Steve Yzerman is almost certainly a consensus top-three Detroit Red Wing of all time. He has 1,755 points in 1,514 career NHL games, three Stanley Cups to his name, a Conn Smythe, Ted Lindsay, and Selke Trophy all in his trophy case. But perhaps the most impressive record he holds (tied with Sidney Crosby as of writing this) is the most consecutive seasons captaining a team at 19 seasons. The honor and burden was bestowed upon him at just 21 years of age, and he wore the “C” on his chest until his retirement at the age of 40. As a surefire Hall of Famer and legend of the game, his number 19 was sent to the rafters of Joe Louis Arena (now Little Caesars Arena), never to be worn again.
After his retirement, Stevie-Y was far from done with hockey. Almost immediately, he was hired as the Vice President of the Red Wings, and proceeded to win a fourth ring just two years later in 2008. The very next year, the Redwings made it back to the Final before falling in game seven to the Pittsburgh Penguins by just a single goal. After one more year in the Red Wings front office, Yzerman was hired to be the new general manager of the middling Tampa Bay Lightning. This would be a new challenge for him as the Lightning had missed the playoffs in the previous three seasons, and in his entire career as a player and in the front office, Yzerman had only missed the playoffs twice.
Yzerman’s first draft as GM of the Lightning was kind of a dud, but that would not be the norm for his tenure with Tampa. He became known for finding diamonds in the rough when it came to the draft. Year after year, it seemed like he could find superstars anywhere in the draft. In 2011, he drafted Nikita Kucherov, the second greatest Russian hockey player ever, 58th overall. In that same draft in the 7th round, he got Ondrej Palat 208th overall. In 2012, he drafted Andrei Vasilevskiy 19th overall, who was the best goalie in the NHL during his prime. In 2014, he drafted Brayden Point 79th overall, 2015 Anthony Cirelli 72nd overall, and 2016 Ross Colton 118th overall. All of these players would go on to play crucial roles in the Lightning, making four Stanley Cup finals in eight seasons and winning two of them.
However, before Lord Stanley’s Cup came back to Tampa, Yzerman went back home to build his Detroit Red Wings back up to the top. Actually, Yzerman’s 2 years out of Tampa would be the years they would win the cup. It must have stung to see the team that he built climb to the pinnacle of hockey without him.
Yzerman’s strategy to rebuild the Red Wings was dubbed the Yzer-Plan by the hockey community. So far, calling the Yzer-Plan underwhelming would be an understatement. With the Wings, Yzerman’s talent for finding hidden gems in the draft has been painfully absent. As of writing this, he has yet to draft a player outside of the first round who has gone on to play more than 73 games in the NHL. This is not to say he hasn’t hit on draft picks, but he seems to have lost his touch outside of the first round.
Stevie-Y started off his drafting tenure with a bang by drafting franchise cornerstone defenseman Moritz Seider 6th overall in the 2019 draft. At the time, this was seen as a big reach and an even bigger surprise, but Seider quickly silenced his doubters when he burst onto the scene and won the 2021 Calder trophy as rookie of the year. In 2020, the Red Wings were one of the worst teams in NHL history, finishing the season with 17 wins and just 39 points. Naturally, they had no luck in the lottery and fell to the 4th overall pick, but this ended up being a blessing in disguise. With the 4th pick, the Wings drafted Lucas Raymond, who is currently the second leading scorer from his draft class. The next year, Yzerman would draft Simon Edvinsson and Sebastian Cossa, then followed that up in 2022 by drafting Marco Kasper.
Edvinsson and Kasper have found their footing in the NHL, both having played over 77 games last season, and look to be good players. Cossa has only played one game for the Wings since being drafted in 2021, but he is a goalie, and goalies take a while to develop, so there is nothing to be worried about just yet.
2023 looked like a return to form for Yzerman, with his two first round picks, he drafted Nate Danielson and Axel Sandin-Pellikka. In the second round, he drafted Trey Augustine, who has been dominating as the goalie of Michigan State. In the 7th round, he seems to have found another gem in Emmitt Finnie, who burst onto the scene this year after grabbing onto a spot in the Wings’ top six and never letting go, notching eight points in his first 12 games in the NHL.
So after all of these good draft picks, why am I saying that the Yzer-Plan is a failure? The on-ice results for the Red Wings have not been there at all during Yzerman’s tenure, as they have yet to make the playoffs under him despite the talent drafted. Drafting is only part of the puzzle that is building a Stanley Cup champion. The other parts are trades and free agency, and Yzerman has a less-than-stellar record with these during his time leading the Red Wings. To his credit, he has trusted the pieces that he has drafted and has only made one blockbuster trade; all other trades have been for depth pieces or draft picks, a majority of which have not worked out. His one block buster trade was for star winger, Alex DeBrincat, who has 151 points in 176 games and made his second career all-star game appearance while in the Motor City.
When it comes to free agency, Yzerman has yet to sign a high-impact player and has only handed out a contract of four years or longer, three times, all of which have not worked out. The players who got those contracts are JT Compher, Andrew Copp, and Ben Chiarot. Copp and Compher were brought in in consecutive offseasons to be the long-term second-line center for the Wings. At the time of both signings, they were seen as pretty good signings, but since donning the winged wheel, both have seen their ice time and point totals decrease every season. When Ben Chiarot signed his four-year, $19 million contract, everyone outside of Stevie-Y thought it was a bad contract. Despite averaging about 20:30 of ice time per game while playing for the Red Wings, he has been terrible defensively and has nowhere near the offensive impact to cancel out his defensive shortcomings.
Is the Yzer-Plan a complete failure? No. It has been extremely underwhelming given the expectations Yzerman came into the job with. While building a perennial contender in the NHL takes an incredible amount of luck when it comes to drafting, the fact that he found so many gems so many times in a row as GM of the Lightning feels like more than a coincidence. I still believe that Yzerman is a good GM, but my confidence in him is waning. Clearly, he knows how to draft and has drafted stars while with the Red Wings, but there is still a lot more that needs to be improved upon before the Red Wings are anywhere near competing for Lord Stanley’s Cup once again
