Quote:
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. 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 was shunted to the second line behind a younger centre (sound familiar?), and 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. For the first time in Yzerman's career, the Wings played in the Finals. Yzerman never scored more than 100 points again, but he went on to win 3 Cups with the Wings.
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 approach? 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.
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Jon Cooper is not Scotty Bowman. I think most of us would credit the pool of talented players for the success of the Lightning rather than the system employed by the coach. This situation doesn't reflect well on the organization, no matter how it's spun.
Having said all that, the Jets did awfully well with the Evander Kane trade despite the fact that they appeared to have no leverage. I think Yzerman will be able to get fair value from Drouin from some team. Not a short list of suitors in this one. I'm sure there is still plenty of interest.