Entering his fifth season as GM of the Red Wings, Steve Yzerman agrees this is his deepest team yet. Deep enough to snap a franchise-worst seven-year playoff drought?
"We’ll give it a shot," Yzerman said Wednesday as the Wings prepare to start training camp. "We did what we could in the offseason to improve our team without really mortgaging any part of the future."
Yzerman made several additions to the roster this summer, some of them clear and needed upgrades. The biggest was Alex DeBrincat, a two-time 40-goal scorer who should help solve the Wings' woes in putting the puck in the net. J.T. Compher adds more depth down the middle, Daniel Sprong and Klim Kostin should make an impact on the wings, and vets Justin Holl, Jeff Petry and Shayne Gostisbehere will strengthen the blueline. Coupled with internal growth, the Red Wings should certainly be better.
But they're still facing an uphill climb. Detroit finished seventh in the Atlantic last season, 12th in the East and missed the playoffs by 11 points. The Wings were much closer than that at one point, but Yzerman sold at the deadline because he knew they weren't ready. Are they ready now? Are they willing? With the roster Yzerman has assembled, are the 11-time Stanley Cup champs finally capable of returning to the playoffs?
"I’m not sure, honestly," Yzerman said. "I want to see us play, I want to see us start the season, I want to see how we look."
In the Atlantic alone, there are four playoff-worthy teams in the Bruins, Leafs, Lightning and Panthers and a serious threat in the Sabres. The Red Wings, along with the Senators and Canadiens, could generously be called a challenger. There are at least four more playoff-worthy teams in the Metro in the Hurricanes, Devils, Rangers and Islanders. Is anyone really counting out the Penguins?
"We’ll see how we match up, how we do through the first quarter of the season and then have a better idea of where we’re at," Yzerman said. "I’d like to think we’re a better team. I think we’re a more competitive team. We’ll see if that puts us in a position to compete for a playoff spot."
Yzerman has as much say in this matter as the players on the ice. When he reached his first real intersection in Detroit at last season's deadline, he stuck with the long path and traded Tyler Bertuzzi and Filip Hronek for picks. And so the rebuild continued. It's the players who will decide this season if the Red Wings are ready. It's Yzerman who will determine if they're willing.
The playoff path can merge with the prudent one. If the Wings reach a similar crossroads this season, it might be in Yzerman's interests to buy for the first time in his tenure as GM. So much can happen between now and then, and Yzerman won't rush into anything. But eventually, the team he's building needs to be put to the test.
"That desire to make that move or do something that puts you over the top as far as being a playoff team, I think there’s some judgement in when that time is," Yzerman said. "There is something to that: being patient, honest and accurate in your assessment of your organization, and then doing what’s necessary at the appropriate time."
The Wings' newcomers this season should raise their floor. And continued growth from returners like Dylan Larkin, Lucas Raymond, Moritz Seider and Ville Husso will push their ceiling higher. That much is clear. As Yzerman said, the Red Wings "know what to expect" from most of the players on the roster "based on their careers." It's the players not (yet) on the roster who could change the course of the season. Ideally, Simon Edvinsson, Marco Kasper and Carter Mazur won't just make the team. They'll make their mark.
It might be too much to expect any of them to crack the Opening Night roster, especially with Edvinsson and Mazur recovering from injuries. And Kasper, 19, has played exactly one game in the NHL. But all of them will have a say, one way or another, in how this season plays out in Detroit. If they're ready, they'll play -- and the Wings will benefit. If not, Yzerman is content to keep waiting. He has no interest in "just throwing them into the NHL and hoping we’re going to win games."
"We're still being patient," he said. "I intend to hold onto our draft picks for the foreseeable future and let them develop and again, try to add to that small core that we have that makes us a competitive team for a long stretch of time."
Whenever the Red Wings return to the playoffs, the goal is to stay there. If simply getting there were the aim, Yzerman would have picked today over tomorrow a long time ago. Tomorrow might finally be dawning in Detroit, but "not at the expense of the future," Yzerman said.
Otherwise, "We’re going to be sitting here a year from now or two years from now wondering again."