Since the sun is shining and it is about 90 on the way to 93-94 today, I thought I’d cite this article from the Hockey News. Very interesting, at least to @wmj and me. Buffalo is the team with the longest stretch of missing the playoffs, Detroit is next.
I saw that this morning too. I imagine you are as impressed with the Red Wings as I am with the Sabres.
Yep. Nothing like the fight to be not the worst.
I thought that fight was between San Jose and Chicago.
Wait a few years to see if they can beat out Buffalo and Detroit’s streak. If Buffalo gets in and Detoit becomes the team out of the playoffs the longest, GM Steve Yzerman may pay a heavy price despite being a Detroit icon. It seems that nearly every game I watch, especially those after Thanksgiving, someone mentions Buffalo being out of the playoffs the longest. Detroit should not want that ‘honor.’
Yzerman was a hell of a player.
But what about that made him qualified to be the GM?
He did pretty well as GM in Tampa Bay.
Yzerman also hired Jon Cooper, maybe the best head coach in the NHL, in addition to the cups won by the Lightning. When SY was hired as Detroit GM, he inherited a lousy coach and a pretty bad team. After covid, SY let him go and hired Lalonde, who had been an assistant with Tampa. He turned out to be mediocre, at best. SY canned him in the middle of the season and hired Todd McClellan, who appears to be a good coach. This season will tell. SY Appears to have drafted well, but it is a long hard road to build a team solely on the draft. That usually has to be combined with free agency signings and trades. His trades and signings have been mixed. He has signed only a couple of really solid players off free agency, and most of his signings have been 3rd and 4th players and some proved questionable. So, I consider that aspect to be average.
Fair enough.
Good point.