The post Red Wings Yzerman Establishes Unwanted Milestone appeared first on Detroit Hockey Now.
The best thing that Detroit Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman has going for him right now would appear to be that he is Steve Yzerman.
An icon. A legend. A Detroit institution.
Arguably, it’s the main reason he’s still the GM of the Red Wings.
Certainly, his track record if he were anyone else likely would have meant he’d have been shown the door by now.
Yzerman crossed a milestone into uncharted territory this season. In NHL history, he’s the first GM to miss the playoffs seven years in a row in charge of a team and still keep his job.
Before this season, Lynn Patrick of the Boston Bruins (1959-60 through 1964-65) and Yzerman shared that mark with six non-playoff seasons apiece as GM of the same NHL team.
Yzerman Addresses Red Wings Future
However, if you think that means Yzerman is on the hot seat, or his job is in peril, you’re either out of touch or you haven’t been paying attention.
Yzerman addressed his job security when he met with the media late last week. He acknowledged speaking with the team owner, Chris Ilitch, a few days earlier.
“He and the entire ownership, the Ilitch family, are very disappointed with the way the season played out,” Yzerman said.
In late January, the Red Wings led the Atlantic Division and were tied for top spot in the NHL’s Eastern Conference. They were 12 points clear of the playoff cutoff.
Detroit wound up missing the playoffs by seven points.
That being the case, Yzerman indicated that Ilitch didn’t give him cause to think he should start perusing the want ads.
“He continues to be extremely supportive of what we’re trying to do here,” Yzerman said. “We intend to have further conversations about our team and about our organization in the very near future.”
That jives with what we’ve heard at Detroit Hockey Now. A highly-placed NHL source told DHN that there’s no way Yzerman is going to be fired.
Red Wings Went Through Four GMs The Last Time This Happened
In NHL history, 20 teams have missed the playoffs seven or more seasons in a row. All of them changed their GM at least once during this futile period. Most of them went through multiple GMs.
The Buffalo Sabres, who ended a league-record 14-season playoff absence this season, tried five different GMs during their days in the desert. Both the Florida Panthers, who missed the NHL postseason for 10 consecutive seasons (2000-01 to 2010-11), and the California Golden Seals/Cleveland Barons (eight seasons from 1970-71 through 1977-78) went through seven different GMs.
Two teams tried four different GMs. Eight teams rolled through a trio of GMs, while seven teams had two different GMs.
Of all the teams on the list, only the Red Wings managed to populate it twice. Detroit went through four GMs while missing the playoffs from 1970-71 through 1976-77 – Sid Abel (1970-71), Ned Harkness (1971-73), Alex Delvecchio (1973-77), and Ted Lindsay (1977).
Bruce Norris, then owner of the Red Wings, found no difficulty in firing both Abel and Delvecchio. Each was a Red Wings legend. Both were Hall of Famers, long-time captains, and multiple Stanley Cup winners in Detroit.
The post Red Wings Yzerman Establishes Unwanted Milestone appeared first on Detroit Hockey Now.
