Chronicling the Red Wings “Yzerplan” Part 1: The Change

The Detroit Red Wings received a seismic shift on April 19, 2019. The day that Steve Yzerman returned to Detroit to run the team he played his entire career for signified that a true and challenging rebuild was to commence. Then general manager Ken Holland had already started it but there was reluctance to tear it all down, something many realistic fans were clamoring for.

Yzerman knew what needed to be done before he took the job, and going on his third season, there’s been a step forward from when he simply “observed” before gutting the whole thing. But before it goes ahead of itself, let’s explain the scope of this three-piece project.

This is a look back at the moves Yzerman has made in his tenure along with the direction that it put the team while they were moving along. Dubbed the Yzerplan, it’s a way to see just how far the organization has come–and still how much more there is for him to do.

In order to give context as to why things started the way they did, here’s a timeline of some of the bigger moments that would lead them to bringing Yzerman back.

April 21, 2016 – The Red Wings are eliminated in five games by Tampa Bay

Talk about a fitting end to what would be a remarkable playoff run. Yzerman’s Lightning defeat the Red Wings to not only end their season, but alter the organization’s trajectory for years to come.

The Red Wings backed into the 2016 playoffs, and though they played Tampa tough, were overmatched by the Lightning depth and skill. Weeks later, Pavel Datsyuk would announce his retirement and go back to Russia. Moves would be made to try to replenish the hole, but nothing could. Holland made some of his more critiqued re-signings and free agent signings during this offseason, which wouldn’t help enough to get Detroit back into the playoffs. The big debate remains his trading of Datsyuk’s contract to free up room to make a run at Steven Stamkos–re-signed before free agency could open up.

It was here that the reality of the situation finally started to sink in.

March 1, 2017 – The Trade Deadline

Holland had commented only a month earlier that Detroit wouldn’t be buyers at the deadline. Instead, he remarked that: 

"We’re not going to trade future assets to try to bring in somebody to make us a little better. We’re either going to stand pat or we’re going to see if teams have interest in some of our players. That’s what I’ll work the phone to do here over the next three to four weeks,”"

The Red Wings were outside the playoff hunt looking in and even Holland couldn’t ignore that the rebuild on the fly wasn’t working anymore. Yet, he was quoted in the same article talking about how a late winning streak could get them back in the race–which looking back–was preposterous. Without Datsyuk, Detroit was just not strong enough to overcome the loss.

In spite of that optimism, Holland made the following trades:

• February 24, 2017 – Dealing Tomas Jurco to Chicago for a 3rd Round Pick (2017)
• February 28, 2017 – Dealing Brendan Smith to the New York Rangers for a 3rd Round Pick (2017) and a 2nd Round Pick (2018)
• March 1, 2017 – Dealing Tomas Vanek to Florida for a 3rd Round Pick (2017) and Dylan McIlrath
• March 1, 2017 – Dealing Steve Ott to Montreal for a 6th Round Pick (2017)

The Red Wings would end up missing the playoffs for the first time in 26 seasons, and would close out their season and the Joe Louis Arena with a 2-0 victory.

April 9, 2017 – The Final Game at the Joe

This is a moment that stands out for Red Wings fans for a number of reasons, starting of course with just how much success resulted at the Joe. Four Stanley Cup Champions played in the building and as it was knocked to the ground, so too was the metaphorical mystique Detroit held for over a quarter century.

Following the game, there was a ceremony held that had featured speakers including Steve Yzerman. Red Wings fans had been muttering before the first playoff-less season that Holland wasn’t the guy for the gig anymore–the team’s lack of playoff success, along with questionable personnel moves had many wondering if Holland was losing a step as a manager.

Now with the playoffs out of the picture, and Yzerman’s Lightning flourishing, the emotions bubbled to a crescendo after the Captain finished speaking. If you go to the 3:12 mark, the faint chant starts while he speaks, but reaches a full throated roar as he walks off the stage: Come Home Stevie. 

Yzerman doesn’t show any reaction, and he wouldn’t anyway. But everyone in the arena heard it–from Yzerman, to Marian Ilitch and her son Chris, to Holland himself. Rightly or wrongly, the fanbase announced its hopes of Yzerman one day running the team and it fell squarely on the shoulders of the same guy who had resurrected the organization as a player.

The seeds of Yzerman’s return were planted there.

February 26, 2018 – NHL Trade Deadline

It was at this trade deadline that Holland couldn’t fight the reality anymore–Detroit needed to rebuild. Holland made perhaps the finest trade of his cap era career when he dealt Tomas Tatar. Not only did he net a first round pick, he also nabbed a second and a third round pick.  A recap of his moves that entire 2017-18 season:

• October 21, 2017- Riley Sheahan and a 2018 5th Round pick to Pittsburgh for Scott Wilson and a 2018 3rd Round Pick
• October 21, 2017 – Ryan Sproul to New York Rangers for Matt Puempel
• December 4, 2017 – Scott Wilson to Buffalo for a 2019 5th Round Pick
• February 19, 2018 – Petr Mrazek to Philadelphia for a conditional 2018 4th round pick and a conditional 2019 3rd round pick
• February 26, 2018 – Tomas Tatar to Vegas for a 2018 1st Round Pick, a 2019 2nd pick, and a 2021 3rd Round Pick. 

A few thoughts on these: I remember seeing the Tatar trade and knowing that the rebuild on the fly was officially dead. A few months later, Holland had arguably his finest draft in the Cap Era where he used those picks acquired to pick up some pretty stellar players: Filip Zadina (Detroit’s 1st), Joe Veleno (Vegas’ 1st), and Jonatan Berggren (2nd rounder from the Smith trade).

September 11, 2018 – Yzerman Steps Down as Tampa’s General Manager

Every Wings fan knows where they were when this happened. Though he stayed on as a consultant for the remainder of the year, the anticipation of his return grew to a fever pitch on this day. At first, there was concern that perhaps his health wasn’t well. Why would a guy who built an absolute machine in Tampa, and still relatively young for a manager up and leave the job?

Once it turned out that it wasn’t it, oh boy, did the speculation begin. It was all but a foregone conclusion Yzerman would be back. Holland continued to deal assets away, sending Nick Jensen to Washington for Madison Bowey and a 2020 2nd Round pick. He also sent fan favorite Gustav Nyquist to San Jose for a 2019 2nd round pick and a 2020 conditional 3rd round pick.

Holland was dogged with questions by the media throughout the year, and ended the season with a press conference during locker clean out. Holland didn’t seem defensive, but he talked about the difficulty of rebuilds and then chuckled a bit when asked about any conversations he’d had with Yzerman. The date? April 8, 2019.

This is of course is even more humorous because just eleven days later, Yzerman’s would be named the general manager.

April 19, 2019 – Yzerman is Named Red Wings’ General Manager

Every fan knows where they were when they found out. I felt the same way when Dave Dombrowski was hired by the Tigers in 2001, knowing that a successful executive was coming into rescue the long moribund franchise.

There’s no irony lost that it was 4/19/19 and also Good Friday on the Christian calendar. It was a great Friday for Red Wings fans.

Yzerman was blunt with his assessment–and asked for time and patience to allow for his vision to unfold. He explained that he would examine everything and then begin building.  But everyone in that room, along with the fanbase knew that it meant some pretty tough seasons of losing and building it up from scratch.

Holland received a promotion but would be gone to Edmonton just a few weeks later. The Red Wings were now being run by Yzerman and the “Yzerplan” as it was dubbed by many, started after that press conference completed.

What’s Next?

Part 2 will examine Yzerman’s first offseason as the general manager, and then a retrospective on probably one of the toughest seasons the fanbase had to endure. All of this will be analyzed through what was said then–and how it’s affected the Red Wings long term.