Departure of Yzerman and Shanahan key to Red Wings’ Run?
That is what Scott Burnside suggests in this ESPN article:
It is almost sacrilege to suggest, but it is nonetheless patently clear that this Detroit Red Wings team is far better team now that icons and legends Steve Yzerman and Brendan Shanahan are gone.
This is not to diminish in any way the contributions both these players made to the Red Wings. Both are Hall of Fame material — Yzerman a first-ballot Hall of Famer to be sure. Both were crucial elements of three Stanley Cup teams between 1997 and 2002. Yzerman was the playoff MVP in 1998.
Each was, in their own way, a significant part of the team’s identity through the 1990s, a time when the Red Wings were the toast of the Motor City and the envy of other NHL franchises.
I wrote about this prior to the start of the playoffs although I didn’t suggest that the team would be better off without either player.
If you want to remain one of the best franchises you have to hoist a beer and wish a fond farewell to the guys who are no longer in their prime (or jeer Feds if you must) and welcome with open arms the guys who are going to tell the story going forward.
Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk and of course Tomas Holmstrom have thrived this playoff season. The team has deftly transformed into Mike Babock’s and team captain Nick Lidstrom’s style of play by playing excellent team defense.
The Red Wings do not win the Stanley Cup following the 2001-02 season if Steve Yzerman doesn’t will them past Vancouver in the first round of the playoffs. But it also became pretty clear following this eye injury in the previous playoff series against the Calgary Flames that it was time for him to move on. Seeing him skate erratically like a chicken with its head cut off before falling to the ice and then kicking involuntarily as a result of the pain was sickening. It was the one time when I realized his pain threshold was simply going to do him more harm than good at that point in his career. Enough was enough.
There were many Red Wings fans who realized that it was probably for the best if Brendan Shanahan moved on after last season. Ken Holland tried to sign the power forward to a new contract this past summer but to Shanahan’s credit he realized it was time to leave. He seemed re-energized in New York as he served a similar role to Jaromir Jagr that Burnside describes as the role he played alongside Steve Yzerman.
Bill over at Abel to Yzerman commented last summer about a brief conversation a reader of his blog had with Mike Babcock at an airport. The question surrounding the team at that time was whether Yzerman would return for another season or retire. So the guy asked Babcock whether he thought Yzerman would return. Babcock, in a comment that has come up quite a bit in his press conferences lately, asked the person if they wanted to hear the answer that would appeal to their heart or their head? In press conferences Babcock tells the reporter he would have one answer if they were off the record or having a beer.
Last summer Mike Babcock clearly understood that Steve Yzerman had wrung every bit of hockey out of his destroyed body that he could. He undestood that the Captain was done, and there was nothing that could change that. That was the only answer as far as the head went, despite what the heart might want to hear or believe.
Bill has been hinting lately that he has a post coming up regarding Steve Yzerman, and I suspect it will be something along the lines of what Scott Burnside wrote in this ESPN article. It appears that the Red Wings could only move on once the Captain stood down and allowed the younger players within the ranks to take up leadership of the team. The good sign if you are a Red Wings fan is that both Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg have proved to be capable of fulfilling their duty.
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Scott Burnside’s article is a joke. Putting the blame on Yzerman for this team not winning is disgusting. It was Lidstrom, Zetterberg, Datsyuk, Holmstrom, etc. that failed in the past, not Yzerman. They didn’t get the job done. Yzerman was one of the Wings best players last year.
TC19,
I’d agree that Burnside goes a little overboard in his commentary. Yzerman gave everything he had and when he was healthy last season he was able to be effective, particularly in the faceoff circle. It just worked out that his retirement happened to take place at a time when Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg finally started to produce in the playoffs.
Burnside went beyond overboard with that. His article was very disrespectful to Yzerman.