Anyone who is a Detroit Red Wings Fan, Michigan native or just an average hockey fan knows the name, Steve Yzerman, Stevie Y, also known as “The Captain,” spent his entire 20 year, 19-season career with the Detroit Red Wings and served as their captain for almost his whole career. When he retired, he was an automatic addition into the Red Wings’ front office where he would serve as the team's vice president and alternate governor until he left Detroit in 2010 to become the new general manager of the Tampa Bay Lightning. He has served as their general manager for six years now and has done an amazing job with that team. Yzerman will continue to be in charge down in Tampa Bay until at least 2018, which now brings up the “Yzerman to Detroit” theory.
Ken Holland, the current general manager of the Detroit Red Wings, has done a fine job here in Detroit, but it is time for a change. His contract will be up in Detroit at the same time that Yzerman’s contract will up in Tampa Bay, which makes people believe that “The Captain” will be returning home. The theory is played out like this: Detroit did not make Yzerman their general manager in 2010 because they did not know how he would do, which is why they let him walk and join the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Wings sent Yzerman on a mission to prove that he can be a successful general manager so that they could hire him as their own in the future. Steve has done a great job with the Lightning in his six years there, turning a not so great team into a championship contender. Although it has not been a walk in the park for Yzerman to turn the team around, he has done it and he has done it successfully. Not only has his team been to the conference finals three times (winning it once), they have been to the cup final one time where they fell to a strong Chicago Blackhawks team. While Stevie Y’s team has not been up to capture Lord Stanley, they have proved that they are championship contenders.
Six years, three east finals appearances and one Stanley Cup finals appearance prove that Yzerman has been great over in Tampa and is ready to come back home. In 2018 when Holland and Yzerman’s contracts are up with their respective teams, expect there to be a familiar face back in Detroit’s front office serving as their new general manager, expect this new GM to be hungry for a Stanley Cup, expect him to do anything he can to bring championship success back to Detroit for the first time since 2008, and expect this new face in the front office to be very familiar. In 2018, your new General Manager of the Detroit Red Wings will be none other than “The Captain” Steve Yzerman. Welcome, home, Stevie Y, welcome home.
