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The Detroit Red Wings have had an interesting offseason to say the least, and things took another turn on Wednesday when franchise legend and general manager Steve Yzerman announced he was stepping down from the position.
He will stay with the organization but will now serve as an advisor to CEO Chris Ilitch.
According to NHL.com, the team’s search for a new GM is already underway, and they will be considering both internal and external candidates for the job.
NHL TEAM’S ROUGH OFFSEASON GETS WORSE AS FRANCHISE LEGEND LEAVES TO COACH FOR ARCH-RIVAL
Kids, get the popcorn ready…
Yzerman is, of course, one of the greatest Red Wings of all time and captained three Stanley Cup-winning teams, some of which had what are, for my money, the greatest rosters of all time.
Go look at the 2002 Red Wings, and you’ll be like, “Oh, so this might be part of the reason why they instituted a salary cap.”
So, it made sense that after a successful tenure as the GM of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Yzerman would be the man to help the Red Wings get back on top in 2019, after having last made the postseason in 2016.
However, in the seven years that Yzerman was GM, the Red Wings never made it back to the playoffs.
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Worse yet, that futility led to captain and Detroit native Dylan Larkin asking for a trade.
I think this speaks to the danger of putting a franchise legend in charge of your team. There’s no doubt that if another person without Yzerman’s history with the organization had posted the same results, there’s no chance he would’ve lasted this long.
And, perhaps by letting things go on this long, that led to Larkin wanting out. Sure, players ask for trades all the time (especially these days), but it’s not a good look for the current state, or the future direction of the franchise.
Now, one of the big questions is whether this leadership change will make Larkin reconsider his desire to leave the team.
That wouldn’t be unheard of, but it seems as though the next Red Wings GM will have to deliver the sales pitch of the century to convince Larkin that the franchise can return to its winning ways in a hurry.
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