The Athletic’s Max Bultman attempts to discern why the Steve Yzerman era was not a successful one for the Red Wings’ soon-to-be-former GM, and the first category Bultman addresses is by far the most important one:
Not picking a lane
From Day 1 on the job, Yzerman preached patience. Even more than that: he was steadfast, throughout his entire tenure, in not offering a timeline. Maybe that was part of the problem.
Of course, back in 2019, it was hard to say exactly how long a process Yzerman was in for. It was always going to be a huge turnaround job, and it was fair to give him some time to get the lay of the land. But even by the end of the 2021-22 season, when he fired head coach Jeff Blashill, Yzerman was intentionally vague about where exactly the Red Wings were in their rebuilding process.
“I think we’re at the end of Year 3,” he said at the time. “And the beginning of Year 4.”
It was a good line, especially if you viewed Yzerman’s secrecy as a feature and not a bug. But in hindsight, it’s fair to wonder: was there really a grand plan there to conceal? Or was it simply patience for the sake of patience?
Another Yzerman quote from that same year-end news conference in 2022: “The danger becomes you start to get a little impatient, desperate, I’m not sure what the right word is, and then you do something stupid. … Any time I’ve tried to force something — force a trade, force a signing — I’ve kind of regretted it for different reasons. I think you just have to remain patient. Quite frankly, I think it’ll be easier for me to be patient than it will for yourself.”
There’s certainly truth in that sentiment. But the timing of it is interesting, because that 2022 offseason has become a flashpoint in autopsies of Yzerman’s tenure, with some actually viewing it as an example of the general manager getting impatient and pulling out of the rebuild too soon.
Continued (paywall); as Bultman says here–one of the few people to say it–hindsight is pretty easy right now; finding real answers as to what the “why’s” and “how’s” mean is much more difficult.
