Detroit Red Wings: Five players Steve Yzerman needs to move on from
By Bob Heyrman
A look at some of the better moves Steve made with the Tampa Bay Lightning;
Yzerman acquired Ben Bishop from the Ottawa Senators, and he became a franchise type goaltender until the team needed to clear out some salary to make room for others. He had a plan, he had Andri Vasilevskiy whom he drafted in the first round, 19th overall in 2012 ready and waiting. He replaced one franchise goaltender with another, just much younger and cheaper, brilliant.
Yzerman decided it was best for the franchise to buyout the teams’ captain Vincent Lecavalier who had seven years remaining on his eleven-year deal. That would be a bold move; he had been the teams’ leader and fan favorite. The Lightning drafted Vinny first overall in the 1998 NHL Entry Level Draft; he finished his career just 51 points shy of 1000.
He drafted Nikita Kucherov in the second round, he drafted Brayden Point in the third round and added Detroit Red Wings killer Tyler Johnson as an undrafted free agent. Although Victor Hedman and Steven Stamkos were currently in place, Yzerman surrounded them with an abundance of talent.
The Tampa Bay Lightning went out and acquired players such as Ryan McDonagh, Anton Stralman, Dan Girardi, J.T Miller and Ryan Callahan who were all New York Rangers at some point in time. They blended them with Braydon Coburn and Matthew Carle (who didn’t work out) and the existing team and built a championship caliber team.
Remember Jonathan Drouin? He was a draft pick of the Lightning but became a distraction and Yzerman sent him down to the American Hockey League to teach him a lesson although he was definitely NHL ready. When Drouin requested a trade Steve obliged moving him to the Montreal Canadiens for prospect Mikhail Sergachev, who’s become an NHL top four defender but has yet to reach his full potential.
During the Press conference, Friday Yzerman continued to mention there was plenty of work to be done in Detroit. He said that multiple times as he glanced to his right where Ken Holland was sitting. He wasn’t throwing shade towards Holland, but it had to be a bit of a slap in the face to his mentor. He was merely buying himself time; I’m convinced there is no one who wants the Detroit Red Wings to be a contender once again. He refrained from putting a timeline on how long he expects this rebuild to take but urged us all to remain patient.
That being said we take a look at five players who wore the Winged Wheel last season with Detroit that shouldn’t return next year.