Perhaps the most interesting comments Steve Yzerman made yesterday involved the futures of the Red Wings’ best prospects in Simon Edvinsson and Marco Kasper. MLive’s Ansar Khan posted an early-morning article which discusses Yzerman’s remarks regarding his top prospects:
“We have high hopes for Simon,” Yzerman said. “I’m not prepared to put him on the team in a top-six role. Certainly, I don’t think it’s beyond a possibility that Simon comes in and has an outstanding training camp, and outstanding preseason and simply forces his way into the lineup. That’s what every one of us – our fans, our organization – would love to see. And if that happens, that’s great and we’ll figure it out.”
The Red Wings are being patient with the development of their top prospects.
“At this stage, to say we’re going to put (Edvinsson) right in the top six, I’m not prepared to say that and I’m not prepared to do that,” Yzerman said. “It’s not fair to him and it’s not the right thing for any of our young players or the team itself.”
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The Red Wings hope Kasper does what Lucas Raymond did in 2021 – play so well in the preseason that he forced his way onto the roster.
“I’m not going to tell any of these kids, ‘You’re not on the team next year,’ ” Yzerman said. “Go out and play well and perform. … With all these guys, we’ll let their play determine where they go. But we don’t want to put ourselves in a position where we’re hoping they make it because if they don’t then what do we do?”
Continued; I’m fine with the Red Wings’ decision to ask players like Edvinsson, Kasper and Elmer Soderblom to “steal a job.”
I just don’t want there to be roadblocks to players earning spots on the roster in “untouchable” veteran players, as the Red Wings tended to defer to veterans under Ken Holland and Mike Babcock.
