by
Steve Yzerman
These have been some tough years for Detroit Red Wings fans.
With the season nearly over, the team will miss the playoffs for the ninth straight year. These days, it doesn’t feel much like the Hockeytown of old, when making the playoffs was almost automatic.
For six of those nine years, hockey legend Steve Yzerman, 59, has been the general manager. Fans had high expectations.
But some insist he’s had enough time to return the team to the playoffs. They believe he should be fired.
But Detroit Free Press columnist Carlos Monarrez writes:
Now I’ll say something that might not be so popular. I think owner Chris Ilitch should keep Yzerman for one more season. If the Wings don’t make the playoffs next year – regardless of any circumstances – then he should be fired.
The biggest reason I have for giving Yzerman one more year is that he finally took a bold step this season and showed some urgency when he fired Derek Lalonde on Dec. 26 and replaced him with Todd McLellan. And getting rid of Yzerman would probably mean getting rid of McLellan.
That move alone jolted the team back to life and reinserted them in the playoff race. They looked like a different team, playing with vigor and cunning en route to a 17-5-2 record from Dec. 27 to Feb. 26.
