By Miguel Mike Medina
Photo Credit: DIRK SHADD | Times
Detroit Red Wings executive vice president and general manager Steve Yzerman speaks ahead of Detroit Red Wings Training Camp on Wednesday.
Yzerman’s goal is to build a team that can compete for the Stanley Cup. Things take time. Yzerman understands the frustration from the fans and the Detroit media. Winning is hard. Building a championship team takes patience.
When it’s a rebuilding process, it takes time—drafting the right players and filling in the pieces one at a time. Many people want to see the Red Wings make the playoffs this season, but many things need to fall into place for that to happen.
Carter Mazur is one of the talented players on the Red Wings roster. Yzerman confirmed to the media that he’s cleared to go.
“Carter’s fully cleared to go,” Yzerman said. “The decision was made that the performance staff was to hold him out. He hasn’t really played games. He’s been practicing.”
Carter’s next step is training camp. The staff doesn’t think that Carter should be thrown into a situation where he might not be ready, and wants to keep him healthy.
Simon Edvidsson is the only player who won’t be ready for training camp and will be out for weeks. He’s dealing with a lower-body injury. Edvidsson will most likely be prepared to return at the beginning of the regular season.
Preseason is a critical time for a general manager in hockey. You have to be cautious in how much you’re going to use a player because the worst-case scenario is to have someone get injured during preseason to the point where they could miss an entire season, depending on the injury.
The Red Wings are dealing with durability issues. Yzerman will plan and strategize accordingly. He’s not a person who likes to rush to please others.
We believe that Yzerman is building something special with this franchise, and the media shouldn’t press him too much with the same questions repeatedly.
Miguel Mike Medina is the publisher of The MMM Journal. He can be reached at medinamiguelmike@gmail.com and themmmjournal@gmail.com
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