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Of the 5 teams Vegas “currently… had (as of last week) as top cup contenders, 2 or 3 of them are logos we’re going to see quite a bit. Colorado was in the top spot, but Tampa Bay, Toronto and Carolina all had mention in the top 5 on this particular segment.
As I look at the roster each year, someone that the team once valued is either retiring, traded, or goes to a team for a “shot… at the cup. If you saw Coach LaLonde’s press conference yesterday, the first 2 minutes had a bit of zing to them. Soderblom is with the team, but thus far they’re saying it’s precautionary in case some of the players that hope to be ready for opening night aren’t. What was really interesting was the comment, “If you noticed in practice, Veleno and Zadina were our 13th and 14th forwards…. Almost like a quick public service announcement.
So, this gets to the crux of my entry title. If you were a kid in the 80s, (and in a house with 4 boys) you probably had some mix of Star Wars, Transformers, Go Bots, WWF (now WWE), legos, erector sets and the herd thinning toys like jarts, wood burning kits and over permissive babysitters. The mishmash was, in part, because the super cool toys were out of a lot of our price ranges. So, you’d have a few Star Wars, a transformer (if you could find one) matchbox orange track pieces from a yard sale, etc. I loved Star Wars, but it was impossible to get a Luke or Vader with the weird lightsaber that was a plastic stick inside the arm of the figure. But, Star Wars was still the favorite. Born in ‘76, the only one of the original 3 I saw in the theatre (that I remember) was Return of the Jedi.
My peeps, who after they got their first decent jobs were buying toys (it was the 90s) they couldn’t have as kids were excited that NEW movies were being made.Especially with more Jedi. We learn that they were kind of like monks. Apart from a lightsaber, clothes and random tech, attachment was “forbidden…. Apparently marriage turns you into Darth Vader sometimes. Regardless, I wish I’d understood this principle earlier when it came to hockey.
Each year, the people at the “draft central… try to make Rounds 1 and 2 as exciting as possible. We hear, “that may be the steal of the draft…. The term “franchise player… is inevitably bandied about, and then the remaining rounds are basically twitter feed. Lightning fast as scouts argue to try and get their late round gems.
We saw complaints about Tyler Bertuzzi being drafted so high, praise for Veleno being the steal of a draft, shock as Mo Seider got the first Wings #19 jersey handed out in a very, very long time. Well, Bert has scored 30, Veleno is working as hard as anyone can to grab a spot and Mo seems like our #1D for the foreseeable future.
From the 90s until let’s say 2010 it seemed like Detroit made good decisions. 3 of 4 cups were pre salary cap and that 2002 team may have been cited as part of the reason for the cap’s birth. That was insane. From a retail standpoint, put a Winged Wheel on anything in that timeframe and it could probably sell very well. It got to the point where you had to “know someone… to get ahold of limited items from the sporting good stores (softball jerseys were really big at one point). The team was spending, but drafting was almost a secondary priority. Getting Datsyuk and Zetterberg and the “euro twins… era just added to the mystique of the 2008 cup. And then, each year it became more and more apparent that the team needed more than just “one piece… to make another run.
Fast forward to yesterday. Every player on this team (or not on this team) is in Yzerman’s wheelhouse. Even those he didn’t draft he kept up until this point for specific reasons. I’d written several times that we’d know expectations were changing when the coaching changed. It has changed. Part of me feels that Veleno and Zadina are in the “negative motivation… zone. Sit them out, get them anxious or even angry, and see if they come out and make their mark. So far the opposite of insisting that veterans be put in the top 6 “as a confidence boost…. I was not a fan of that. Let the player who seems to want it more take the spot.
The hardest part in all of this, these aren’t toys. They’re not avatars or video game characters. These are human beings with a limited window in which to make their dreams come true. And, as it happens, we can get so attached to the person that it’s difficult to make that decision. As recently as last season I would still hear quotes on players that were “steals… and were just waiting to break out. This was Yzerman’s 4th draft, that puts the other players at 5 years or longer in the organization. The 3 to 5 year mark seems to be key for some reason. You can still resurrect with a different organization, but management has limited patience. It’s not a job I could do. I didn’t even like quarterly reviews in sales when I was still in the rat race. Let alone telling someone that their dream may have come to an untimely end. From age 5 or younger until age 23 to 30+ some of these players have spent every minute, dollar and thought on this one goal. And every year someone gets told, “it’s over…. Ouch.
There’s not really an answer. It’s still fun to watch development sometimes. WJC and other events remind us of who is doing what. But, we’re now 14 years removed from the last cup, 13 from the last final. Almost everyone from those teams is now a boss, scout, public speaker, etc. it’s fun to relive (and apparently profitable) as Detroit celebrates the 25th anniversary of the ‘98 cup. One that was incredibly emotional for those who remember the tragedy in the summer of ‘97. The way teams are built/managed/ranked etc feels so different. I watch old footage and Fedorov was making magic while taking an elbow to the face. It almost looks like a completely different game. Even the young players will do “fight night at the Joe… viewings and are shocked. It was chaos and yet there is always someone with a Mickey Mouse watch hanging out.
Since I started writing for HB, took a medical break, came back etc I’ve been wrong as much if not more than I’ve been right. Way off on the Mantha trade. I really wanted Edvinsson, I like what I see but again it has to play out. I had (and have) hope for Zadina but never expected to see Perron in the mix. I can’t even really guess any more, just observe and comment. The one hard lesson I’ve learned is don’t get too attached. Players aren’t going to play 20+ years for the same team. Central Scouting gets it wrong sometimes. Some drafts are a bust. Some undrafted player is going to go to college or Europe and have a line of GMs in 4 years pitching for their services. It’s all in flux. Right now, things seem to be moving in a positive direction. I’m going to try and enjoy the ride.