Free press article from Helene St. James. Interesting to note that Yzerman and Todd talk about every day, both believe in this team's ability. McLellan said "The players shouldn’t be sitting in the locker room, thinking that the cavalry is coming."
Free press article from Helene St. James. Interesting to note that Yzerman and Todd talk about every day, both believe in this team's ability. McLellan said "The players shouldn’t be sitting in the locker room, thinking that the cavalry is coming."
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FULL ARTICLE:
As the NHL trade deadline nears, Detroit Red Wings players hope their general manager takes their chemistry into consideration – and their coach hopes they’re not waiting for anyone to come to their rescue.
This is a week that can test the ability to shut out outside chatter, with 3 p.m. Friday looming as a last opportunity for GMs to swap with one another before the playoffs. The Wings have a little north of $11 million in cap space and could use a depth defenseman and help at center, but whether Yzerman ponies up the cost to make additions could be influenced by how the Wings perform this week.
“That’s a matter of how good we play and it kinds of puts the pressure on us,” defenseman Moritz Seider said. “I’ll always take those odds for ourselves. I like to bet on ourselves because I think we can believe in each other, we can trust in each other, and hopefully in the end, we send a positive message that this is a good team.”
Seider said he’s usually one of the last to hear about a trade because, “I’m not very big on social media to check it every day or every minute. I believe in this locker room and I believe we have a good chance of doing what we can as a group here together.”
Veteran defenseman Ben Chiarot likewise tries to tune out the distraction, but conceded that, “guys pay attention to what’s going on around the league. I think everyone on every team is hopeful that you are bringing guys in to help the cause. We’re no different in here.
“If you’ve got a good thing going, everyone is kind of set in their roles, you almost want to leave it be. If you’re a team looking to fill some needs, you’re hopeful of adding something. But chemistry is an important thing, and you want to have that going into the playoffs.”
The Wings have a need at center after losing Andrew Copp to season-ending shoulder surgery at the end of February. Michael Rasmussen hasn’t played since suffering a blow to the head on Feb. 27, and remains day-to-day. On the back end, defenseman Jeff Petry, who underwent surgery for an undisclosed injury in early February, has begun to skate, but the timeline hasn’t changed from the estimated 6-to-8 week recovery. “We hope that he recovers quick and is back in the lineup,” coach Todd McLellan said, “but it wont’ be soon.”
One player the Wings could use will be in town Thursday, when they host the Utah Hockey Club. Defenseman Olli Määtta is precisely the type of steady third-pair guy that would be ideal, but the Wings traded him back in October for a third-round pick to alleviate carrying eight defensemen).
McLellan is in contact with Yzerman daily, and said such regular contact means, “there’s not a lot of movement with chemistry and issues. There’s little things that pop up and we talk about them all the time.
“I know that he believes in this group and that he wants to do whatever he can to help this group. But the players that put the jerseys on have to get the job done. We aren’t sitting in the coaches room; the players shouldn’t be sitting in the locker room, thinking that the cavalry is coming. They’ve clearly shown to each other that they have the ability to win some games and string things out. A lot of things have to go right – they have to play well. But we have a lot of tools in that locker room right now.”
>”If you’ve got a good thing going, everyone is kind of set in their roles, you almost want to leave it be. If you’re a team looking to fill some needs, you’re hopeful of adding something. But chemistry is an important thing, and you want to have that going into the playoffs.”
Well, we’re on the outside looking in at the moment. Seems like this interview was done prior to this past week’s worth of disappointment.
Being that maatta signed for 3 years with utah, I find it odd, they thought to put that in the article like it was a possibility.
This does not inspire confidence
We aren’t gonna make a move are we? *Stuck in the murky middle*.
Realistically no cavalry is coming. You’re not going to get McDavid or Marner guys fall in your lap but I feel like this will be taken out of proportion that they’ve been planning to “sit on their hands”
Everyone’s tryna swindle Steve testing how desperate or “stupid” he is. There’s no way they aren’t pushing and trying
Seems like McLellan is saying this to get the boys in gear. Doesn’t really mean nothing is coming. It’s possible that a move or two are made, but we can’t DEPEND on it happening.
People acting like we need to buy at the deadline are impatient. It’s another year of doing nothing because it’s not time yet. Stevie’s preached patience and yet people continue to get their expectations up. We are getting better and will be soon. Why buy just to be a first round exit?
I won’t be upset at all if we don’t acquire a player this deadline. It’s clear that our offseason acquisitions didn’t pan out how we were hoping and I think that unfortunately Copp going down was a huge blow to our chances of making the playoffs. To me that doesn’t spell a team that should be giving up futures for a playoff run. That sounds to me like a team which is still coming out of a rebuild.
I’m excited to see if the boys can still pull it off and get some round one experience, I’ll be watching every game with my fingers crossed and a huge amount of hope.
That said, I’m also excited to see what happens with ASP and MBN. I’m excited to see Mazur get his chance next season. Will one of Wallinder, Buium, or Tuomisto force their way to bottom pair next season? Does Cossa get his chance or get another season in Grand Rapids? This is a really exciting time to be a fan of Detroit and hopefully during the offseason we can doing some addition by subtraction while also landing a couple positive FAs.
Is Boeser going to hit FA? Mikael Granlund? Sam Bennett? Brandon Tanev? Lots of exciting options.
Get 3 points this week and you’ll have my attention. I’ll be glued to the trade tracker all day.
This better not be a return of “We like our team.” nonsense from Holland era.
Honestly I don’t see obtaining any sort of piece that would drastically improve this team, without losing more than we would want to lose.
This team has shown they are capable of playing at the level that would get them in.
It’s another year of doing nothing at the deadline boys, strap in and prepare for another miss this year.
Every summer the team that spends the most money and assets is deemed the winner on FA and every march the team that spends the most picks and prospects is called the winner of the deadline.
You’d think wed collectively have learned by now, that those teams rarely do well enough to justify the cost spent and stop begging our own gm to do the same. Something, something, the marshmellow experiment