Steve Yzerman preaches internal depth following a quiet trade deadline

Steve Yzerman preaches internal depth following a quiet trade deadline; it's probably the best moving forward.

The Detroit Red Wings have progressively gotten better year-to-year under the guidance of Steve Yzerman, and they found themselves somewhat between a rock and hard place hours before the trade deadline. The Red Wings are not ready to contend for a Stanley Cup, yet they are too good to sell off assets as they currently control the first wild card position in the Eastern Conference.

During his post-trade deadline press conference, Yzerman discussed building a nucleus of young prospects and how he wanted to maintain their assets rather than flipping young players out for a rental. He also talked specifically about Jonatan Berggren and Simon Edvinsson.

"Giving up a first, second, or third-round pick for a [depth player], we're better off bringing up our guys from Grand Rapids for that," he said. Sending players like Edvinsson and Berggren to play in Grand Rapids this year wasn't necessarily about this year.  It's about the next 15 to 18 years.  They're going to be really good players, and I like to think they're better players today, and I know they're playing a bigger role than they would have in Detroit."

"I think the atmosphere within the team...is we have very good team spirit," Yzerman said.  "There's a lot of enthusiasm.  You hear the players talk about how much they're enjoying playing there, so that's encouraging, and they have got us into a good spot here."

" We're building a nucleus of young prospects that are going to be a part of this team...We're slowly seeing some of those kids in GR not only develop from junior and college and Europe into good American League players, but they're just slowing moving up the pipeline...It's only a matter of time before they're in the NHL and playing regularly."