The rather surprising “transition” by Steve Yzerman hit Detroit Red Wings fans like a bucket of cold water on Wednesday.
While there had been talk about Yzerman potentially retreating higher up in the Red Wings front office, no one really expected the move to happen like this.
We could debate as to why the move happened. But what has to be the most striking part is the timing. And yes, the timing couldn’t have been worse.
On the surface, the middle of summer wouldn’t be such a bad idea. There isn’t much action going on at the moment. The NHL Draft is quickly fading in the rearview. The madness of free agency has also begun to dissipate.
That’s why it wouldn’t seem like such a bad time to make this move, right? Au contraire: the timing just isn’t right.
You see, there’s a reason why GM and coaching changes happen towards the tail end of the regular season. Contracts expire on June 30 of every year, while teams looking to turn over front-office and coaching staff typically let people go with plenty of notice.
Doing so allows staff to find new jobs ahead of the beginning of the new season on July 1. By now, pretty much anyone available for hire has found new jobs. The Toronto Maple Leafs, New Jersey Devils, Nashville Predators and Vancouver Canucks all hired new GMs.
Meanwhile, the Leafs, Canucks, LA Kings and Edmonton Oilers found new coaches.
Other execs considered for GM roles have already found new jobs elsewhere. That situation means that pretty much everyone who was looking for a job has found one.
And that means the Red Wings will be scraping the bottom of the barrel, trying to see who’s unemployed at this point. All the while, Dylan Larkin continues to sit on the sidelines, seemingly in limbo. That’s no bueno for an organization looking to end the NHL’s longest playoff drought.
Yzerman simply ran out of runway with Red Wings
The coming days and weeks should shed light on the reasoning behind the Red Wings’ decision. Likely, the whole Dylan Larkin issue played a significant role in leading to Yzerman’s departure.
But it’s safe to say that was not the only reason. The Yzerplan has yet to bear any tangible fruit. The Red Wings continue to collapse every March, and there really is no end in sight to the playoff futility.
It was clear that a change was going to come. The only question mark was when. Since that question has bow been answered, the next issue will focus on what the organization will do from now on.
Regardless of what direction the Red Wings take, it’s clear that Yzerman simply ran out of runway. He was unable to deal with the most pressing matters in a timely manner. The situation ended up costing him his job, and, well, also left a mess for someone else to clean up.
It’s too bad things had to end this way. But there was really no other path for the organization. A change needed to happen. It just remains to be seen what the next moves will be.
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