How the Mighty have Fallen

From 1990 to 2015, the Detroit Red Wings had 100 more regular season wins than the team with the 2nd most (the Devils, coincidentally). They won 29 more playoff games than the 2nd best Penguins during that time and they won more Stanley Cups than any other team (4). The Empire, as it was known, was the best organization in the sport. Now, the Red Wings have become just the 4th franchise in NHL history to have a 10-year playoff drought. Only the decade of Darkness Oilers, the post-expansion boom Panthers and the helpless Sabres have matched this kind of futility. All of this could’ve been avoided. Steve Yzerman wanted to be Detroit’s GM, but Ken Holland refused to move from his position. Yzerman was Tampa’s GM for nearly a decade and notably, took some of Detroit’s scouting staff. Yzerman built the Lightning into a juggernaut. He drafted Kucherov, Point and others. The Lightning used a 1st round pick they got from Detroit to draft Andrei Vasilevsky. The Empire could still be going. Regardless of how well the Yzerplan worked in Tampa and his legacy as the captain of many of those Red Wing Empire teams, there’s no running now: the Yzerplan has failed. I expect to see heads roll, even if it’s not Yzerman himself.