Bleacher Report’s Sara Civian offers “one word” and a paragraph about every one of the NHL’s 32 teams, and here’s what she has to say about the Red Wings ahead of the 2023-2024 regular season:
Detroit Red Wings: Momentous
The Red Wings took the next step in the Yzerplan with a big (or perhaps, medium?) swing on scrappy hometown goal-scorer Alex DeBrincat. What an excellent deal for a 40-goal scorer looking to prove himself on a team ready to do the same. God, I love it. I won’t be as mad at the Red Wings as I will be at the Sabres if they don’t make the playoffs this season, but I need to see better out of Moritz Seider and a playoff-fringe performance to keep trusting in the Yzerplan.
Continued; I’m not worried about DeBrincat’s preseason struggles–he’s adjusting to a new team, and that’s what preseason hockey is for–mostly because I’ve been surprisingly impressed with his skating and his ability to generate offense by making plays as well as shooting pucks;
As for Mo Seider, he’s only 21 and he’s still growing. He makes mistakes from time to time, and I’m not terrified by the fact that he hasn’t turned into Cale Makar quite yet. Seider is and will continue to be special, but defensemen take years to truly develop into super-elite players;
And I’m just tired of this whole concept that the general manager’s plan is somehow inferior to other Atlantic Division teams, so on and so on. The Red Wings are a team in the process of rebuilding from the ground up, and while I respect the pants off the fact that Red Wings fans are now long-suffering, I don’t think the rebuilding process is over just yet.
Steve Yzerman had to tear down the remains of Ken Holland’s team before he started rebuilding. I think that yes, the team is one or two seasons behind the timeline we all thought it would take, but I believe that the Red Wings are on the right track in terms of developing prospects and establishing depth.
It’s just going to take time and maybe a free agent signing, trade, and/or draft luck to finally fill the team out in terms of offensive stars, and because the Wings have had no lottery luck, I have a sinking feeling that the Wings’ next DeBrincat-style acquisition will be an import as opposed to a home-grown talent.
With the cap going up this summer, Detroit will be well-situated to compete for better players, and that’s going to be the long-term goal–to continue to compete to the point that the Red Wings are bidding for more playoff difference-makers.
That’s what the “Yzerplan” is about. It’s a long-term outlook that’s in the rebuilding business for the long haul, regardless of what outside voices have to say, and that’s where the Red Wings’ management (both in terms of drafting/developing players and managing the current Red Wings players) have to focus–on themselves, not media slings and arrows.
It may take a couple more years before the Red Wings are competing for a playoff spot on an annual basis, but that’s okay. And I’m smart enough to know that Mr. Yzerman doesn’t give a rat’s butt about what I or anyone else have to say regarding his managerial performance.
