iSport.cz’s Miroslav Horak spoke with former Red Wings forward Jiri Hudler regarding the current-day team’s rebuilding effort, but most of the article is stuck behind a paywall. Here’s a rough translation of the introduction to the article, from Czech to English:
Czech Detroit: Yzerman knows what he’s doing, says Jiri Hudler. Will they contend for the Stanley Cup?
He experienced the sweet end of an amazing Red Wings era at the dawn of the summer of 2008. Jiri Hudler lifted the Stanley Cup above his head, fought in the finals a year later. And a gradual fall followed, the departures of first-class icons. Today, hockey in Detroit is as part of a pack of NHL teams working on roster reconstruction. It’s been too long for some. Will the team with a four-Czech enclave restore the once-famous Hockeytown to the next level? “Stevie Yzerman knows what he’s doing,” Hudler says of his former teammate and current team GM.
With several domestic ambassadors, things are building up for Detroit. Filip Hronek is already among the stable players on the team, and he spearheads the defense. Jakub Vrana is considered to be the team’s central sniper, who’s expected to score 30 or more goals over the course of a full season. There’s great potential hidden in Filip Zadina, who hasn’t been re-signed yet. And to all of this comes a fresh purchase in the form of Dominik Kubalik, a capable forward who intends to fight for a return to better numbers. Detroit will attempt to make the playoffs, where it hasn’t been for six consecutive seasons.
What does a former Stanley Cup champion who spent his glory days with the team think about the current Red Wings?
“With the departures of Datsyuk and Zetterberg, Detroit began a new era. I don’t want to say that they declined, but there was a big, fundamental change that began. Stevie Yzerman returned from Tampa, and in my eyes, he’s a definite guarantee that things will rise again in Detroit. Gradually, but 100%”
Up to the very top of the league?
“I’m not saying that the era of Yzerman, Shanahan, Larionov, Datsyuk, Zetterberg and others will return. But I think we will see where the organization will go by comparing it to the one Yzerman led in Tampa. He was the one who built the current Lightning, which has won the Stanley Cup twice in the last three years, and this year only fell in the Stanley Cup Final against the absolutely great Colorado Avalanche. Perhaps up to 90% of it was the work of Stevie, who was behind the assembly of the winning line-up. He made a lot of good moves with the Lightning, and I believe that something similar is in the works in Detroit. He’s made good purchases in the last couple of days.”
The article continues behind the paywall, promising the following…
What is Steve Yzerman’s magic? And is he inclined to pick Czech hockey players? What does he see in players that others don’t? How did the crisis of the city affect Detroit? And what does it look like there now? And what does Hudler say about the Palace in New Jersey?
What is the magic of Yzerman? And is he inclined towards Czech hockey? What do they see in players that others don’t? How did the crisis of the city affect Detroit? And what does it look like there now? And what does Hudler say about the Palace in New Jersey?
