On Detroit Red Wings Discourse
Good news! Since I’m not spending much time browsing social media anymore and most Red Wings fans behaved in my mentions this past season, I’m returning to covering the Detroit Red Wings!
So, in my grand return, I will talk about something that is definitely not controversial and will definitely result in everyone being calm and civil in my mentions: Steve Yzerman and Dylan Larkin. Yes, I’m being sarcastic. I will be muting everything and while you all are whining to me and calling me slurs, I will be playing Xenoblade Chronicles X.
Anyway, without further ado: there are some things that need to be said about the Red Wings and the Red Wings fanbase.
It’s conventional knowledge in the Red Wings fanbase that Steve Yzerman is a genius, all we have to do is be patient, and poof, good things will happen. Any detractors are impatient losers who don’t know puck. In fact, even Dylan Larkin doesn’t know puck.
It’s past time Larkin gets traded, many are saying. Others don’t want Larkin traded but believe that he's a whiny loser who’s not fit for the Captaincy. Besides, doesn’t he trust the Yzerplan? The answer is: grow up. Move past your childhood idol worship of Yzerman. Do you even hear yourselves right now? No, seriously. Strip Larkin of the “C”? Trade Larkin? Claiming that he’s a whiny impatient loser who just wants it all now? If you are saying any of these things, grow up. Furthermore, if you’re even at all confused by why he’s frustrated, grow up. Yeah, can’t understand why a guy who has missed the playoffs nine years in a row is frustrated and tired of the endless rebuild. Really confusing and hard to understand! Really hard to understand why someone might be frustrated with a GM who has missed the playoffs six straight years. This is a real Scooby-Doo mystery. Very hard to understand. We’re going to need some top sleuths in here.
Let’s talk some facts here: Yzerman, in fourteen years of being a general manager has made the playoffs five times. He has zero Cups as a GM. He has missed the playoffs for six straight years. In addition, both teams he has managed stalled out under him. Now, I’m not saying that the Red Wings cannot and will never make the playoffs under him. What I’m saying is, that this rebuild seems doomed to mediocrity. I’ve not seen anything to make me think this team is or will be a legitimate Cup contender. If they win a Cup, it’ll be because either Cossa or Augustine turned into prime Hašek for the playoffs. Which, to be real, could happen. It’s likely at least one of those two will be a genuine starter if not a star in the NHL. We’ve also seen both turn into brick walls at points, including in the playoffs. Just not the NHL level, or in Augustine’s case, in any pro league, yet. So, it could happen. I just don’t think it’ll be because the team Stevie has built was truly that great. Both teams he built had strong foundations, and he built those foundations. Or, in Tampa’s case, mostly built. But, does anyone have any genuine real confidence that the team Stevie is building is a legitimate Cup contender? I doubt it.
Why I and I think most of us, even if secretly, have these doubts for this reason: Steve Yzerman sucks a 2/3 of his job. I’m sorry, but he does. What are the things he sucks at?
Winning.
Signing NHL free agents and trades.
What is the one part of his job he’s good at? Drafting. Which is great, you need to build a strong foundation, and you do that through the draft. Unfortunately, you can’t build solely through the draft. You have to bring in other players who can help the drafted players out. We all know how well that’s turning out. Sure, he’s brought in Alex DeBrincat and Patrick Kane who have been great, but outside them? Yikes. Ok, I will say this: I don’t think Ben Chiarot is anywhere near as bad as he’s made out to be. Yes, he’s a terrible top-pairing defender. But, that’s not on him. That’s on coaching for playing him that high and on management for not giving Seider better help. Chiarot is a fine second-pairing defender and a top-tier bottom-pairing defender. He’s perfectly fine…if you don’t play him on the top-pairing. Unfortunately, two straight coaches now play him on the top-pairing because they feel they have to. Why? Because Seider is the only defender who consistently plays like a top-pairing defender. Edvinsson often (but not always, but I blame that on inexperience) did play like a top-pairing defender, but because he’s the only other one, he often had to anchor the second-pairing to spread the wealth. The third-best defender on the team is Chiarot, so he gets chosen to play on the top-pairing, even if he’s not actually good enough to do so.
Anyway, back on track. His track record on bringing in veterans is quite poor. No Red Wings fan, even the most ardent Yzerman defender, denies this. Another thing no one can deny is that since coming to Detroit, he has failed to win. The only thing you’ll hear for this is excuses. Apparently, it’s excusable to miss the playoffs for six straight years. One of my favorite excuses is, “Well, we all knew the Red Wings were going to take a step back this year, so why is anyone upset?” So, just because we knew the Red Wings were going to be worse than last year’s team, that makes it ok? I’m not sure how that makes logical sense. Apply that logic to anything else. It doesn’t work. It’s a terrible argument. Even if it wasn’t a terrible argument, no one expected them to look THIS bad. When they were bad, they looked like a lottery team. When they were bad, they looked like the 2019-2020 Red Wings. No one expected that. What people expected was a consistently mediocre team. Not one that most nights looked downright terrible. So, even if the excuse of everyone expecting a step back was a legitimate excuse, the reason they did step back was something no one was expecting and was worse than expected. No matter what, this team was a disappointment and unacceptable. Furthermore, they have missed the playoffs nine straight years, six of them under Yzerman, which is also unacceptable. In literally no other franchise would this be tolerated. If you can’t accept that, I don’t know what to tell you.
Now, I know the pushback argument, “Stevie said we have to be patient!” Ok, that’s nice and all. At some point though, there becomes a thing as being TOO patient. Like, you can be too patient sometimes. Being too patient can also cause harm, just like being impatient. I think six years of no playoffs under one GM very much counts as “too patient”. Once again, in no other franchise would this be tolerated. Even if the situation was the exact same. The only reason it’s tolerated here is because Yzerman was one of the greatest players in NHL history and he just happened to be the long-time Captain of this franchise. In other words, nostalgia. But, here’s the thing: what he’s done as GM shouldn’t sour how he’s remembered as a player. He did all those things as a player. He was that great. He did lead this team to three Cup wins. None of that can be taken away from him. What he does as GM is separate from all that, and it’s long past time that Red Wings fans accept that, instead of tying their memories of him as a player to who he is as a GM.
Now, there are two more excuses I want to argue against and they will be quick. Frankly, because there isn’t much to say to argue against these arguments. The first is, “Yes, but he drafts well and (name top prospect or prospects) and that’s why he shouldn’t be fired”. Congrats, he drafts well. Unfortunately, as I went over earlier, he sucks at everything else. If his having drafted Marco Kasper or Axel Sandin Pellikka is enough for you and you’re willing to overlook how bad he is at everything else, I don’t know what to say to you. I don’t think knocking it out of the park in drafting should excuse a lack of winning, terrible contracts, poor signings, and trades.
The second argument is, “But Ken Holland”. Look, this argument may have been compelling and correct a few years ago. Unfortunately for all of us, this is almost completely Stevie’s mess now. The only remaining Holland mess to clean up is Justin Abdelkader because he’s still getting paid. And yes, Holland didn’t leave Stevie much, and yes, he did screw up big-time in the 2018 draft. But, Stevie has had six drafts since then to refill the prospect pipeline and has made his own terrible signings and free-agency choices. The current situation is almost completely on Stevie. Yes, 2018 hurt and set the rebuild back a few years. Yes, having to still pay Abdelkader hurts. But, at this point, the damage from Holland isn’t that bad. The damage truly hurting the Red Wings at this point is Yzerman’s mistakes. It’s Yzerman’s signings and trades, it’s his lack of drafting a superstar. Now, I know the response everyone is about to make, “But lottery luck!” I wrote about this a few months ago:
Here’s the thing, I know the rebuttal that’s coming: “The Red Wings had zero lottery luck, you can’t blame lack of star power on Yzerman”. I would disagree. I think you can. Let’s look at the Dallas Stars and players on the roster that they’ve drafted between 2017 and 2021 and are star players or should be soon:
Miro Heiskanen (2017, #3 overall)
Jake Oettinger (2017, #26 overall)
Jason Robertson (2017, #39 overall)
Wyatt Johnston (2021, #23 overall)
Logan Stankoven (2021, #47 overall)
Notice anything? One of them, only one of them, was taken in the top three. One. Miro Heiskanen. All the others were taken in the late first round or second round. They completed a rebuild by getting only one star in the top three. All of their other ones came later. Where is the Red Wings Robertson or Stankoven? Where is that guy taken later in the first round or in a later round who elevates the team?
At some point, you have to stop blaming the lottery and accept your own failures at finding the hidden gems later in the draft. There is ALWAYS a star later in the draft. Yet, under Yzerman, the Red Wings are never the ones to land them. So far, at least. That is a failure of management and scouting. If you’re not getting lottery luck, then you need to be getting the star or two later in the draft. Other teams, like the Stars or Bruins, have made a living off this. The Red Wings have not. They used to, though.
The thing is, Hockeytown deserves better. We Red Wings fans deserve better. We need to expect better. We need to demand better. Part of that includes not being angry at your team captain for expecting better and also acting as if there are no legitimate reasons for wanting Yzerman fired. Just because most of the arguments against Yzerman made by pundits or casual Red Wings fans are terrible, doesn’t mean there are no good arguments for wanting Yzerman gone. Just because a beloved player demands patience doesn’t mean we have to be patient forever or give him too long of a leash. If we want better, we need to demand it and expect it, instead of just allowing the status quo to continue and bashing anyone speaking out against the status quo.
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