So? What's the goal next year? Finish 17th again? Pick 15th? Fuck the Rebuild Again?

[Pop Zeus]

Realistically, the Wings could easily surpass teams like the Capitals and Penguins and probably the Islanders.
And the Bruins/Tampa are due for a fall.

But Buffalo, Devils and Ottawa could easily be the teams that take those spots.
Are the Wings going to doubledown on veterans and burying prospects?
Raymond will get paid.
So will Seider.
And even with the cap rising, that's probably going to cost the Wings cap and limit what Detroit can do.

Detroit finished with 91 points.
What's the goal next season? 95?
Play some prospects and come what may?
Some "rebuild on the fly?" hope and prayer?

I think Yzerman doesn't have the balls to play prospects and risk slipping back to 84 points.

My guess is Yzerman brings up Edvinsson and then maybe one forward - Mazur or Kasper or Danielson.
Otherwise, he goes with veterans in some attempt to make the playoffs.

Debrincat-Larkin-Raymond
(Perron)-Compher-Kane
Fabbri-Copp-Rasmussen
Fischer-Veleno-Kasper(Danielson/Mazur)

So maybe Perron stays. Sprong disappears.

On defense, we're kind of stuck unless Yzerman is willing to be bold.

Chiarot-Seider
Walman-Petry
Edvinsson'
So what becomes of Matta? What becomes Gost? Holl?
How about Johansson? How about Wallinder?
Would they buy out Petry? But then they have one RD.
Edvinsson-Petry

And let's be real.
Can you go with Husso, Lyon and some Reimer type?

-
I think Yzerman is going to try to thread that needle. And it's 50/50 if Detroit gets in the playoffs unless they get a serious goalie. And that's if Detroit doesn't hurt their roster too badly to make cap space for Seider and Raymond.
-
The Debbie Downer analysis says 15+M going to Seider and Ray are going to twist Detroit.
So the Yzerman can't afford some stud in goalie. Detroit might be able to keep Kane - maybe. But probably not Perron or someone equivalent.

And what for?
To be a borderline team.
The money for the kids is already here, impacting depth.
Larkin is 28 now.
The other kids coming up don't necessarily super great.
How do the Wings go from playoff bubble team to contender?

[Wizard of Corsica]

They really need some of the non-lottery picks to start carrying water next year for this thing to be viable. Figure out how to flip one of the goalie prospects and quality picks into a pro winger.

The bottom line has improved every year under the Yzerplan, but will any of us be alive when the dividend checks are cut?

[RatPatrol]

Make a deal for Draisital after the Oilers are eliminated again.

[WingFanInA2]

I'm toast, I can't even think about next year. The situation isn't hopeless, but we are in a very difficult spot.

[Zattaman]

I'd like us to improve goaltending, but with Husso and Lyon under contract I don't see Yzerman making any moves. If anything, Cossa might get a call up or two.

Got to address the logjam on D.
Buy out Holl.
Keep Petry.
Let Gostisbehere go.
Keep Edvinsson.
Try to move Walman and bring up Johansson.

I've soured on Fischer. I think we could do better on the 4th line.
Let Kane and Sprong walk.
Try to bring back Perron at a one-year deal.
Bring up a couple of kids and sign a good 4th liner who can skate and hit.

[puckstopper92]

This is a very important off-season, because as the team is constructed, they need to make the playoffs next year, and that means they need to be better than they are right now. With Seider and Raymond due for big raises, I'm not sure how easy that will be to accomplish. There are some vets you can let go to free up some cap space (Perron, Ghost, Reimer), but then there are questions. Do you resign Kane? Or would you rather Stevie go get Stamkos, Marchessault, or find a way to fit a guy like Guentzel into the mix? And you still need an upgrade in net if possible. Maybe Cossa is ready to be in a tandem next year if he keeps playing like he has since the calendar flipped to 2024.

A trade would make a lot of sense if the Wings had anyone worth trading. Maybe Stevie can get creative and make some sort of three team trade to bring a player here? I don't expect it, but for all the critics of Yzerman, no one would ever fault him for sitting on his hands. This team is drastically different seemingly every year.

The one move we might see that could have a huge impact is a new coach. Newsy is fine, but maybe just fine. I'm not sure he's a plus coach, but I don't think he's a negative either. However, if that plus coach is out there, you have to go after him, right? I know there are rumors about Berube, but if I were Yzerman I would be kicking the tires on Q. He's surely served his time by now, right?

So I expect something to happen, and I do hope we see at least one substantial move this off-season. It's just very hard to predict what it will be. And even though I don't expect this to be the case, I am slightly worried with Raymond and Seider needing contacts, and with how close the team was to the playoffs this year, that it will be a quieter off-season.

[Pop Zeus]

They really need some of the non-lottery picks to start carrying water next year for this thing to be viable. Figure out how to flip one of the goalie prospects and quality picks into a pro winger.

The bottom line has improved every year under the Yzerplan, but will any of us be alive when the dividend checks are cut?

Is this the Yzerplan?
Sprong? Perron? Kane? Debrincat? Chiarot? Petry? Husso>

Always seemed to me that the real Yzerplan was gonna be Seider, Raymond, Edvinsson, Wallinder, Cossa, Kasper, Danielson....

If the Red Wings stumble to another bubble spot and we get another mid-round first, do you think is a sustainable effort?
Or does this start to look like this?

image.png (65.06 KiB) Viewed 159 times

[Fil Zaronek]

Finish 15th pick 17th

[Wizard of Corsica]

They really need some of the non-lottery picks to start carrying water next year for this thing to be viable. Figure out how to flip one of the goalie prospects and quality picks into a pro winger.

The bottom line has improved every year under the Yzerplan, but will any of us be alive when the dividend checks are cut?

Is this the Yzerplan?
Sprong? Perron? Kane? Debrincat? Chiarot? Petry? Husso>

Always seemed to me that the real Yzerplan was gonna be Seider, Raymond, Edvinsson, Wallinder, Cossa, Kasper, Danielson....

If the Red Wings stumble to another bubble spot and we get another mid-round first, do you think is a sustainable effort?
Or does this start to look like this?
image.png

Year over year results suggest the Wings will improve by X points next season and that should get them in the playoffs.

I believe this is sustainable, if Yzerman keeps hitting on first rounders, and later round picks like Mazur, Johannson and Lombardi start panning out for God's sake. His mid-level free agent signings have obviously been a mixed bag, but none of those contracts is prohibitive in the least.

They are obviously short on difference making forwards, that will need to be resolved before permanent stability can be achieived. Another couple years of hard core tanking might have resolved this, but I remain relatively cool with what Yzerman is up to.

[Stevie_Wings]

The way I see it, the plan is to continue to tweak this current roster and make it a more consistent wild card team for the time being. So instead of a hot January and a collapse in March, they're consistent for the most part and hover around 91-98 points for the next 2-4 years, possibly getting in to the playoffs a couple of times or just falling short the other times.
The Wings are not going to go with the Colorado/Toronto/Edmonton/Chicago/Pittsburg/Tampa model where 1st overall picks & elite players is how they win. It's going to be the LA/Boston/St.louis/Florida/Carolina model; building depth top to bottom, a couple superstar (maybe not elite) players and trades/signings at the right time.

You can't expect the Wings to be a consistent bottom 5 team, hope you draft top 2 in the right draft and then overnight it's a cup contending team. You build a good program, find stability in your own drafted players and then when it appears that they're a piece or 2 away, you make the big trades or ufa signings to take the next step. Players will want to come here if they can see where the team is headed rather than a consistent bottom feeder.
Danielson, Kasper, Mazur, Raymond, Ras, ASP, Edvinsson, Seider, Wallinder, Cossa, Augusteine, maybe a few late round surprises and upcoming draft picks are what the core of the team is going to be.
It's not an elite core but a solid one that has the potential to be a very good one. If this core pans out, Yzerman would really just need to find elite talent at forward via trades/ufa, I believe the goaltending and defense will be good as is.

The wings kind of took a step forward last season but collapsed at the deadline, they took another step this year but were very inconsistent; they still accomplished what they set out to do; play meaningful games until the end. They'll continue to take those steps while infusing in young talent year by year, there maybe be a stumble or 2 along the way, happens to most teams, but you gotta start somewhere. I believe that the more the Wings play in these types of games and make small gains, it gives Yzerman a framework to the strengths and weaknesses of the team in order to make tweaks until they're ready to take the next big step.