One could argue that the summer of 2022 was Detroit Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman's first "busy" summer on the job, as he added multiple players like David Perron, Dominik Kubalik, Andrew Copp and Ville Husso. It seemed as though those pickups would lead to a postseason spot, and at one point in the season in late February, the Red Wings were in a Wild Card spot.
Two devastating losses to the Ottawa Senators later and it was essentially over; Yzerman once again sold at the NHL Trade Deadline and Detroit missed the playoffs for a 7th straight year. Needless to say, there are some within the fan base who are starting to feel a bit impatient, and feeling that the rebuilding process should be further along by now.
Is Yzerman feeling the pressure to accelerate the rebuilding process and finally end their postseason drought? It doesn't sound like it.
“It’s not affecting what I’m doing right now,” he said of feeling pressure. “Using any of our high picks will be for players that are going to be here for a long time that will be part of our core, not just to hopefully improve us enough to get into the playoffs sooner than later.”
“I’m trying to build a nucleus of young players that’s going to be the core of the team for a significant period of time,” Yzerman said. “If we give up those pieces – and these draft picks, there’s no guarantee they’re going to turn into that – we have to feel the player we’re acquiring is going to be a part of that core for a long time. It doesn’t make sense to give up pieces that we need to build a core, and in 3-4 years that player (they acquire) has retired or moved on and we still don’t have that core in place.”
The 2023 NHL Draft will start on June 28. Is Yzerman simply playing 4D underwater chess right now with what he had to say today?
