The Detroit Red WingsIt was celebrated that the Return of Steve YzermanThey had hoped three years ago that one of their greatest players would take over as general manger.
It hasn't yet happened.
Detroit won 39% of its games and was 32-40-10 in 2010. This is barely better than the rate last year, which had dropped to a minimum of one-fourth of its games during Yzerman’s first season.
While the Red Wings finished 20 points better than the NHL's worst teams in terms of points, they were still close to earning a wild card berth in this year's playoffs.
Detroit's drought of playoff appearances has now reached six years. It was in the postseason for 25 consecutive seasons and won four Stanley Cups.
Jeff Blashill, coach of the team, stated that “We've stayed longer in the playoff race than we have for the last couple years.” “Since the rebuild began, we had as much optimism as we have had.”
Yzerman's biggest move for the offseason will be deciding how to deal with Blashill. Blashill's seven-year tenure coincides in a rebuilding project that would have likely landed anyone behind the bench.
Blashill is 204-261 72. He has indicated that he doesn't worry about his future with the franchise, and is proud of the progress made this season.
Rookie Moritz SeiderThe team still has a lot of work to do to compete against the Tampa Bay Lightning, Toronto Maple Leafs and Florida Panthers in its own division.
Seider declared, “We are far away from that.” “But, we're adding parts and we made big strides. For almost half of the season, we were fighting for a wildcard. We just couldn't find any way to compete after the All Star break.
Seider was Yzerman’s Detroit draft pick and was chosen earlier than expected at No. Seider is currently ranked 6th overall. However, his career has been a huge success. This German rookie became the fifth to reach 50 points since 1990.
Seider stated, “I had high expectations of being part of the team. That was it.”
Blashill fought hard for Blashill to be named NHL's top-ranked rookie.
Blashill said that Seider was hands down the Calder Winner for the number of minutes he had with the defensive or offensive responsibilities he had.
Only five Red Wings have been named rookies of the Year, none since Roger Crozier's 1965 win.
Seider isn't the only building block in the Red Wings' roster. Lucas RaymondIn his first NHL season, he scored 23 goals and 57 assists.
Raymond scored the most goals of any Detroit rookie since 1996 Sergei FedorovIn the 1990-91 season, he scored 31. The forward aged 20 became the fourth player in team's history and the first since Yzerman (1985) to score 50 points.
Blashill stated that Raymond and Seider, who were drafted No. 4th overall in 2020. They won't go into the offseason content with their personal success.
Blashill stated, “They want be great players on great teams.”
This report used information from The Associated Press.
