Steve Yzerman 2024 NHL Free Agency Media Availability

Steve Yzerman 2024 NHL Free Agency Media Availability

going to be there I’m ready to lift you up when you need it most I’m ready to lift you up when you need it most I’m ready to lift you up when you need it um well um we’ve you know we had certain uh objectives uh at the opening of free agency that we hope to accomplish and and address um I think we talked at the end of the season or maybe maybe was at the draft with our own free agents that we had some lot of interest in trying to bring them all back for different reasons and we weren’t going to be able to do that with all of them um and we adjusted uh or pivoted and and um uh were’re able to bring in some players to replace some of the guys we couldn’t bring back and and address some of uh areas of maybe weakness or uh concern um with the players that we brought in is that word Charo I mean make up especially some of the offense for sure yeah yeah like he one a left shot Winger uh bigger body a little bit different type of player than then uh you know our our Wingers uh uh Lucas uh Patrick Kane Alex the brink at you can get a bigger body a left shot will fill out that uh that you know I’ll say top six top nine group uh score Straight Ahead guy who’s big and strong and go go than that I think that’s a you know we feel it’s a really good addition Steve what’s what’s going on with the goal tending right now how are you uh I mean are you planning on going with three or what exactly is the situation there well um you know uh we’ll go into training camp we’ll we we brought in three golender last year um kind of uh our goal wasn’t to go with three um throughout the season and uh we debated initially on placing one of the goalies on waivers and ultimately waited and then with injuries we were glad we didn’t um we’ll see how Billy’s health is in training camp we expect him to be 100% ready to go um and then we’ll we’ll kind of do what we did last year we’ll play it by year we’ll figure it out as we go along Steve uh you know you’re adding terce Seno with burger and uh some more offense there but there’s still kind of a deficit with all the guys that you lost that had scored last year uh you just planning to make that up is going to have to be internally or is there another move possible um I would say there’s another move possible um we’d consider that I don’t have anything on the go at the moment um you know we kind of tally up the goals in the goals out um obviously we’re counting on Vlad tereno um to to add to that um we uh just look internally we expect a little more out of Lucas Raymond uh Alex the brink at um his his shooting percentage uh for his career was down a little bit last year and if you recall the great scoring chances that he had hit the bar and went out and and we think that’ll contribute a little bit more I think uh I know you’re all big on analytics and I think his expected goals will turn into goals next year I think his numbers will go up um um you know Jonathan bergren will will we expect to contribute a little bit to that so um on the back end uh Eric guson will contribute to um some of the offense lost uh with Shane gses beair and and Jake wallman’s goals and and then ultimately hopefully we can keep a few more out of the net and that maybe it Nets out uh in a positive way do you feel team defense-wise do you feel like you were able to do kind of what you I know that was a priority from you coming out of the season um yeah we had to make some changes one we couldn’t afford to keep all of our that that same decco together together and just bring back and just ice a team um you know when the season ended for different reasons you know our last couple games we had uh you know $6.8 million on defense sitting in the stands we couldn’t we can’t do that this year uh with our young players contracts coming up and uh um so we had to make some changes but I’m happy with the decor um um you know we’re expecting Simon to play a bigger role uh Albert Johansson will get an opportunity to have an impact on the decor and fit in somehow and we’re confident that some point he will play we were really fortunate last year we didn’t have a lot of injuries on D part of you know uh a couple guys didn’t play much because of that uh we don’t want anybody to get hurt but the odds are we’re going to face some injuries and uh I think you need eight nine defensemen you’re not going to carry nine most teams carry seven but plan on having eight and having somebody called up you have injuries so we have depth on our Blue Line um and again I’m expecting we’re counting uh Simon to play have a bigger impact on the team and the rest of the core uh Eric gson will replace the ghost on as that kind of that offensive probably on a power play guy I expect him to be on one of the power play unit so um you know we’re just going of keep going along and be patient with our you know our younger defenseman with uh um U AXS will be U another year here in Sweden wait for him we got toist and wallinder and the miners Shai buam just signed so allows us to be patient and let the young kids continue to develop when they’re ready to go when you talked about kind of keeping a few more goals out of the net how big a part of that is tal um well I think he’ll be an important part I don’t know I can’t tell you how many goal uh uh game starts they’re all going to get but he had a very good year um Very Good Year in Los Angeles this year and you know prior just the one year two years ago in Ottawa we had some injuries but you go and look back at his numbers are consistently really solid uh big guy and competitive guy um who’s had a relatively strong career and I you know expect his save percentage to you know help and reduce the good number of goals gains but collectively as a team um our play has to pick up on that side and some of the changes on the lineup will help and coaches tweaking things a little bit in the way we do it and and and you know we can keep our our go tending overall save percentage up a little bit that should contribute to a uh a little bit more or or less or fewer goals against excuse me Steve as you mentioned before it was tricky for you to set aside some money to make sure you could take care of your rfas and also kind of do your business now that you’ve gotten here like it looks like you like planned this almost down to the dollar a little bit you satisfied that you have enough money for the rfas uh and did that change as kind of went on your your estimate on what you’re going to need um hasn’t changed our estimate on what we’ve set aside for we you know we have if correct me if I’m wrong four UNR or four restricted free agents today and uh uh uh Mo um Lucas uh joov valeno and Jonathan bergren and we can can estimate uh um on a shorter term deal and we can also estimate on a longer term term deal and so we’ve set aside uh a certain amount of money um in the budget for them and as free agency went along and we’re trying to get our own guys signed we had to tweak things a little bit but what hasn’t changed is what we think those four players are going to come in at um and we’ll hopefully uh we’ll get the we will get contracts done with them it’s just a question of when and then um you know what term do we do actually on all of them how you worry to get ker signed in on a shorter term I mean too that’s another yeah I mean there’s good and bad to like for for both parties there’s risk in every contract we do uh you know what’s the risk for the player on a long-term deal they outperform their contract uh the risk on the team on a long-term deal is the player doesn’t perform up to his contract on the shorter term deal you lose a little bit of control but you have flexibility um so ultimately um what Patrick Patrick’s contract dies he’s over 35 uh we’re able to do a contract that has some bonuses in it that allows us some flexibility with our uh with the salary cap to either use it you know this year or push it into next year depending on how the season goes you mentioned a few times that the idea isn’t to build a team that can make the playoffs once but rather make it consistently on an annual basis how do you perceive the relationship between achieving that objective and eventually competing for a championship as well not just making the playoffs well um you know again we’re trying to uh build a a core um that’s going to be together for a number of years and you know unfortunately it takes time and uh depending on how your drafts go where your draft who’s available in those drafts it can expedite the process or it can be slower um and I’m going to continue to try to be patient with our draft choices our prospects until they’re ready to go and we’ll keep building on that group and as we’ve gotten a little bit better each season um you know where we we all would love to make the playoffs next year we would have loved to made the playoffs last year but ultimately I’m still trying to put together we’re still trying to put together that core of young guys that is going to be together and and start to creep into the playoffs and hang around the playoffs and maybe eventually win so again that is the the big picture the long-term plan and uh we’ll stick with that and we try to you know uh try to surround these young players with one good people um and better hockey players to help them become better players and uh you know slowly inch forward and you know this season we’ll see how big of an impact we have but we’ll have three young you know three young players in um in Simon Albert and Jonathan bergren move in Jonathan bergren excuse me move into the lineup so again we’re we’re continue to build that core and that’s the that’s my main uh my main focus and we’ll kind of continue to add each year whether it be through free agency or whatnot you feel a little more pressure as as the years go by I mean I know they already missed the playoffs for a few years when you got here but you know what a rebol can be like from a player perspective like just that if you feel a little bit more pressure as the years go by and the playoffs keep being elusive um yeah a little bit honestly you know we want you know our fan base wants to win you know we came close last year to making the playoffs still the finish of our season can it was very exciting and dramatic um it’s a little bit maybe misleading like we’ve got to really improve as we talk about in some areas we got to get deeper um um and we’d love to make the playoffs again this year and I’m hopeful but going to continue to try and as I say try to build like a really strong nucleus of younger players that are going to be around here um so you know pressure I guess whatever you want to call it that uh it’s not going to change what I’m trying to do and um and I just it’s the right way to do it and it’s taken some time and I can’t tell you it’s 5 years 7 years 10 years and I’m just going to stick with it here and and and we’ll keep going but we would we would all love to win and me you everyone our fan base I understand roster today I mean obviously it’ll play out on the ice but when you look at it today how do you feel about the playoff chances I don’t think it’s any different than I felt last year you know um I think we’re in with that group of teams um that has a chance to compete for the playoffs if we stay healthy if our goal ending is good um uh and you get some maybe unexpected uh I don’t want to say production but you know some players uh outplay your expectation we might get in and or you might just miss by a point on the last game of the season that’s the fine line of it all so I look at our group to or our team today um the roster today and compare it to last year’s group um it’s a little bit different might be a little bit better uh fit as far as roles for players where where they uh where they play or at least where they sit on the on the roster today um so I I expect it to be like a a comparable team to next year a lot of things went well uh you know our power play was at at times excellent um I think finished ninth in the league we got some incredibly timely goals from players to win some of these games very dramatically maybe it won’t be as dramatic next year and maybe that’s not a bad thing you know maybe we’ll win some some games uh uh with lower scoring and and not have these wild comebacks and we also might not have some of these wild losses where we were leading too you know so I think it’s going to be different ultimately I think we’re kind of in a similar spot or for the most part the core part that had a big impact last year will will remain the same and if anything potentially be a little better you know if Lucas Raymond continues on the same trajectory that he finished the season at he’s like a legit uh impact player you know um we’ll have Patrick Kane for an entire season and uh just you know our lineup is shaped up a little different and we’re uh or shaped you know shaped a little bit differently and and hopefully we can build off the momentum all of our guys that that they created throughout the season Steve were you in on any of the top free agents that went on Monday or is it kind of the term and the Mone kind of not fit with what you’re trying to do um we had some interest in one that we thought might be a fit and it uh we didn’t you know these things got to happen really quickly um and we decided very quickly that uh it’s going to be really some major surgery here to try and get it done and and we didn’t want to waste everybody’s time in in really getting there um so there one one player we thought might have been a a real good fit but it was going to be a challenge to get it done and and you know the concern on that day on July 1 is everybody’s gone um if you you know you kind of go down a certain road so we had to adjust what we you know decide which way we really wanted to go here and uh and and chose the path we did how Lot close were you on on Shane or how long I mean did you pursue Shane or um what I would say um trying to think of our we lost uh through fre agency David and and Shane um both players we talked with their agents throughout the the process right up until uh the free agency period opened ultimately we couldn’t agree on contracts that that work for both sides and you know we all went into the free agency windows so we talked right up until till the end and unfortunately we weren’t able to get deals done that worked for both parties how would you assess navigating the free agent Market this season with the salary cap going up did you it’s impossible to predict but did you anticipate it kind of the market playing out as it did in general um probably not to the extent you know the big the big guys the big fish whatever you want to call them we kind of expected them to nothing was really shocking there or unexpected there what was a little bit more uh interesting was the term in the dollars a lot of uh a lot of uh maybe role players got I didn’t really see that um and it wasn’t really our model there’s a lot of lot of players around on the league that that were free agents that we were they’d be a good fit for us we’d really like to get them and the dollars and the and not so much the dollars but the term was uh was attention grabbing does that change how you look at rfas at all it’s obviously different markets but you know in the end if you don’t go along with rfas they can become ufas and all that like does what happened on the UFA Market effect how you view going along with the restricted guys uh I take it on a individual basis um you know and you have reasons where you’re comfortable or not comfortable or um of going on a long-term contract with a player uh I really care not to elaborate on that why but um you know so and ultimately it comes down to hey like if we’re comfortable with the player does it what they’re willing to do long term might not match up with what we want to do long term so we do something shortterm and you you see see how it evolve or uh plays out a little bit something I feel like took note of was the handful of Michigan born players that you acquire during free agency I’m sure that’s not NE something you necessarily go out and seek but how cool has does it have to be for some of these players to add to the already handful of Michigan guys we have on the team yeah honestly it’s not part of the plan or um about we get into free agency uh or even you know players indicate you know they’d be interested in coming back um and you know I’ve been here whatever 5 years now and over the course of those years I’ve heard you know from from Agents and things the player would really love to come back um but on these terms and sometimes those terms work for us and sometimes they don’t so um I think it’s only natural you see the kids that in in any uh whether they’re Toronto or Montreal or Ottawa Detroit they grow up in in in the city of of their the the favorite team that they or their team favorite teams the team the city they grew up in and it’s like hey I’d love to play at home so I think there’s a bit of it an Allure for the players um but ultimately they they they also want to fit you know as far as fit uh not just financially but fit on the role they’re going to play um you know what stage the team is uh What uh stage you are in your um uh your I guess what stage your team is at in in the process and then ultimately does the contract make sense so but I I I I think it’s good I think it’s good for our Market um I think it’s good you know the shows the strength of hockey in the state of Michigan in the Detroit area that these young players are coming up and uh and playing in the NHL and I think there’s a little bit of an added bonus for us uh um um that they’re from the area but most importantly we’re trying to build put a good team on the ice you know and we don’t care where the players are from Steve just one more question on defense when you traded Jake I mean the way the defense looks now is that what you had in mind or was that in response to some external forces or just this is how you wanted your defense to look um a little bit of a little bit of everything you said there um ultimately we we needed to move out some money on our back end and then what role as a player going to play um um where does everybody fit in and uh and then ultimately what what are my options in in moving players does this make us a better team uh uh you know so ultimately we you know we’re looking at our left side we got a lot of left shot D we’ve got Albert who was on our you know uh he’s he’s making the league minimum this year which is you know valuable to have players on on minimum contracts are close to the minimum Simon’s going in to play a bigger role and uh and then on our right side and we wanted somebody that could play on the power play and uh with losing Shane it was important that we bring someone in that can have an impact on the power car play and so we were able to bring in Eric who replaces that role at a lower dollar so it’s kind of like putting together uh you know a bit of a a puzzle and you have certain amounts of money and uh to do it and if this piece takes up more money then you spend less on that part and uh so anyway um I’m you know today I’m pleased with how what our Decor looks like you know we’ll talk at some point in the season and hopefully we’re still pleased with it was part of the attraction of bringing fish back just how well that line with him and Rasmus and cop worked um yes h two um he’s uh he’s a very popular player on our team he’s very versatile on the ice as you saw he played on that third line that was a good effective uh checking line when uh when when Ras was healthy um um uh he’s predominantly a Winger but we used him at Center at times as well he’s a good penalty killer so he’s very versatile and uh you know again for that role you look around the league at what some of the players in the similar with similar production in the role we you know it’s a really good uh you know value to that contract we think but ultimately like his character and his personality um and you know the role he’s going to play on our team we the biggest factors and bringing them back can Guston play the right side we’re going to find out yeah he’s played back and forth he’s a mobile guy you know he’s been on different teams he’s a veteran you know like he can play chame played the right side as well and and ultimately I let Derek decide uh on what he does but I could certainly foresee him uh playing playing the right side Simon can go over there too and I don’t know what the Deep pairings are ultimately going to be I have my own Vision but but Derek will decide on that Albert can play Both Sides as well but yeah the these these real mobile D that have Puck skills can go on either side how much of a role did uh the health issues whoo had toward the second half of last year your plan or decision to bring in a couple of experienced goals yeah significantly honestly like we got a you know you go into a season um say just with with with your two goenda huge hole to Phill at the start of the season so we decided we’re going to go get another goenda Camp uh uh go through we’ll see how Billy’s health is and uh and then make a decision at some point you see what’s the latest is he train yeah no 100% everything’s good cleared to play it’s in you know in in his offseason program would be right on track to you know be ready to go and uh as if he had not had any injuries throughout the season is that the same with everybody because I think Dylan had had that you weren’t sure if he was training last time we talked yeah yeah well he’s training I you know I don’t think he’s uh I wouldn’t you know I these guys I’m not even sure they they may have sked a little bit but usually right around early July they get back on the ice but he’ll be 100% for training camp um uh you know I kind of get a periodic updates from the the medical staff and everybody’s progressing fine and there is no concerns or any uh concerns that any of our guys are not going to be ready for training camp 100% how about just a thought on development Camp you wish you would had nutritional information when you were uh 18 and first coming to Camp um not sure I would have heed and paid attention to it but uh you know I uh just things have evolved and changed so much you meant from n you know you say nutrition just the skills instructors the skating instructors the uh performance science part of sports now things have changed dramatically and the kids have so much more information and education to them and we’re hoping we’re hoping they kind of soak it in and for the most part I find all the young athletes today are really into the the gadgets and all this science um and find it interesting and some of the older players are buying into it as as well but uh it’s all designed to make them um better hockey players better athletes healthier um so the kids are really really engaged in it and uh you know I really think our our our staff um um you know kind of overseen by Mike barwis as uh one of the phenomenal intelligent educated people and uh um really fun to work with and the kids seem to be really uh uh enthralled by it and intrigued by it maybe and uh some of them are more advanced than others depending on where they play What level they’re playing at what organization they’re in but uh they’re all you know all really buying into it and they should because the best athletes in the world the best teams in all of sports in the world are are applying all the Modern Performance and science uh technology and uh uh information to become better ath

Red Wings Executive Vice President & General Manager Steve Yzerman speaks on Detroit’s 2024 free agency signings.