Red Wings organization issues statement after removing Steve Yzerman as GM
Photo credit: David Kirouac-Imagn Images
Steve Yzerman is out as Detroit Red Wings general manager, and the timing tells you more than the team's statement did.
Governor and CEO Chris Ilitch announced Wednesday that Yzerman will move to senior advisor while the club searches for a new head of hockey operations.
The public story is simple: a decade of failure finally caught up to him.
That story is too easy. Detroit has missed the playoffs for ten straight seasons, the longest active drought in the NHL, and none of the previous nine summers forced this move.
Yzerman went 224-251-9 in seven seasons and never reached the postseason.
Now the team has issued a statement on the change.
"Clearly, we are not where we and our fans expect to be as an organization. I'm looking forward to bringing in new leadership to build the championship-calibre organization Hockeytown deserves."
- Christopher Ilitch
- Christopher Ilitch
So why now, in mid-July, after Yzerman ran June's draft and worked the opening of free agency? Because one decision could not be made by the man who resisted it.
The Larkin problem Yzerman would not solve
Captain Dylan Larkin requested a trade on June 4, and Yzerman's response was telling. He said publicly that he did not feel pressured and would be comfortable keeping Larkin if no ideal deal appeared.
In April, Yzerman committed to coach Todd McLellan and preached continuity. An owner who wanted a reset just watched his GM plan to run it back with an unhappy captain.
Removing Yzerman is not really about wins and losses. It is about who controls the biggest transaction of Detroit's summer, and that job now belongs to someone with no soured relationship to protect.
Why the timing freezes Detroit
Here is the catch nobody circling Larkin is saying out loud. Detroit just installed a caretaker who cannot commit the franchise, so the trade that triggered this shakeup now waits on a hire.
Rival general managers know it too. Every week without a permanent boss chips at Detroit's leverage, and Ilitch may have slowed the very move he was trying to accelerate.
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