With the Red Wings' playoff drought having reached a franchise-worst seven seasons, you might think the pressure would be mounting on Steve Yzerman to bring the skid to a halt.
"Not really, not from my perspective," Yzerman said Tuesday as he prepares for next week's NHL Draft, where he has a warchest of high picks. "I’d rather make them sooner than later, but it’s not affecting what I’m doing right now."
No, Yzerman won't be abandoning his plan to rebuild the Red Wings, which still runs straight through the draft. He won't be risking the future for the sake of a fleeting reward. That's not to say he won't wield his picks and prospects to try to upgrade the Wings' roster this summer, but only for "players that are going to be here for a long time that will be part of our core," Yzerman said.
The Red Wings have two first-round picks at Nos. 9 and 17 and three straight second-rounders, plus an extra first next year. They have the ammo to aim high on the trade market, if that's their intent. Yzerman said it himself: "A lot of teams don’t have first- or second- round picks and are potentially looking to acquire them." Of course, he also said this: "I don’t anticipate moving the ninth pick. And in all likelihood as we stand here today, I expect to use the 17th pick on the first night of the draft as well."
Then again, the draft is still a week away. Most trade conversations won't happen until general managers convene on the floor of Bridgestone Arena next Wednesday night. There are big names on the block who would suit the Red Wings, none more so than Senators sniper and Michigan native Alex DeBrincat. A year after giving up the seventh overall pick plus second- and third-rounders to acquire DeBrincat from Chicago, the Senators look poised to trade him elsewhere amid a stalemate in contract negotiations.
DeBrincat is a restricted free agent who's seeking a lucrative extension to forego the open market next summer; the Red Wings have the cap space to accommodate him. The Senators need to replenish their draft capital in a year where they aren't slated to pick until the fourth round; the Red Wings have five picks in the top 43. Yzerman will only trade picks and/or prospects for players who fit Detroit's competitive timeline around Dylan Larkin, who turns 27 this summer; DeBrincat is 25 with two 40-goal seasons to his name.
The Red Wings, you know might know, haven't had a 40-goal scorer since Marian Hossa in 2008-09, the last time they played for the Stanley Cup.
"What I’m trying to do is build a nucleus of young players that will be part of the core for the future. So if we give up those pieces -- and again, with draft picks it’s no guarantee that they’re going to turn into that -- we have to feel that the player we’re acquiring is going to be part of that core for a long period of time," Yzerman said. "So I try to balance it and weigh, is it a young player, does he fit the timeline for us, what’s the cost to acquire him and then what’s the cost to sign him?"
There are trade candidates who make sense for Detroit beyond DeBrincat, with equally strong resumes. William Nylander of the Leafs and Pierre-Luc Dubois of the Jets are two that stand out. It's also worth calling the Coyotes about Clayton Keller and the Flyers about Travis Konecny, even if they're not eminently available. If the prices are too high, Yzerman could aim a tier lower for someone like Brock Boeser of the Canucks.
The obvious theme is that the Red Wings need more goal-scoring. They were better defensively last season in year one under Derek Lalonde, but failed to make a move in the East thanks to an offense lacking firepower. They are unlikely to find it in a thin free agent class.
Which brings us back to the draft. Yzerman considers it "very, very good at the top" with a "very talented group of forwards." Assuming the Red Wings stand pat at No. 9 -- trades in the top 10 are exceedingly rare in the NHL Draft -- they'll have the chance to add an elite offensive player to their future. And Yzerman might prefer that to sacrificing assets for a difference-maker now, so long as he's fine with playing from behind for another season in the talent-laden Atlantic Division.
There's a chance, albeit a small one, that Russian winger Matvei Michkov, who's under contract in the KHL for three more seasons and who's had limited contact with NHL teams ahead of the draft, could slide far enough toward No. 9 that the Red Wings are compelled to go get him. He's widely considered the best prospect out of Russia since Alex Ovechkin. Problem is, there's no telling when Michkov might arrive in the States -- and then how much longer it might take him to make an impact in the NHL.
There's no perfect move at the draft, unless you're the Blackhawks taking Connor Bedard first overall. For the Wings, even trading for DeBrincat is easier said than done. Ottawa and Detroit are on parallel paths in the same division, and the Sens will be seeking players more than picks and prospects to fill the void of one of their top scorers. Even if they're willing to send DeBrincat to the Wings, they'll likely impose a division tariff. Who's to say Yzerman's paying it? But with a wealth of resources in his fifth offseason rebuilding the Red Wings, the time feels like now for Yzerman to strike.
Yzerman is honest, if guarded, about Detroit's path forward. Asked what he needs to add to the team's core, he said the Wings "need players at every position." This was as vague as it was true. They appear to have a No. 1 center in Larkin, who just signed an eight-year extension, a top-tier winger in Lucas Raymond, a couple cornerstones on the blueline in Moritz Seider and Simon Edvinsson and perhaps Jake Walman, and a goalie of the future in Sebastian Cossa, who's still a year or two away from taking over in Detroit. The rest of the roster is largely interchangeable.
"You can look at our group and everybody can deduce on their own what you think our core is, but we’re still not there, in my opinion, to have that core to be a Stanley Cup contender," Yzerman said. "I have work to do, we have work to do as an organization to build the depth of the core, and I’d like to do that ideally with younger players that will be here a long time."
No general manager is more secretive than Yzerman, who might turn around tomorrow and swing a blockbuster that no one saw coming. Sometimes, it seems, he even surprises himself. He's never been afraid of the bold move, and the Red Wings aren't gaining ground in the East without one. But Yzerman is just as leery of losing ground in the rebuild, whose foundation has been laid in the draft. Question is, can he find the middle ground?
And if not now, when?
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