Mantha missed about a month healing from a hand injury suffered fighting Patrik Nemeth after he hit Dylan Larkin.
Mantha missed the end of the 2016-17 season after fracturing a finger fighting Luke Witkowski.
The Wings cannot afford to have their premier goal scorer sitting in sick bay.
“I think three of his injuries may have come in fights,” Yzerman said. “I don’t try to encourage our players to fight. I’m not telling him that he can’t — it’s a physical, emotional game and whether there’s fighting in any sport or not, sometimes it happens. Guys are competitive and intense. Anthony, when he’s healthy, he’s an important player, an impact player. We need him on the ice.”
Yzerman also addressed Tyler Bertuzzi’s status, as noted by the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan…
While the Wings were able to secure Mantha on a multi-year deal, they weren’t as successful with fellow restricted free agent forward Tyler Bertuzzi.
When negotiations on a long-term deal stalled, Bertuzzi and his representatives filed for salary arbitration – which Bertuzzi was eligible to do – with Bertuzzi being awarded a one-year contract worth $3.5 million. (The Wings filed or $3.15 million, Bertuzzi for $4.25 million).
The Wings would have liked to sign Bertuzzi to a longer contract, Yzerman said.
“I don’t want to speak for Tyler but we were trying to reach agreement on a longer-term deal, longer than one year, but we weren’t able to do that,” Yzerman said. “We were trying to do something but we couldn’t reach agreement on it.”
And, be it Mantha, Bertuzzi or anyone else, Yzerman emphasized that it was important for the Wings to build around their younger players:
“With a lot of our young players, and I consider Anthony one of our younger players, we’re trying to build around this group, and each contract that we do, we try to make it work what we’re trying to do,” Yzerman said. “We’re careful in what we do (in terms of the salary cap), but our intention is to keep these players around and we were able to work out a contract.”
As Kulfan noted, Yzerman told the press that he’s still willing to add to the roster if the price is right…
After a busy offseason, the Detroit Red Wings still might not be ready to finalize their roster. As of Wednesday, the Wings had 22 players signed (on a 23-man roster) with $9.538 million available on an $81.5 million salary cap. So there’s still room for general manager Steve Yzerman to add talent, if he chooses.
And it sounds like Yzerman will at least scour what left of the unrestricted free-agent market, and continue to explore possible trades.
“There are a lot of players still on the free-agent market,” Yzerman said Wednesday during a Zoom call with the media. “We have a lot of bodies right now (but) I do think there’s room potentially to add, and I would consider it as we go along, or we get closer to knowing when we’re going to start (the regular season).”
But it does not sound like Dmytro Timashov is going to be part of the picture, as MLive’s Ansar Khan noted:
“There’s still a lot of players on the market, free agents,” Yzerman said. “If you do look at, just kind of pencil in what you think our roster would be, we’ve got a lot of bodies right now. I do think there’s room potentially to add and I would consider it as we go along or as we get closer to knowing when we’re going to start, would consider adding.
“As far as the trade market, I’m not really active in that right now, it’s pretty quiet around the league. But certainly, we’d be open to listening or to talking about that with teams.”
Yzerman said left wing Dmytro Timashov, the club’s lone remaining restricted free agent, is “looking around, weighing his options” and is still a possibility to re-sign.
Overall, Yzerman emphasized that the team will continue to exercise financial restraint while attempting to rebuild the team, as 97.1 the Ticket’s Will Burchfield noted…
“Things can change from year to year with the salary cap, your own team, the structure that you want or what you’re trying to accomplish,” Yzerman said. “Again, we’re just trying to negotiate fair deals that work for the player and work for the organization. But right now, you see around the league, a lot of the long-term contracts can not work out. There’s just so much uncertainty. You (have to be) careful in the length of the contract you do.”
Careful. It was the second time Yzerman used that word. With due respect to Holland, the architect of four Cup-winning teams and a historic playoff streak, careful wasn’t really part of his vocab in Detroit, at least not until it was too late. He kept his foot on the gas through all those green lights, then ran a few reds on his way out of town.
Yzerman just seems steadier behind the wheel. He’ll cut you have off if he has to, sort of like the way he took advantage of the Rangers. But he knows where he’s going and he knows how to get there, and he’s not wasting time searching for shortcuts. He keeps one eye on the road, and the other several miles ahead.
“We’re going to try and get better from year to year,” Yzerman said. “The reality is, you’re limited to what you can do, or you’re restricted, by the time it takes each prospect to develop. It’s just not as simple as going out and making a bunch of trades and getting really good players and signing a bunch of free agents.”
And the Free Press’s St. James noted Yzerman’s comments regarding the team as a whole as well:
The NHL’s latest target date to start the 2021 season is Jan. 1, but that grows more and more unlikely as COVID-19 cases spike across North America. The American Hockey League has already moved its target date till Feb. 5.
That gives Yzerman time to tinker. He’s already made numerous changes, including bringing in forwards Bobby Ryan and Vladislav Namestnikov, defensemen Marc Staal, Jon Merrill, Troy Stecher and goaltender Thomas Greiss. They’re more like patches than rebuilding blocks, but as someone who had to wait 14 years between being drafted and winning his first Stanley Cup as a player, Yzerman knows it takes patience to build a contender.
“I’m not going to set a timeline or a date or a number of years,” he said. “We’re just going to continue to do what we are doing and we’ll look for ways to improve the team. The plan isn’t just to not try to improve and get better from year to year. We’re going to try to get better from year to year, but the reality is you’re limited to what you can do, or you’re restricted by the time it takes for each young prospect to develop. It’s just not as simple as going out and making a bunch of trades and getting really good players and signing a bunch of free agents.”
Update: And here’s a bit more of Mantha’s remarks regarding re-signing with the Wings, per DetroitRedWings.com’s Josh Berenter:
He returned to Detroit from his hometown of Longueuil, Quebec in September and has been working out with his teammates, preparing for whenever this uncertain 2020-21 season may begin.
“The guys are anxious to get back out there,” Mantha said. “We didn’t have a competition or anything of that sort in the last eight, nine months already. So the guys want to get back out there. Hopefully we could have an estimated time for us to actually have a date.”
And as he looks toward next season, Mantha said he’s excited about the new pieces the Red Wings have added this offseason.
“It’s going to be awesome,” he said. “We know Bobby (Ryan) can shoot the puck. He’s been around for a long time and we know what he’s capable of. And just in summer practice, (Vladislav) Namestnikov, he keeps the puck and he likes to control it. So, hopefully they can have a big impact for us in the near future.”
Mantha said he’s happy to be part of the Wings’ resurgence, and said he knows the club has the pieces in place to return to prominence while he’s in a Red Wings sweater.
“We’re going to be contenders at some point,” he said. “A rebuild needs a couple years to get there, and then the team’s going to be good. Then the opportunity is going to come. If it’s year two, three or four, I’ll be around, and hopefully I can help this team.”
