ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski wrote an article for ESPN+ in which he discusses five NHL teams which have, in his opinion, had “Sneaky Good” offseasons, and the Red Wings made his list:
Steve Yzerman doing incredible work as a general manager is nothing new, as anyone who watched the Tampa Bay Lightning hoist the Stanley Cup no doubt understands. But the Red Wings are so far off the radar for many hockey fans these days, it’s like finding out an Oscar-winning actor is doing exemplary work on a TruTV sitcom.
The Wings did some housecleaning, bidding adieu to veterans like Justin Abdelkader, Trevor Daley, Jonathan Ericsson and Jimmy Howard. Yzerman added to their draft pick treasure chest by getting a second-rounder from the Rangers for picking up the last year of Marc Staal‘s contract ($5.7 million). He made a slew of thrifty signings, too: center Vladislav Namestnikov ($2 million AAV, two years), defenseman Troy Stecher ($1.7 million AAV, two years) and defenseman Jon Merrill ($925,000, one year) among them. Forward Bobby Ryan, looking to continue his climb back from addiction, signed a one-year, $1 million deal because he had Ottawa buyout money so he could play for Yzerman — or so he said.
The only specious signing was Thomas Greiss for two years at $3.6 million against the cap, but that might already be a win considering what he replaced. And by that, we mean no one is expecting Greiss to go 2-23-2 next season.
Remember, Steve Yzerman was Joe Sakic before there was a Joe Sakic.
Continued (paywall); I know that he’s referring to Yzerman’s managerial skills in that last comparison to Joe Sakic, but that still sounds like the kinds of comparisons that Avalanche supporters would make between the Yzerman and Sakic when Sakic was in his prime.
