Yzerman: Red Wings still 'have a lot of work to do'
General manager Steve Yzerman continues to steer the rebuilding Detroit Red Wings in the right direction, but he knows he still has a lot of work to do.
"Yeah, I think so," Yzerman said Wednesday on NHL Network when asked if he's happy with the direction of his team after its offseason additions. "Obviously we have a lot of work to do. ... Every team feels good about their offseason but the players that we've added I think will help us."
Yzerman has been one of the league's busiest executives since the opening of the free-agency period. He's added the likes of Vladislav Namestnikov, Bobby Ryan, Thomas Greiss, Troy Stecher, and Jon Merrill.
He also re-signed two key players in Anthony Mantha and Tyler Bertuzzi. Mantha secured a four-year contract worth $22.8 million, while Bertuzzi was awarded a one-year, $3.5-million deal in arbitration.
The Red Wings experienced a historically bad season last year, going 17-49-5 and finishing dead-last in the league. Despite the tough campaign, Yzerman feels hopeful about the future thanks to the team's young stars and recent draft picks.
"Our younger players performed well. You mentioned Tyler and Anthony and Dylan Larkin and Filip Hronek," Yzerman said. "Robby Fabbri did really well coming over from St. Louis, so if we can slowly add to that group with maybe one or two younger players again this year and keep adding to the group slowly over time, we're hopeful as some of these younger players that the Red Wings have drafted over the last two-to-three years slowly move into the lineup and continue to try to improve the team slowly each year."
Detroit has selected Lucas Raymond, Moritz Seider, Filip Zadina, and Michael Rasmussen within the top 10 of the past four NHL drafts.