It’s a vicious, but predictable, cycle.
Team goes into rebuilding mode. Town understands why. Team makes incremental progress, albeit it slowly, then falls back. Town is outraged.
General manager preaches patience and sticking to the plan. Town says hogwash.
There you have it, your Detroit Red Wings, the last team sitting where others have risen.
The Pistons beat the Knicks, their possible opponent in the first round of the playoffs, in a thriller at Little Caesars Arena Thursday night. The Pistons’ season-to-season turnaround is one of the most dramatic in NBA history.
The Tigers beat incredible odds last August and September to reach the postseason and knocked off the juggernaut Astros in the playoffs. This week, the Tigers whipped the mighty Yankees two-out-of-three and are leading their division.
The Lions are now an NFC power, so good that fans no longer shed tears of joy if they merely win a playoff game, but rather those of sorrow if they don’t reach the Super Bowl.
The colleges have had their moments in the sun recently, too. Michigan won the 2023 national championship in football and annually pounds Ohio State like a drum. Michigan State reached the Elite Eight and UM the Sweet 16 in hoops. Western Michigan is playing for the NCAA Hockey title and Oakland beat Kentucky in the Big Dance just a little more than a year ago, its version of hitting the lottery.
The Red Wings of 2024-25 are as inspiring as a 10-mile walk in torrential rain. They started out dreadful, got the traditional hockey jumpstart by changing coaches, and reverted back to form. They are going to miss the playoffs for the ninth straight year. Losing has become entrenched in the Red Wings’ fabric. No lead is less safe than Detroit up by a goal with a minute left.
It’s perplexing because the Red Wings have several solid NHL players, some rather handsomely paid, like Dylan Larkin, Lucas Raymond, Moritz Seider and Alex DeBrincat.
While Steve Yzerman has drafted well, year-to-year he’s failed at acquiring talent to augment this nucleus and other developing young players. He has mirrored his predecessor Ken Holland in that regard. J.T. Compher, Andrew Copp, Jeff Petry, Ben Chiarot, Justin Holl, Vladimir Tarasenko and Erik Gustafsson have been total busts. Trading for goalie Petr Mrazek knowing that he's signed through next season with a $4.25 million cap hit is nonsensical.
Compher, Copp, Tarasenko, Chiarot, Gustafsson and Holl are also returning because of term. Combined that’s nearly $26 million -- or 27 percent -- of the NHL’s projected $95.5 million salary cap next season.
This season, those same players, along with Petry, whose contract is expiring, have accounted for $27 million of the $88 million cap (31 percent). It’s a lot of salary, especially in a hard cap league, with precious little production.
Now contrast it to the veterans general manger Trajan Langdon has brought in for the Pistons. Malik Beasley, Tobias Harris, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Dennis Schroder have significantly helped the Pistons' young nucleus grow because of fit, skill and leadership.
Tigers’ president of baseball operations Scott Harris has made sure not to overextend the term on veteran contracts, and has used veteran acquisitions wisely in trades. In the case of trading Jack Flaherty and re-signing him, the Tigers got their cake and were able to eat it, too.
The NFL has a much different landscape than the NHL. You know after four years of drafting a football player whether he can play in the league. In hockey, you're usually just starting to know over the same period. Yzerman has drafted well, but Holmes, year to year, has done a much better job of piecing together his squad for the season.
This has been a bad year for the Red Wings. Not much progress. A lot of regression. The fan angst toward Yzerman is justified. Just look at where the Red Wings stand compared to the rest of this town.
It has little to do with patience, and a lot with poor player personnel decisions.