Sportsnet’s Luke Fox posted a list of “the 25 people who will define the NHL season,” and Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman is the last person on the list:
Steve Yzerman: How long would patience last in Detroit if the Red Wings were not being run by an on-ice icon and the architect of a championship in Tampa Bay? Yzerman enters his sixth year at the helm in Hockeytown as both the longest-tenured active GM yet to make the playoffs and overseer of the NHL’s second-longest active post-season drought — the longest in franchise history at eight seasons and counting. The Red Wings have a shiny new barn but attendance issues. They locked in two young stars in the nick of time (Lucas Raymond, Moritz Seider), and they’re banking on some fading ones (Patrick Kane, Vladimir Tarasenko). The man in charge can’t lace ’em up to save the day. Stevie Y needs a W.
Continued; the attendance is getting better as the team gets better, and that’s the truth.
I am not sure making the PO’s is the make or break for Yzerman. It seems to be more along the line of drafting. Should Kasper really be in the AHL. Not the worst thing, but why not have him Center the third line.
Waive Motte, place Kasper on the team.
Ras-Kasper-Copp (third line)
Fischer-Veleno-Berggren (fourth line).
In all honesty, Berggren is not a fourth line type of player… being a grinder.