[Poe969]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

I think I've brought this up before, but to understand Yzerman you need to understand his history.

In 92-93, Yzerman had 137 points, and the Wings lost in the second round. By that point, Yzerman was 27 years old, had over 1,000 points in the NHL, and had never made it to the Finals.

The Wings brought in Scotty Bowman, one of the most hard-ass men to ever coach in the NHL. Yzerman didn't buy what the new coach was selling. Did the Wings get rid of Bowman? Nope. They put their biggest star on the trading block. And eventually Yzerman realized that winning was the most important thing, and came around to Bowman's way of thinking.

In the lockout-shortened 94-95 season, Yzerman got 38 points (pro-rated to 66 points in a full season). That's a 71 point drop from his total the season before Bowman took over. And the Wings went to the Finals. Yzerman never scored more than 100 points again, and the Wings won 3 Cups.

The Wings remain one of the flagship franchises in the league with a top-down, team-first approach to the game. Why wouldn't Yzerman model Tampa off that model? He must think If I could change my game, do what my coach said, and do what's best for the team when I was one of the superstars in the league, then anyone can.

Then Stevey Y should be coaching. It's not the GM's job to be a hard ass on his players, the longer this goes on, the worst it looks on Tampa IMO.