Steve Yzerman hints at Trade Deadline activity

Detroit Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman carries out his duties in the front office much in the same manner as his playing days - methodical, unpretentiously, and with his sights laser focused on the task at hand. Having already carved out a tremendous Hall of Fame career on the ice in the Motor City that included multiple championships and personal accolades, Yzerman is now working on turning the team that he captained for two decades back into an annual contender for postseason success. 

And as it turns out, he'd had plans to stay in the game well before he made the call to hang up the skates in the summer of 2006.

"As I got closer to the end of my career that I was going to get involved; I had decided that I'd prefer to be in management as opposed to coaching," Yzerman explained during a recent appearance on Agent Provocateur with Allan Walsh and Adam Wylde podcast. "I wanted to stay in the Detroit area and be local with my family and I thought that management was more intriguing. Which role in management, I wasn't really sure at that time." 

Thanks to their 3-1 victory over the Washington Capitals last night, Yzerman's Red Wings now find themselves on the cusp of a postseason spot, something that has eluded them now since 2016. Thanks to their recent hot streak, Yzerman admitted that his plans have evolved as the March 3 NHL Trade Deadline quickly approaches. 

"Here we sit today with the Red Wings...we're not too far out of it, but we do have games in hands on teams that we're relatively close on," he said. "I can't speak for those teams, but for us, a month ago we weren't this close. There were more teams to jump over. So it was 'Okay, let's plan for the deadline.' We signed Olli Määttä, who was a pending free agent. Some of our free agents we'll say we'll try and get signed before the deadline, and some guys we still have interest in signing and it may be after the deadline, I'm not sure."

"It really depends on where you are, and for us today, we sit here and we're kind of right in the middle and we're going to have to make some decisions in the next eight or nine days," he continued. "Ultimately, we're still trying to build and still trying to get better. I wouldn't expect us to go out and be trading our best assets for rental players or anything like that, we wouldn't be opposed to making a trade, but it would be players that we would want to know are part of our future. And doing that would require ultimately giving up your young assets. I'm not opposed to doing that, but it's gotta be somebody who's going to be here with us. You kind of come up with a plan in January and depending on how your team is doing, you adjust your plan. That's how I do it, anyway." 

There are those who point out that while teams that squeak into the postseason rarely have a serious opportunity for a championship, it has happened on enough occasions to make one think they're not crazy for even suggesting the possibility. Yzerman knows full well that once you're in, anything can happen. And not only is it beneficial for young players to have the experience of playing meaningful hockey, but it also pays dividends for the organization and community as a whole. 

"Well, we are running a business, and there's great value in making the playoffs," he said. "Those games that you're playing at home, from a short term business plan, there's great value. And after the deadline, those games being meaningful, you're playing must-win games, you're gonna get better tv ratings and better walkups at the gate. It's important for your revenues as a business. Having said that, to me you have to really analyze your team....I do believe there's great value in making the playoffs, from a business perspective in the short term, but in the long term for your players, particularly your younger guys to get the experience. Having these must-win games, even to get in the playoffs, even if it's for the first time, it's a great experience. And then ultimately, anything can happen."