The Detroit Red Wings missed the playoffs last season for the ninth straight year. Not even the lousy rosters of the notorious “Dead Things” era from 1970-71 to 1982-83 had a postseason skid lasting that long.
Steve Yzerman was the foundation player on which the Red Wings resurrected themselves into a league powerhouse and a four-time Stanley Cup champion, three of those under Yzerman’s captaincy. However, he’s been the general manager for six of the past nine seasons of futility.
Red Wings fans were patient during Yzerman’s early years of rebuilding, based on his accomplishments in a Wings jersey and his efforts building the Tampa Bay Lightning into an eventual Stanley Cup champion. However, that patience is wearing thin as the postseason drought drags on.
Yzerman faces criticism for a lack of urgency, including from team captain Dylan Larkin. Among those urgent needs is the addition of a top-four defenseman.
The Red Wings possess an excellent young No. 1 defenseman in Moritz Seider. Promising Simon Edvisson showed potential in his first full NHL campaign last season, netting 31 points in 78 games. However, they need an experienced top-four blueliner to take some pressure off those youngsters.
So far, however, Yzerman’s only addition to his defense corps is Jacob Bernard-Docker, who is now on his third team in this calendar year. To be fair, there weren’t many enticing free-agent options, but the Wings GM must still address this glaring problem.
The Red Wings have over $12 million in salary cap space with 23 active roster players under contract this season. Yzerman could weaponize that cap space by targeting teams looking to shed salary to become cap-compliant before the start of the season.