Steve Yzerman’s honeymoon seems to be over. We hear for the first time whispers about him on social networks and in the Detroit media.
The Red Wings have barely moved up the standings since his arrival in 2019. They’ve missed the playoffs the past four seasons and missed them the three springs before his arrival.
The former Tampa Bay Lightning general manager had promised a reconstruction, begun two seasons by his predecessor Ken Holland, and begged for patience.
However, the training he will present in October has nothing to do with a young club. Jeff Petry and Ben Chiarot, 35 and 32 respectively, both overpaid, will likely form the second pair of defensemen.
Jake Walman, 27, the partner of young prodigy Moritz Seider, was retained in Detroit for 3.4 million a year for three years. Walman was effective last year, but it was his first season of more than 32 career games.
Steve Yzerman completed his defensive top 6 by hiring two veteran free agents, Shayne Gostisbehere and Justin Holl, both in their early thirties. Young Simon Edvinsson and William Wallinder will probably have to wait, because you also have to count on Olli Määtä, 29, under contract for another two years at 3 million per season.
The average age of this group of defenders sits at 29.4, with only one player, Seider, drafted and developed by the organization. An anomaly for a club supposedly under reconstruction.
Yzerman also bypassed his own offensive rebuild. He completed his top 6 with the acquisition of Alex DeBrincat, obtained from the Senators against a first-round pick in 2024 (furthest from the first rank between Detroit or Boston), a fourth-round pick, Dominik Kubalik and young Donovan Sebrango.
J. T. Compher, 28, will fill the second center position behind Dylan Larkin. He was hired on the free agent market under an astonishing contract: 25 million for five years. Compher is coming off a career-best offensive season, 52 points, including 17 goals with the Colorado Avalanche, but had never had more than 33 points in the previous five seasons.
The indestructible David Perron, 35, 56 points, including 24 goals, last year, will round out the top 6 with Lucas Raymond and likely Jonatan Berggren, the only two players 23 or younger drafted and developed by the organization in the within the top 9.
Andrew Copp, 29, is the third center. He is under contract for the next three years at 5.6 million per season. Copp is a defensively effective center, surly, with a good reputation, but who has just reached the mark of 40 points for the first time in his career. He is certainly not underpaid…
In goal, the Red Wings rely on Ville Husso, mediocre last year with a 3.11 GAA and .896 save percentage, and James Reimer, 35, hired at a salary of 1 .5 million for a single season, but disastrous with a disastrous team, the San Jose Sharks, last winter.
After getting seven consecutive top-10 picks since 2017, ten first-round picks and… 37 picks in the first three rounds in those seven rounds, it’s still surprising to see a club full of veterans entering the 2023-2024 season.
All is obviously not gloomy. Seider and Raymond are two of the best young players in the NHL. Center Marco Kasper, 19, the eighth overall pick in 2022, is coming off a great season at Rögle for such a young player with 23 points in 52 games and was even called up for one game late in the season. season, before getting injured.
Defenseman Edvinsson, 6-foot-4, very mobile and gifted offensively, remains a top prospect and has amassed 27 points in 52 games in his first season in the American League. We’ll see how this summer’s first-round picks develop, right-handed center Nate Danielson, 9th overall, 78 points in 68 games at Brandon, and right-handed defenseman Axel Sandin-Pellikka, 17th overall.
The choice of Filip Zadina in sixth place in 2018, before the arrival of Yzerman, obviously hurts. Zadina has just been released and signed a modest contract in San Jose. He was preferred over defensemen Quinn Hughes, Adam Boqvist, Evan Bouchard and Noah Dobson, among others.
Among the free agents still out of work, we obviously note at the top of the list Patrick Kane, who is recovering from hip surgery, former Canadiens forward Tomas Tatar (despite his 48-point season), Jesse Puljujärvi, Forfeited fourth overall pick of 2016, Zack Kassian, unfortunate loser of a brutal fight at the hands of Arber Xhekaj, Maxime Comtois, Paul Stastny, Phil Kessel and Jaroslav Halak, in search of a guaranteed auxiliary position.
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3- After a season of unsuccessfully trying to recover, goalkeeper Jonathan Bernier has announced his retirement. Richard Labbé spoke to him.
