The Detroit Free Press’s Carlos Monarrez took note of Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman’s remarks regarding following the best examples in sports as he tries to rebuild his own team:
Yzerman is searching on pitches in England and diamonds in America, on gridiron and courts and rinks. Anywhere he can extract some knowledge, like from his favorite soccer team.
“Partly because I’m a big fan of the sport and the team,” he said, “Liverpool soccer club, what they’ve done over the course of the last 10 or 15 years and how they’ve built a kind of culture, a style of play, (that’s) one that comes to mind for me.”
Because the Wings and Tigers are both owned by the Ilitch family, Yzerman has been able to speak with Avila, exchange ideas and has enjoyed learning about how and why some personnel decisions have been made. Even within the NHL, Yzerman is constantly educating himself about the process of building a winning team.
“I talk a lot to other general managers and pick their brain on where they’re going, what they’re doing, why they make the moves they make,” he said. “I learn a lot from that. It’s probably a sin to say, but with Bill Belichick and what he’s done in the NFL with the Patriots, how he’s made and run that franchise has been very, very interesting for me.”
