Yzerplan- only two players remain from four years ago

[yave1964]

At the deadline steve Yzerman traded Hronek to the Islanders and Bertuzzi to the Bruins, removing two of the few remaining pieces from before he took over the God awful shell of a club that was left when he took over before the 2019-20 season. It means that in four seasons the entire roster has been turned over, in some cases and positions more than once save for

 

Bottom six former first rounder Michael Rasmussen'

Captain of the club Dylan Larkin.

 

  Thats it. In four years, everyone has been replaced.

 

Yzerman took over a team that was awful, dreadful approaching biblically bad with a stench coming from the farm system as well. Ken  Holland, may he forever remain in Edmonton proved that Jim Nill was indeed the brains behind so many great Wings drafts by blundering time after time

Svechnikov. Givani smith two picks ahead of Carter Hart. Zadina over Hughes.Cholowsi. Martin Frk. Jurco.

 

 Ugh. some of the absolute worst drafting by any team ever, Lou Lamoriello aside (most overrated GM in history. Just look at his last ten drafts in Jersey). 

 

  So no talent on the roster, long term deals for guys like Ericsson, Abdelkader, Helm, Nielsen, Dekeyser and Howard. Overpaid underperforming veterans, kids who were dreadful, Yzerman left the penthouse that he had built in tampa to come home to Detroit on a white horse to save the day.

 

  He said it was not going to be easy. He said it was not going to be quick. He said it was going to get worse before it got better.

  He hid none of that- and he was right.

 

 some smart trades. a few dumb ones. intelligent signings with a plan. Drafting with a game plan.

 

 His first pick was off the board Moritz Seider who has been fantastic. Second draft he led off with Lucas Raymond who has top six, probably top line for a decade written all over him. Simon Edvinsson will be another massive tp pair defender with offensive skill ala Seider, possibly as soon as this year. The following year he drafted Marco  Kasper who has Ryan Kesler skill written all over him. This year he went off the board chosing Danielson early, first pick Connor Bedard says Danielson is the only forward who kept him up worrying about playing against in Junior, his two way skill is fantastic.. Later in the first he took offensive gem Axel Sandin Peliikka who many say may/will be the best offensive defenseman in this years draft including anyone. On top of that Wallinder, Dylan James, Carter Mazur, Soderblom, Cross hanas and goalie Sebastian Cossa help round out a farm system that has moved from ranking 32nd (dead last) to third in the Hockey news most recent rankings according to GMs and scouts from around the league.

 

So the Wings fans suffered, a new arena that i have visited three times (the wings lost all three times by a combined 12-2 scores) that is meh, it seems better suited for concerts than for Hockey but thats alright. Get the game worth watching that will change. Rather than short term attenpts to make the team more interesting, we took our lumps until the last of those contracts was finally gone and off the books. No longer paying for the Stephen Weiss debacle. Two years of hell, two years of baby steps and this year with 30 million in cap spacethe Wings did this

 

Reimer for Nedjelcovic Big Ned crapped the bed badly last year and ran himself out of town. Reimer a steady solid backup- improvement

 

Holl for Oesterle Say what you want about Holl's three year deal, he is miles and miles better than Oesterle or Pysyk. Big improvement

 

Compher came aboard as the much needed 3C. Five year deal, home town boy comes home. Simply tons better than Pius Suter who still cannot find a contract a month into free agency Massive upgrade

 

Ghostisbehere to replace the since traded Hronek. At worst a push, probably slight upgrade

 

Debrincat, another local boy wanting to play in Detroit came on a short 4 year deal for 70 cents on the dollar. Enormous upgrade over Kubalik

 

Gritty hard to play against Christian Fischer who is a sneaky god scorer replaces hopelessly lost Zadina. Upgrade

 

Klim Kostin brings his hard nasty game and potential 12-15 goals in to replace Adam Erne. Big upgrade

 

Daniel Sprong a hard working net presence brought his 20 gritty goals aboard. Big upgrade

 

  Lots of folks say the Wings didnt do enough this offseason, but it is part of his plan, dont overpay for one player, tinker, improve the team with every signing, draft extremely well and restock the once empty farm system and build, build, build.

 

 Are they a playoff team? Man it is hard to say, Boston will certainly slip some, if Krejci and Bergeron both retire possibly a lot. Tampa showed signs last year of being tired. Florida may come back to earth after a magical playoff run. But Ottawa and Buffalo both have their sights on knocking off a big boy as well and both are well tooled to do that as well. This is as deep and talented division in the game top to bottom. Even Montreal has a pulse.

 

  So playoffs are possible, at the least they will be fun to watch and interesting most nights and the light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter. Plus as of right now the Wings have a bit over 31 million in cap space for next year so the rebuild will be complete by next season.

 

  Future very bright. If not right now, certainly in the very immediate future. 

 

[Podein25]

2 hours ago, yave1964 said:

Axel Sandin Peliikka

 

One of the scouts whose opinion I really value had him ranked 6th. Absolutely loves him.

 

Good post, as always.

[IllaZilla]

Man, I wish the Wild had the balls to do this. 
 

But no, their target is the Playoffs, because they think if they utter the “R” word, the fans will leave in droves. They won’t. Minnesota fans are the human equivalent of sheep. They won’t leave because of FOMO. 
 

So they keep bringing in all these retreads shooting for the playoffs, but get bounced in the first round. So now they get a low first round draft pick, and say next season is going to be different. 

Being a fan of the Wild is like believing in that sign that says “Free Beer…Tomorrow!”

 

I am extremely jealous of you…

Edited July 20, 2023 by IllaZilla

[SpikeDDS]

On 7/20/2023 at 10:08 AM, yave1964 said:

Ghostisbehere to replace the since traded Hronek. At worst a push, probably slight upgrade

 

That's the only part of your analysis that I disagree with. Ghost is solid, but Hronek is gonna be better than a push. But that's OK, because Hronek didn't fit our timeline, and the return for him was excellent. Ghost fills in short-term until our young talent is ready to displace him or whomever else follows him. He might be better for teaching our kids how to QB a PP.

 

As usual, you and I are never too far away from one another. You know, more than most others on here, that I've been holding off on getting my hopes up these past few seasons, but I am very interested to see if we can remain relevant to the playoff discussion beyond the deadline. I think it is definitely a possibility, and I'm ready to allow myself some additional hope for this season. I have plenty for years to come. And other than being slightly more patient than I want him to be--buying one too many role-playing vets this offseason--I think Yzerman is running the show beautifully. Small-potato differences. All forgivable.

 

Really looking forward to training camp. I'm actually hoping one of the kids makes Stevie's job really hard!

[yave1964]

1 hour ago, SpikeDDS said:

 

That's the only part of your analysis that I disagree with. Ghost is solid, but Hronek is gonna be better than a push. But that's OK, because Hronek didn't fit our timeline, and the return for him was excellent. Ghost fills in short-term until our young talent is ready to displace him or whomever else follows him. He might be better for teaching our kids how to QB a PP.

 

As usual, you and I are never too far away from one another. You know, more than most others on here, that I've been holding off on getting my hopes up these past few seasons, but I am very interested to see if we can remain relevant to the playoff discussion beyond the deadline. I think it is definitely a possibility, and I'm ready to allow myself some additional hope for this season. I have plenty for years to come. And other than being slightly more patient than I want him to be--buying one too many role-playing vets this offseason--I think Yzerman is running the show beautifully. Small-potato differences. All forgivable.

 

Really looking forward to training camp. I'm actually hoping one of the kids makes Stevie's job really hard!

Hronek will never win a Norris for his defense, but he is better defensively than Ghost. Hronek can also score slightly better than the average defender. Ghost has clear defensive deficiencies. What he brings to the table is he is better offensively than any defender we have had for years. He has had offensive seasons of 46 points (65 games) 51 points, 42 points and 65 points. Hronek broke 40 points just once in his career.  Here is why i feel Ghost is a better fit for us for this season 

 

Ghost 106 power play points in 381 games, average of 22 per season. Average points of 47 per 82 game season

Hronek 63 PPP in 309 games, avg of 15 per year.  Average points of 42 per 82 game season. 

 

  So more offense on a team that needs offense. A power play specialist on a team that struggled mightily to score on the power play. With no offense to Hronek who i feel did a damn fine job for the Wings in his Detroit career, I believe Gostisbehere will have a defined role with the Wings and fill a role that we need filled. I often thought that Hronek was misused out of necessity because for several years he was the only defender who seemed to be able to move a puck so we threw him out there too much which led to him wearing down by seasons end. 

 

  So a player who is ten percent better offensively and more so on the powerplay, for a traded player who is five percent better defensively. Some teams would prefer Hronek, some would prefer Ghost, I just feel Ghost is exactly what we need and Hronek while talented was a bit of a square peg in a round hole. Throw in the fact that the actual return for Hronek was a first round pick which we used for the top offensive defender in the draft,  Axel Sandin Pellikka. 

 

[thegx.ca]

Yzerplan indeed