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Yzerman Perfect Fit for Bolts. Adding a Depth Track to Their Stars |
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Multiple sources are reporting this morning that Steve Yzerman will be named as the GM of the Tampa Bay Lightning. Quite the steal for the new ownership group, and Steve inherits a team which may soon be one of the other powerhouses in the NHL. A team which reminds me a ton of where the Quebec Nordiques were right before they moved to Colorado.
They are on what I call, the "Superstar Track."
It is very hard to put together Dynasties in this day and age. The salary cap essentially prohibits anyone from staying on top too long, because the role players on championship teams often get better offers from lesser teams who see them as more than role players.
In fact, lately there appears to be two ways to build your NHL team. There is the "Superstar Track" and the "Super Depth Track." Both can work, and we have seen both work in the last two seasons.
"The Superstar Track Penguins" and "The Super Depth Track" Red Wings.
This is not say there aren't stars on the Red Wings, (Lidstrom and Zetterberg) or depth players on the Penguins (Kennedy, Fedotenko). It is just that Crosby and Malkin came into this league as superstars. Known superstars. Like Ovechkin and Backstrom. Like Kane and Toews. Like Sakic and Forsberg.
And like Stamkos and Hedman...
But the age of "Superstar Teams" took a hit this year as Montreal knocked out two of them leaving many more questions than answers.
As I see it you need to find a way to pay your stars, and surround them with key depth guys. In the NHL right now, depth is king. You can not survive without key second, third and even fourth liners contributing at very specific and key times. When your stars go cold, and they will, you need key role players to be able to pick it up. To me, that is where the Bolts have been hurting. They have Steve Downie, who fits the mold to a T, but their 3rd and 4th lines are lacking. And of course you need a goalie. Winning without a superstar goalie is possible but you need to really focus on depth to do so. You need to be able to roll 4 lines.
And who does this better than anyone else? Detroit.
This year's Caps and Penguins showed us what happens if your stars go cold and your depth isn't there to chip in a goal at a key moment.
This year's Cup Finalists have shown us quite clearly that depth and secondary scoring can be key. The Hawks and Flyers depth players were instrumental in coming up with key goals at key moments to go along with the contributions from the expected players. I will write my Finals preview in the next day or so, but one thing is for certain: We might be seeing two of the deeper teams in the NHL battle for the Stanley Cup.
And for all these reasons, Steve Yzerman is the perfect architect to take Tampa to the next level. He has been working around the Red Wins for years and no one in the NHL knows better how to find and sign the key role players needed.
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