The Athletic’s Front-Office Confidence Rankings came out yesterday, and Dom Luszczyszyn reported that the Red Wings finished 11th in the rankings, with some fans expressing their displeasure with Steve Yzerman’s slow-building approach:
Last Year: 3rd
Confidence in the Yzerplan is at an all-time low, especially from the public. It’s hard to build a true contender without the lottery luck to nab franchise players, but it feels wrong to attempt to turn the corner without them. That’s seemed to be Detroit’s plan the last two summers with the team making a lot of additions via free agency — many of which don’t look great (hello Ben Chiarot). A big-time trade for Alex DeBrincat signifies the team is gunning for a playoff spot this year which begs the question: Is this it?
For better or worse, this is the team, and while they will be augmented in the future by a strong prospect pipeline, the team is still missing true elite difference-makers — the ones that contenders are built around. Maybe it’s enough to be a playoff team, but it feels like it limits Detroit’s ceiling beyond that.
That brings about questions regarding the team’s vision, something that even the fans are relatively lower on than in years past. A 4.4 rating suggests high confidence in the Yzerplan and maybe that’s the only number needed, but the middle-of-the-pack ranking means they’re much less zealous than other fan bases.
This is a make-or-break year for the Yzerplan and the confidence that it’s instilled in the past. The Red Wings have missed the playoffs for seven straight seasons and it doesn’t feel likely the streak will break this season.
Continued; I’m not thrilled that the Red Wings haven’t been able to bring in many “difference-makers,” but the fact that the team turned over half its roster to bring in more and more depth this offseason showed me that the Wings’ front office is still committed to doing its best to improve the team’s talent base.
Without the blessing of great luck in the draft lottery, the Wings are having to build a team the hard way, and through some sparsely-talented free agency summers at that, and I still feel that the entire front office and coaching staff are doing their best to build a base for the stars that may become available over the next couple of summers.
Is that a fast enough rebuilding effort for anyone’s level of patience, mine included? Definitely not, but it’s a realistic one for a team that really started from scratch when Yzerman took over. Patience isn’t Detroit fans’ strong suit, but it’s still required.
