97.1 the Ticket’s Will Burchfield took note of the fact that Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman’s status as himself might be one of the reasons why the team was able to sign its unrestricted free agent targets on Wednesday:
Any GM can make noise in free agency. Money talks. But no one talks like Yzerman, who is making Hockeytown a destination again. He is reviving the aura Detroit lost toward the end of its epic playoff run, never clearer than when Steven Stamkos dismissed the Wings as a free agent in the summer of 2016, declined to even meet with them, and stayed with Yzerman and the Lightning in Tampa. At the time, the allure of the winged wheel was dead.
The allure was always tied to winning, to the promise of success. It was tied to figures like Yzerman. It is tied more tightly to him now than ever. In his three years running the Red Wings, Yzerman has plotted a path forward for a team that was going nowhere. He has strengthened their roster and restocked their farm system, and players around the league are taking notice. Yzerman is the reason free agents will consider the Wings. The future he’s built is why they’re once again choosing the Wings.
“Obviously Steve did a great job building the team in Tampa. He drafted a bunch of those guys and turned that into a big part of where they’re at today, so the trust stems from there,” said Copp. “And then just seeing (the Red Wings’) product on the ice the last couple years, with Raymond and Seider, it was really an influx of talent. I think everyone across the league saw it as an opportunity where, ‘Detroit’s going to be good in a couple years, just wait.’ And I’d like to be a part of that.”
Copp, Chiarot and Perron all had different offers on the table Wednesday. They were three of the more coveted free agents on the market, Copp in particular. Mattaa, a two-time Cup winner, and Kubalik, a former Rookie of the Year candidate, surely had other suitors, too. They all picked the Red Wings.
More precisely, they all picked Yzerman. They all picked his reputation as a winner. As a player and an executive, there is not a more distinguished figure in the game. Free agents used to come to Detroit to win with Yzerman. Now they’re coming back.
“The moment you get a call from Steve Yzerman, it catches your attention right away,” said Perron.
