The Athletic’s Dom Luszczyszyn states that a survey by The Athletic reveals that fans are getting impatient with the Red Wings’ rebuilding process, with Detroit dropping to 21st out of 32 teams in terms of fan confidence in the Red Wings’ front office, per The Athletic’s reader survey:
Last year: 12th
“Still think that there is a vision as to what Yzerman and Co. are trying to do and build but there definitely has been some questionable signings and trades that leave you scratching your head.”
“Yzerman’s admittedly been handcuffed by absolutely nothing falling their way in terms of lottery luck despite over a half dozen kicks at the can, but his free agency track record has completely hindered the current version of this team. However, he has left a lot of flexibility in the future which is what truly matters so overall he’s been a net positive.”
It seems as if some of the shine from the Yzerplan has started to wear off within the fan base, with a 45 percentage point drop in confidence since last year. The fans still score the front office above average at a 3.7 rating, but that’s a step back from last year (4.2, seventh) and still well off from public perception.
Yzerman and company are doing the best they can with a bad hand: a rough starting point and a lot of poor lottery luck. But that doesn’t mean there haven’t been self-inflicted wounds along the way. Detroit’s track record in free agency has been abysmal with a lot of money spent at the wrong time on ineffective players that move the needle enough to get the Red Wings away from a higher pick, but not so much that they become a playoff team. Even if the players are stopgaps to let the prospects develop, it comes at a long-term cost.
Within the fan base, there’s also some concern that the team is playing safe at the draft table rather than shooting for upside. For a team that isn’t ready yet and lacks franchise-caliber talent, that feels like another red flag.
Continued (paywall); I’d still like to see a rebuilding team that’s landed all its free agent signings. Expecting free agency to be a solve-all salve just doesn’t work, and as we’ve discussed repeatedly here at TMR, the Red Wings’ player development team definitely has a “draft type,” and that’s not a boom-or-bust player.
I’m not defending a front office that’s clearly made some missteps in terms of free agency signings and “too safe” draft picks, but I do understand why the team’s made the decisions it has made thus far in the rebuilding process.
