Well the big news of yesterday is that Yzerman has decided to step down as GM of the Tampa Bay Lightning and will now take a role as a senior adviser to the team. This clearly has everyone in Hockeytown, and then some, speculating as to why and also what's next? I have 3 different outcomes we could see from this move.
First is that he somehow doesn't believe the team will get it done on the big stage when it matters the most. So by stepping down he is moving himself out of the spotlight quite a bit early and now blame will begin to fall on his replacement in the coming years, while he will have to deal with very little criticism. Also with his family this would allow him to be able to spend more time with them stress free, an added bonus.
Secondly, and this ties into the first a bit, without the stress of running a franchise he can focus on making a move to be the GM of the Seattle team. So far as I know there are no ties he has involved that would pull him or poach him away but after seeing what Vegas did why wouldn't you want to take that chance and build your team completely from scratch.
Thirdly, and everyone in Detroit's favorite, is that he is coming "home" to resume the role of GM for the Wings after this upcoming season is over. Key here is that Yzerman has 1 year left on his contract, while Ken Holland has 2 on his. So would the Illitches fire Holland or do they have some sort of verbal agreement that he will step down after this season, assuming that Yzerman wanted the position. Which also at this point, couldn't it almost be considered and investigated for some sort of tampering like with players under contract?
Either way if what we're heading is all true he has said that he does plan to return to Detroit and we all figure that he will take the role as GM. And in our great fantasy we envision him leading us back to the promise land of a Stanley Cup which we haven't had since 2008. The next question to be answered though if he leave Tampa one way or the other (Detroit or Seattle) he will need a coach. My money is on Guy Boucher, from there I wouldn't mind seeing Glen Gulutzan as an assistant, that would make a great coaching tandem for either team.
It works that much better in Detroit right now too, a defensive scheme with young players needing to learn that side a bit better and explosive offensive capabilities. Just saying, it sounds good. But we'll have to wait another 9 months or so to see how it all actually plays out. But this is a lot of peoples dream, potentially come true.
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