The Detroit News’s John Niyo took in Steve Yzerman’s press conference from earlier this afternoon, and he paid particularattention to Yzerman’s remarks regarding the Wings’ youngsters, who still have to earn spots on the Red Wings’ roster:
A year ago, the Red Wings’ opening-night roster was the second-oldest in the league, which is not at all how a rebuild is supposed to look. But with the offseason departures of players like Frans Nielsen, Valtteri Filppula and Darren Helm — just to name a few — the 2021-22 roster will be considerably younger. Just how young, though, we’re about to find out.
Yzerman’s first draft pick, 2019 first-rounder Moritz Seider, is a lock to make the roster and play top-four minutes on the blue line after an impressive season that saw him earn top defenseman honors in the Swedish Hockey League as a 19-year-old.
But some of the other young European prospects — namely Swedish forwards Lucas Raymond and Jonatan Berggren — likely are ticketed for Grand Rapids and the American Hockey League this fall. Then again, if we’re to take Yzerman at his word, anything is possible. And where they start the season is up to them now.
“Our younger players, I’m not purposely leaving them in the minors to marinate or whatnot,” Yzerman said Wednesday on the eve of the Red Wings’ training camp in Traverse City. “When they’re ready to play in the NHL, when they’re better than the players that we have on our team, I’m more than happy to put them in there.”
There’s a “but” that followed that, as you’d expect. And that’s the part that buys any GM cover when it comes to decisions like these and the realities of roster manipulation. Yet it’s also true that a rebuilding team like Detroit naturally feels more freedom to toss the kids out on the ice and let them flail than a team that’s intent on making the playoffs. Yzerman finally has the flexibility to do that here, too, after spending the last few years clearing out some of the bloated veteran contracts he inherited when he took this job nearly 2 ½ years ago.
“But I want them to play well and I want them to play meaningful minutes,” Yzerman said of his team’s top prospects. “I don’t want them playing seven or eight minutes (a night), or in a goaltender’s case once every fifth or sixth game. I just believe they’re better off, in the long run, to play significant minutes. And when they’re ready to do that, I’m not gonna wait an extra year, in our position, to do that.”
Continued (paywall)