Sportsnet: Elliotte Friedman on the Jeff Marek Show talking about the Detroit Red Wings, how they were making moves to be a playoff team but what will happen if they don’t make it. Is it playoffs or bust for the Red Wings or did they think they may not be quite there yet.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Marek: “This one’s huge. Detroit finds themselves on the outside looking in.
You know, I was having a conversation with someone and into morning about the raised expectations around the Detroit Red Wings.
And this person was saying to me essentially, look, you don’t make the (Alex) DeBrincat move and you don’t specifically make the Patrick Kane move and not have designs on making the playoffs.
NHL Rumors: The Ottawa Senators Will Want To Make Hockey Type Trades This Summer
Do you agree that (a) by making those moves the expectations get raised and it is playoffs? And if not, like if they fall short, what do you think the consequences are for Detroit?
Friedman: “I don’t know. Like, like I have to, I have to say that, like one thing about Yzerman is, he is proven to be really patient when it comes to his team and his coaches.
You know, he was, he was very, very patient with Jeff Blashill. Very, very patient with Blashill. And like they were Red Wings fans, who want to change much quicker than Yzerman did, eventually.
So I, like to me, you always try to look for patterns in behavior. And to me, Yzerman has shown that he is patient. And that, you know, I don’t necessarily think the coach is in any trouble here. It’s just not the way that Yzerman does things.
I but what, I what I do wonder about is, like we’ve talked about how Yzerman is managing the team like, like, it’s like a manager expects to make the playoffs. I’ve had people tell me that they don’t believe that’s true.
That yes, he has tried to fill some holes with short-term contracts. However, that they think that going into this year Yzerman still felt the Wings had holes and weren’t ready yet.
And while I think when you get to this position and you’re in a playoff spot, if you don’t get there, it’s a disappointment. And I think even Yzerman being cutthroat as he was as a player would consider it a disappointment.
NHL Rumors: Detroit Red Wings, and the St. Louis Blues
They believe that overall, they feel, he felt going into this year, a playoff spot was not a guarantee for them, and they still had growth to make. Now we’ll find out if that’s right at the end of the season, but these are people who generally tend to know more than I do.”