This article is presented by Antonio’s Italian Cucina

On July 3rd, Steve Yzerman gave his annual post-free agency press conference. This one felt earlier than others in recent memory, as one of my favorite summer activities is to sit there three or four days after free agency, anticipating and speculating what moves Stevie Y was cooking up. That was not this year. If you missed the press conference, Steve was candid and straightforward- a somewhat intriguing departure from his usual sly and somewhat snarky self. The one move that he talked at some length about, the John Gibson acquisition, is a move that he believes genuinely makes the Red Wings better, as shoring up the goaltending position will keep you in more games (duh). He also talked about how adding JVR will give you some flexibility in lineup, which is what Todd is looking for. There was little on Appleton, but he’s essentially inoffensive depth defensive help. Nothing more, nothing less. 

And that, on the free agent front, was that.

What struck me the most from the press conference was this somewhat resigned tone he had when discussing “high-end” free agents (Marner). He mentioned that the Red Wings didn’t even have a shot to talk to some of the more coveted free agent pieces in this season’s class, considering most of them had already made up their minds by the time free agency actually opened up. For what it’s worth, this definitely seems to be the case with Marner- he and his wife had actually discussed what it would be like playing and living in Vegas towards the end of the regular season. With the rise in teams like Florida, VGK, Carolina, etc, I think we have to resign ourselves to the fact that Detroit is no longer a destination free agent location, relative to these income tax free states with warm weather. I don’t know if you know this, but living in Detroit in the winter is kind of miserable. The summer is great. You know what would be awesome? Living as a millionaire in a state where it’s warm year-round. Playing for an original six-team will always be appealing, but I think we’re seeing a shift in how free agents prioritize their consideration of teams- cup chasing and a fun place to be a millionaire seems like the move.

I’m still holding out hope for a blockbuster trade because I am the eternal optimist. However, I would not be shocked in the slightest if this is the team that we basically roll out next year. I think a Danielson or ASP would be a nice addition, but as Steve has shown time and time again, the Yzerplan is about the slow maturation and development of homegrown talent. In many ways, I think we simply need to look at the other Illitch owned sports team for the blueprint- our Detroit Tigers. People gave Avila a lot of shit for his abysmal winning record during his tenure with the Tigers. You know what he did though? He drafted and developed. We now see the fruits of that labor under Scott Harris. Granted, Harris has done a marvelous job of reinvigorating our farm system- but most of the highly prized prospects and players are guys that were brought under Al Avila.

So, you can scream on the radio and twitter all you want about “Fire Yzerman”. I don’t think it’s going to happen. I think Steve has been transparent since day 1 about how long this rebuild would take, and I imagine that Chris Illitch is aware of this as well. You can fire Yzerman, sure. But it’s not going to change fundamental flaws about this team, and within two-three years of the new GM, you’d start to see the Yzerplan fully coming together. And let’s be honest. You’re not leaving this fandom to go root for the Vegas Golden Knights or Florida Panthers. You’ll be at LCA with your wingnuts hat the first game of the playoffs- whether it’s next year or in twenty years. So sit there in your full diaper and enjoy the ride, baby. We’ve got some hockey games to go win.