Kulfan, St. James: Steve Yzerman wants to make the playoffs, but not at the expense of future success

Updated @ 1:57 PM: The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan has posted an article regarding the comments made by Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman during his press conference today:

Yzerman would love to make the playoffs, but he’s maintaining a clear eye on the future.

“Every team would love to make the playoffs, we’d be thrilled to make the playoffs,” Yzerman said Tuesday during a Zoom call on the eve of Thursday’s on-ice start to training camp. “Is it playoff or bust? You say playoffs, or bust, meaning you’re prepared to trade all of your draft picks and whatever you have to do at some point? No, it’s not playoff or bust.

“But we’re going to try to win every game and try to make the playoffs, but to me, it’s not at the expense of the future. I’m trying to build a nucleus of a team that can make the playoffs on an annual basis. You squeak in one year and don’t have the foundation to sustain it, and we’ll be sitting here a year or two years from now and we’ll be wondering again.”

Yzerman seemingly filled many holes on the Wings roster, adding goal-scoring forward Alex DeBrincat, forwards J.T. Compher, Daniel Sprong, Klim Kostin and Christian Fischer, goaltenders James Reimer and Alex Lyon, and defensemen Jeff Petry, Shayne Gostisbehere and Justin Holl.

The Wings appear to have more offensive punch, are grittier and physical, and have depth behind goaltender Ville Husso, all missing ingredients last season. Whether that’s enough to make the playoffs in what could be a somewhat weaker Atlantic Division remains to be seen.

“I’d love to make the playoffs; the whole city would,” Yzerman said. “Every one of our players would, everyone in the organization, and we’ll give it a shot. We did what we could in the offseason to improve our team without mortgaging really any part of the future, and we’ll continue to get better, and sooner rather than later, we’ll be a playoff team.”

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Here’s a bit more from the Free Press’s Helene St. James:

Continue reading Kulfan, St. James: Steve Yzerman wants to make the playoffs, but not at the expense of future success

Tweet of note from Yzerman’s media availability: Mazur (leg) out for training camp; Edvinsson to be cleared for contact soon; Rasmussen ready

Per myself and GM Steve Yzerman:

If you missed it, here’s Yzerman’s 40-minute Q and A session:

Another endorsement for a bounce-back season for Alex DeBrincat

The Score’s Josh Wegman suggests that Red Wings forward Alex DeBrincat will “bounce back” from a difficult 2022-2023 season:

Alex DeBrincat, LW/RW, Detroit Red Wings: DeBrincat’s lone season in Ottawa did not go as planned – both for the player and team. A two-time 40-goal scorer, he joined the Senators with monster expectations but managed just 27 goals and 66 points in 82 games.

Part of DeBrincat’s down year was poor puck luck. His individual expected goals for per 60 minutes was 1.09, which tied the highest mark in his career and was identical to the prior season when he potted 41 goals. However, DeBrincat only converted on 10.3% of his shots – the second-lowest single-season mark of his career. He shot 17.2% in the two seasons prior and entered the campaign with a career clip of 15.5%.

DeBrincat should also be extra motivated playing for his hometown Red Wings, where he’ll likely ride shotgun on the top line with Dylan Larkin. Detroit expects to make sizeable improvements in 2023-24 after a busy offseason which will only help DeBrincat’s fantasy outlook.

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Audio link: I appear on the Traverse City Record-Eagle’s ‘The Get Around’ podcast

Per the Traverse City Record-Eagle:

With the NHL Prospects Tournament at Centre Ice Arena in the rear-view and Detroit Red Wings Training Camp right on the horizon, famed Red Wings blogger George Malik stops into the Get Around studio to talk about what he saw this past week and what he expects to see when camp starts Thursday.

Plus, we take a deep dive into the high school football scene with Week 4 now in the books, discuss whether we’d rather attempt the Frankfort Ironman or the Great Lakes Strongest Man, induct another student-athlete into the Get Around Hall of Fame as our Athlete of the Week, and talk about what made us happy inside and outside of the sports world over the last seven days.

All of that and more on episode 259 of the Get Around!

Many thanks to James Cook and the Traverse City Record-Eagle for having me on.

Talking preseason TV/radio broadcasts

Detroit Hockey Now’s Tim Robinson examined the Red Wings’ broadcast schedule, and he reports that three of the Wings’ eight exhibition games will be televised on Bally Sports Detroit’s sports channels:

The broadcast season begins the preseason opener against Pittsburgh at Little Caesars Arena o Sept . 26. It will be broadcast on Bally Sports Extra (TV) and on WWJ-AM (950 AM radio). It’s the only preseason game braodcast on TV and radio.

Bally Sports will also broadcast home games against Washington on Oct; 1 and the preseason finale against Toronto on Oct. 7.

Preseason radio broadcasts resume with games at Chicago Oct. 3, at Pittsburgh Oct. 4 and at Toronto Oct. 5. All will be on WXYT (97.1 FM).

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Two things from The Athletic: Lucas Raymond’s ‘breakout’ imminent? And Dylan Larkin ‘taking the next step’

The Athletic’s Harman Dayal suggests that Lucas Raymond can be a “breakout candidate” this upcoming season…

Lucas Raymond, Detroit Red Wings

Lucas Raymond went through a sophomore slump in 2022-23, scoring just 45 points. There were genuine yellow flags with his play last year. His individual shot rate was down, his play-driving numbers saw a significant dip and industry observers weren’t overly impressed with what they saw.

He’s only 21, however, and we’ve seen many high-profile forwards take a big jump in their third NHL season, including his teammate Dylan Larkin, who went from 32 to 63 points in Year 3.

Raymond could certainly be next. He’s gifted with the puck, an intelligent offensive decision-maker and he fights in the hard areas despite his slight frame. Adding Alex DeBrincat should make the Red Wings’ top power-play unit more threatening, which would it easier for everybody on that unit to collect points, including Raymond.

The big question for Raymond is who he’ll play with at even strength. If he’s inserted on the top line with Larkin and DeBrincat, he’s in a prime position to rack up big numbers. But will the coaching staff deploy two undersized wingers on the same line considering the questions around size, defensive ability and forechecking?

Raymond has shown strong chemistry with Larkin, but if he gets bumped down to the second line in favor of DeBrincat, would he have enough high-end talent to play with? It’s something to monitor but Raymond seems too smart and talented to stagnate for a second consecutive season during his best development years.

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And The Athletic’s Max Bultman asks questions regarding every forward who appears to be likely to make the Wings’ roster out of training camp:

Dylan Larkin: What’s next for Detroit’s captain?

Last summer, the questions for Larkin revolved around his contract status, which lasted right up until he signed an eight-year, $8.7 million AAV extension on March 1. He’s here for the long haul. So the question now is: What’s next? He’s coming off his second consecutive season with 30-plus goals and was once again just shy of a point per game. With DeBrincat in tow, surpassing 80 points feels like a strong possibility.

My question, though: Can he do that and take the step toward being an elite defensive center, too? The potential for that kind of two-way impact has always been there for Larkin, and he took a step in that direction last season by logging his most penalty-kill usage in five years. His effort is never in question. But now that he’s proven his high-end offensive performance is a baseline, there’s room to take one more step on the other end of the puck, too.

Bultman also continues, behind a paywall..