Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman excited Red Wings fans — at least so far this offseason with a different approach to the free agency shopping season. Instead of massive monetary deals stretching multiple years, Yzerman opted for much more affordable one to two-year deals, in fact, the Red Wings GM mentioned that he wasn’t yet ready to go out and offer out those long-term contracts which Red Wings fans seemed very much fine with.
And fans should inherently be fine with that. Yzerman seems to have a very sound and established plan of building through the draft, something he was able to do in Tampa Bay which paid dividends this season when the Lightning was able to win the Stanley Cup, a team that had Yzerman’s fingerprints all over it.
However, was the plan that ultimately unfolded and continues to unfold this offseason the actual plan that Yzerman was looking to execute?
According to Justin Spiro, a source within the Red Wings organization let him in on some news that Yzerman was actually “not permitted” to go after in players he was “interested in” and was instead “limited to short term, cheap deals”.
Spiro also continued saying the Staal trade was approved and completed on the basis that the organization needed to “ice a team and spend at compliance”.
Aside from the content itself, there’s probably plenty of question as to who potentially leaked this information out. Jeff Moss of the DetroitSportsRag.com points to Mike Bayoff, the “Director of Strategic Hockey Alliances” for the Detroit Red Wings, and apparently a relative of Marian Ilitch considering he carries her maiden last name.
Moss, whose had a pretty stellar history of breaking shit before mainstream local media doesn’t see impressed with Bayoff if he’s in fact the one leaking this to Spiro.
Moreover, Moss questions the alleged “financial mess” Ilitch Holdings is in considering their estimated net worth.
As far as Spiro’s tweets, take them for what you will, he’s been wrong before and he’s been right.
I think Red Wings fans and Tigers fans knew heading into the Chris Ilitch era that he wasn’t going to spend like his Dad and that the teams were going to be much more financially conservative when it came to free agency. Perhaps this is, even more, the case given the COVID-19 pandemic.
Referring to Ilitch Holdings as being a “financial mess” certainly needs more clarity again considering the net worth of the Ilitch family. Not to mention just because the Red Wings and Tigers for the matter have decided to take a different approach to free agency doesn’t necessarily mean one thing or the other. Could it be because of finances? Sure, but could stock piling draft picks on the back of short-term, cheap contracts be another method to obtain greater future success? Absolutely. Lets also not forget the all out mentality never worked for the Tigers under Dave Dombrowski and the Red Wings haven’t won anyting since 2009 by the prior approach used by Ken Holland.
