97.1 the Ticket’s Will Burchfield weighs in on Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman’s press conference from yesterday morning:
“That desire to make that move or do something that puts you over the top as far as being a playoff team, I think there’s some judgement in when that time is,” Yzerman said. “There is something to that: being patient, honest and accurate in your assessment of your organization, and then doing what’s necessary at the appropriate time.”
The Wings’ newcomers this season will make them better. And continued growth from returners like Dylan Larkin, Lucas Raymond, Moritz Seider and Ville Husso will push their ceiling higher. That much is clear. As Yzerman said, the Red Wings “know what to expect” from most of the players on the roster “based on their careers.” It’s the players not (yet) on the roster who could change the course of the season. Ideally, Simon Edvinsson, Marco Kasper and Carter Mazur won’t just make the team. They’ll make their mark.
It might be too much to expect any of them to crack the Opening Night roster, especially with Edvinsson and Mazur recovering from injuries. And Kasper, 19, has played exactly one game in the NHL. But all of them will have a say, one way or another, in how this season plays out in Detroit. If they’re ready, they’ll play — and the Wings will benefit. If not, Yzerman is content to keep waiting. He has no interest in “just throwing them into the NHL and hoping we’re going to win games.”
“We’re still being patient,” he said. “I intend to hold into our draft picks for the foreseeable future and let them develop and again, try to add to that small core that we have that makes us a competitive team for a long stretch of time.”
Whenever the Red Wings return to the playoffs, the goal is to stay there. If simply getting there were the aim, Yzerman would have picked today over tomorrow a long time ago. This might be the year they put an end to the drought, but “not at the expense of the future,” Yzerman said.
