Steve Yzerman Is Wheeling And Dealing Like A Mad Man This Offseason, And The Yzerplan Is Finally Ready
Bruce Bennett. Getty Images.Steve Yzerman stepped down as the GM in Tampa Bay right before the start of the 2018-19 season. He put all the major pieces in place for Tampa to go on one of the most insane runs we've seen recently. They won the Presidents Trophy in 2019, although they got swept out of the first round by Columbus. Then they went to 3 straight Stanley Cup Finals, and won 2 of them. He locked up the core of Stamkos, Kucherov and Hedman to long-term deals before stepping down. He drafted Brayden Point. He traded Jonathan Drouin for Mikhail Sergachev. He drafted Andrei Vasilevskiy. So that was a Presidents Trophy and 2 Stanley Cups in 3 appearances for the Lightning, all thanks to Steve Yzerman.
Once he stepped down in Tampa, everybody knew his next step would be to bring the Red Wings back to life. He got the Detroit job before the 2019-20 season. They still haven't made the playoffs since he's been there, but the first few seasons in Detroit were all about getting bad contracts off the books and loading up with young talent. Now we're entering the 5th year of the Yzerplan, and clearly it's go time.
He knew the Oilers were in cap hell, and he got the negotiating rights to Klim Kostin for absolutely nothing.
He added scoring depth to the blue line with a 1-year deal for Shayne Gostisbehere.
He locked up a great backup with James Reimer. Added more offensive depth with guys like Stanley Cup Champion JT Compher, and Daniel Sprong coming off a 20-goal season. But the Red Wings still need a guy with game breaking capabilities. A guy who can be a 40+ goal scorer in the NHL. And not just someone who can have a breakout season and then never hit that number again. But someone who can consistently produce at that level as long as they're healthy and playing with some decent guys around them.
Steve Yzerman got his guy.
The Red Wings have two 1st round picks again in next year's draft. Their own and then the one they got from Boston in the Tyler Bertuzzi trade. They'll give up one of those, a 4th round pick in next year's draft, and then 2 guys who really weren't going to be involved in the Red Wings long-term plan anyway with Kubalik and Sebrango. All in all, that's an absolute steal for Stevie Y. And they were able to get a new contract in place for the Cat right away.
4-years at under $8M. 4 years gives Detroit enough time to see what they have with guys like Lucas Raymond, Moritz Seider, Simon Edvinsson, and the two kids they picked up in the first round of this years draft with Nate Danielson and Axel Sandin Pellikka. Young talent, top end goal scoring, big bad defensemen, and some capable goaltending? All hail the Yzerplan.