5 Questions the Red Wings Must Answer After Steve Yzerman's Departure as GM
An NHL offseason full of drama continued Wednesday morning, as the Red Wings announced that Yzerman is transitioning from his roles as general manager and executive vice president but will remain with the organization as a senior adviser to the governor and CEO, Chris Ilitch.
Yzerman, a legend in Detroit as a player, had early success as a GM when he took over for Tampa Bay in 2010 and built the team into a Stanley Cup Final team in 2015. He took the Red Wings GM role at the start of the 2019-20 season, so he wasn't the Lightning GM for the 2020 and 2021 back-to-back Cup wins, but he was largely responsible for assembling that core.
As for his time in Detroit, the rebuilding strategy hasn't panned out the same way. Yzerman appeared to draft quite well, and some of those prospects, like Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond, have found success. But Yzerman has failed to assemble the correct players around the main core. In seven seasons with Yzerman at the helm, the Red Wings failed to make the playoffs even once.
The elephant in the room leading up to this was a fed-up captain and first-line center in Dylan Larkin, who requested a trade after a frustrating end to last season. Will Larkin stick around now that the Red Wings are pivoting from the Yzerplan? That's one of five big questions the Red Wings must answer now that Yzerman is no longer the GM.
What Next for Dylan Larkin?
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News that Larkin requested a trade out of Detroit after last season became public on June 4, around the time many of his Team USA brethren in similar situations were also leveraging their no-trade clauses to request trades.
In Larkin's case, the 29-year-old center and captain has five seasons left on an eight-year, $69.6 million contract (average annual value of $8.7 million) he signed March 1, 2023. He scored a career-high 34 goals last season and had 67 points in 74 games. Despite being one of the most respected and well-rounded players in the league through his 20s, Larkin only has one playoff appearance under his belt, a first-round loss in his first season in the league back in 2016.
A taste of Olympic gold, a career regular season with nothing to show for it, emboldenment from peers leveraging contractual no-trade clauses, and a lack of real urgency from Yzerman are all understandable reasons Larkin would want out of Detroit after 10 years.
He has not yet spoken on the record about the trade request, so, of course, we have no real idea of his motivations or the rankings of their importance. There is, however, a real chance it was tied to Yzerman's lack of assertiveness on the trade market when the team has been in the playoff race at the deadline.
Could a new GM entice Larkin to stay in his hometown, and the only NHL town he's ever called home? Has the situation already soured past the point of no return? The plot sure thickens with Yzerman ousted.
Who Will Be the Red Wings' Next GM?
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This is a pivotal moment for the Red Wings, who now own the league's longest postseason drought, so they'll be getting to work on nabbing their next GM immediately.
Will they go in-house or outsource the next guy? It's tough to imagine sticking with in-house options, since most of those are likely extensions of the Yzerplan. There's also concern that perhaps the Red Wings stuck with Yzerman a bit too long, given his connection with the franchise.
Some new blood might be refreshing, here.
How about Evan Gold, Bruins assistant GM and Providence Bruins GM? The Bruins announced this week that he would be leaving the organization effective Aug. 1 to "pursue other opportunities in the National Hockey League." This seems like a heckuva opportunity for a younger analytical mind who has been on the short list for a few GM roles.
There's always the "look at recent successful teams and start poaching method, so Panthers AGM Brett Peterson and Hurricanes AGM Darren Yorke could be names to watch.
This is a pretty wide-open, unique situation, so it'll be interesting to watch the search and see who the Red Wings land on to follow Yzerman up.
Is the Yzerplan Salvagable?
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Especially if Larkin departs, and that still seems like the most likely route, this is now Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond's team. The Yzerplan had always been to carefully build around these two.
The problem with the Yzerplan was, in part, the plan itself: This isn't your grandfather's NHL. This isn't an era where "careful" means "slow," "careful" means "the ability to make the best decisions as quickly as possible, or you're already three steps behind."
The next problem was that the Yzerplan was too careful about risks that could've paid off, and too lax with throwing out generally harmless but ultimately unhelpful contracts to fringe and often aging players like candy. No risk, no reward, just a very slow, disjointed hockey team that felt like three different eras of hockey on the ice at once.
While Seider and Raymond are a great foundation for the next era, let's declare the Yzerplan dead as of Wednesday, July 15, and modernize the Red Wings front office.
Is It Time to Rebuild?
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The good thing about the Yzerplan? The lack of risk taken on and the lack of big decisions made make it relatively easy for a skilled GM with a fresh perspective to pivot.
There's absolutely no reason to start from scratch here, and Yzerman's reputation for building a team's infrastructure holds up. Someone needs to come in with lower risk aversion, a greater willingness to give up some cap space, and greater urgency in the trade market to pounce on elite players.
The emphasis here is on the new GM hire. There's a lot of pressure on the Red Wings to pick the correct GM to make the moves that will finally complete this team.
What Pieces do the Red Wings Still Need?
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Of course, the pieces the Red Wings will need hinge largely on Larkin's future. The need to replace one of the best first-line centers in the game would trump all other priorities. But even with Larkin, the team obviously wasn't getting it done, so what else is on this priority list?
They got Justin Faulk at the trade deadline last season, and even then, they could still use an upgrade to the defense as a whole to create more competition and speed in the top 4.
Given the strength and depth of the contending forward groups, Detroit could definitely use one or two more top-six forwards. Yzerman had been quite stingy with trading the plentiful draft capital he hoarded, but one of the few times he traded a first-rounder, he was rewarded with Alex DeBrincat.
At this point, the Red Wings have more than enough prospects and should really start to take some bigger swings for higher-level players like that.
