Steve Yzerman doesn’t feel pressure. And he won’t, at least for another season, maybe even another after that, with the Detroit Red Wings.
Call it banked equity, both in résumé as a general manager in Tampa and as an icon on the ice here. That’ll only so last long, though. Consider Joe Dumars, the Pistons Hall of Famer who returned, built a title team, and had to leave town when he couldn’t keep it up.
Although Dumars wasn’t quite the player in his sport that Yzerman was in his, even the most beloved figures don’t operate with endless runway. The end of that runway is a way off for Yzerman.
This is why, when the Red Wings’ general manager was asked Tuesday if he felt pressure growing to jumpstart the franchise’s rebuild, he said: “Not really. I’d rather make (the playoffs) sooner than later. But it’s not affecting what I’m doing right now.”
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Which is another way of saying: Don’t expect a big bold move during next week’s NHL draft, in which Yzerman holds five of the first 43 picks.
“I plan on picking ninth right now,” he said.
If you’re parsing words looking for wiggle room, the “right now” leaves the door open, as it should; it’s not for nothing that the Wings’ interviewed Leo Carlsson and Adam Fantilli during the NHL scouting combine earlier this month — a center and a forward projected to go in the top three.
That’s a long way from No. 9, where the Wings get their first pick in next week’s draft, and making up the distance would surely require bushels of capital — and maybe even that wouldn’t be enough.
Still, both project as better players than nearly any forward currently on the Wings’ roster. The key word here, though, is project. It’s a guess, and Yzerman has shown nothing if not patience four years and change into his rebuild. If a well-regarded player falls a few spots — Russian phenom Matvei Michov? — then maybe jumping up a couple spots wouldn’t require so much in return
Gambling on a KHL prospect might be worth the shot at this point, considering how unlucky the Wings have been in the draft lottery. But at some point, even without the lottery luck, Yzerman will find another top-line center, or forward, or difference-maker around the net.
And it doesn’t need to be Connor McDavid.
The Golden Knights just won the Stanley Cup without a player of that caliber, or even close to one, truthfully. They won with a bunch of really good players. In fact, Florida had arguably the best offensive player on the ice in Aleksander Barkov, and prior to injuries, the Conn Smythe Trophy favorite in Matthew Tkachuk.
It didn’t matter. The playoffs are often like that.
Yes, Vegas’ most gifted offensive player, Jack Eichel, was a prior No. 2 overall pick and led the team in points this season, but an undrafted center, Jonathan Marchessault, led the Golden Knights in goals.
A player, by the way, whom the Golden Knights swiped from the Florida Panthers during the expansion draft six seasons ago. How’s that for karma?
Yzerman, for what it’s worth, didn’t predict a Panthers-Golden Knights Cup Final, but he said he wasn’t surprised Vegas won it all. In this sport, almost anyone who reaches the second season has a chance — like Florida, the bottom seed that knocked off the record-setting Boston Bruins in the first round.
“I don’t think there is any set formula for playoff success, other than to have a good team or a team playing well,” said Yzerman.
What matters is getting into the playoffs and then staying there, year after year, and giving yourself a chance. Vegas didn’t make the playoffs a year ago. Florida did, while winning the Presidents’ Trophy, then lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the second round.
Tampa Bay has made the playoffs a long habit, and if there’s a club Yzerman might aspire to, it’s the one he helped build. This helps explain his extreme patience in his rebuild here, and why, for example, he traded Tyler Bertuzzi and Filip Hronek back in early March.
He called it sticking to the plan, and while he might have considered keeping one or the other if the Wings had kept winning after their unexpected streak in February put them on the playoff bubble, he has consistently kept his eye on the horizon.
“What I’m trying to do is build a nucleus of young players,” he said Tuesday, when asked if he would consider trading away assets for more established help. “If we give up those young players, we have to to feel that the player we are acquiring is going to be a part of that (nucleus) for a long time.”
Time is something Yzerman still has, clearly. A timeline is something he has as well, and it centers around Dylan Larkin.
The center — and team captain — turns 27 next month and is just entering the meat of his prime. As anchors go, he’s more than solid, and he played some of the best hockey of his career for stretches this past season.
Yzerman is determined to keep adding players that line up with Larkin and hope he keeps showing more each season. He doesn’t need a superstar to get this team where he wants to take it, but he needs more players like Larkin and defenseman Moritz Seider.
A few are quite possibly already on the roster, or in the system, and a couple more will get a real chance to make the team this season. During next week’s draft, Yzerman will have the chance to add another hopeful or two with Pick Nos. 9, 17, 41, 42 and 43.
Five of the first 43, as noted earlier. This should give him a bit of leverage, too.
Probably not enough to take a major swing, but enough to maneuver to get another shot at the kind of skilled and heady player he seeks.
Again, this could change — remember the words “right now.” But the steady and patient approach is what we’ve seen from Yzerman in the last four years.
That isn’t likely to change for a while. The pressure isn’t there. Nor should it be … yet.
Contact Shawn Windsor: 313-222-6487 or swindsor@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @shawnwindsor.