On the Wings

Chelios was very happy to be re-signed for another year in Detroit. His one year contract is worth $850,000. A price cut he was willing to take in order to stay with the Wings. “It was pretty much a no-brainer,” Chelios said. “It was just a matter of seeing if they wanted me, if they could fit me in under the cap. It’s a big relief. Now I don’t have to leave Detroit and my family.” Between his chili restaurant in Dearborn and having even played for the Motory City Mechanics in the lockout, Chelios really wanted to stay in Detroit.

Chelios realizes that his role will be different this year. “I’ll accept whatever my role will be,” Chelios said. “My role has changed since I got here. If I play well enough, maybe I’ll get more minutes, but if they want me to be a fifth or sixth guy, I’ll be that.” Wings GM Ken Holland has already hinted at Chelios’ new role. “I’ve talked with Chris about our exact expectations,” general manager Ken Holland said, “and impressed upon him that we’ll give him less minutes, keep him fresh and not overplay him.”

Holland is still having a hard time with signing Pavel Datsyuk. Datsyuk is apparently looking to make $4 million. “We have had a very productive conversation,” Greenstin said. “We’ve explained our position, he has explained his position. He has a certain amount of money to spend and has to sign another player. Pavel, you know, Pavel Datsyuk’s future is with the Detroit Red Wings.”

After Thursday’s signings, the Wings have about $10 million left to sign Datsyuk, Zetterberg and Kronwall, a goaltender, another defenseman and a few more forwards to fill out the third and fourth lines.

Asked if he sees a scenario in which he ends up without Datsyuk or Zetterberg, Holland said, “Anything is possible.”

“It’s going to take a while,” Holland said. “Sometimes you need a marketplace to surface. You need some other restricted free agents in similar rights and age groups to sign first to see where the market is at.”

Mathieu Schneider is also excited to return to Detroit. “I really wanted to come back,” Schneider said. “Once I heard there was a cap, I didn’t think it would be possible. But once the buyouts happened, I thought there might be a chance still. It couldn’t have worked out any better. I’m thrilled to be back.”

Holland believes that Johan Franzen should fit in the third or fourth line. While Franzen is stronger defensively, Holland sees him develiping into a strong two-way forward. “We think he’s ready to play in the NHL,” Holland said. “At this point, he probably won’t score a lot of points.”

Chelios will return to Detroit in a one year deal worth under $1 million.

“Chris signed a one-year deal for less than a million dollars,” GM Ken Holland told 1270AM Thursday afternoon. “We see him in the 10-15 minute range playing with the third pairing. Everybody knows his determination and he’s very excited to return.”

This season will be Chelios’ 22nd in the NHL and seventh with the Wings. “Chris brings a great deal of experience and passion to the rink every day,” said Holland. “He’s been a great Red Wing, he’s in excellent shape, and no matter what his age, you know he can play at a very high level.”

Between Schneider, Chelios, Lidstrom, and Fischer, Holland feels good with his defense. “With Mathieu and Chris, I feel very good about our defense for this season. Mathieu had a great year for us in 03-04 and we tried to sign him last summer. We’re happy to have him back in a Red Wings jersey,” Holland said.

The Wings also signed Johan Franzen, a 2004 draft selection, to a one year deal. Detroit picked Franzen in the third round, 97th overall. The 6′2″ forward weighing 210 pounds joins the Wings from Linkoping of the Swedish Elite league. In his 2003-2004 season, he had 30 points and topped the league with a plus-24. However in the 2004-2005 season, the addition of NHL veterans created less ice time for Franzen. He finished that season with seven goals and assists. He also was part of the Swedish National Team who finished fourth in the 2005 World Championship.

“We drafted Johan last summer in the third round and our scouts feel he is ready to play in the NHL,” said Holland. “He established himself in the Swedish Elite League and their national program and we felt it was time to bring him over.”

Yzerman stays in Detroit for one more year
Steve Yzerman will remain as the Wings captain for his 19th year. He can’t rule out a 20th year, but most likely Yzerman will help link the Stanley Cup/lots of money/Hall of Famers era to the salary cap/youthful era. “I’m hesitant to say it’s my last year,” Yzerman said, chuckling, “but I have to be realistic.” While this may be his last year out on the ice, Yzerman sees himself in a management position down the road. “My goal is to one day run a hockey team, to be the guy responsible for putting everybody in place, for signing players to contracts,” Yzerman said.

While details of the contract haven’t been released, The Detroit News reports that Yzerman will earn $1.75 million with bonuses reaching $2 million.

“I spent a lot of time thinking about it, going back and forth, and in the end, I just felt if I didn’t come back, I’d be wondering if I could’ve played,” Yzerman said Tuesday from his Canada vacation home. “I wanted to give it my best shot. I’m not afraid of the challenge, and this year, there’s a lot to try and accomplish. I wanted to see if we could correct some areas and have better feelings than we had two years ago.”

The decision was a challenging one for Yzerman, who rented ice time Tuesday - his first time since March. He will participate in the Team Canada’s Olympic training camp on August 14th.

“I went through periods when I thought, this is tough, I’m too old to do this stuff, maybe it is time to retire,” Yzerman said. “But then there were periods when I felt good and energetic. What it came down to was, Kenny and Jimmy D. expressed they really wanted me to be part of the team. If I felt they were jammed on the cap, I’d have moved on. Now I’m excited about playing again.”

While Yzerman understands that the landscape of the Wings will ultimately be different, he believes that the team will remain a Stanley Cup contender. “Our team is going to be good,” he said. “You add a couple of young guys like (Niklas) Kronwall and a few free agents and I expect us to be a strong team. I don’t know about favorites, because I think Tampa Bay and Philadelphia are real strong. But I expect the Red Wings to be Stanley Cup contenders.”

Yzerman has already talked to Babcock and his role on the team will be worked out over time. He believes that he’ll be playing more on the wing likely with Kris Draper and Kirk Maltby.

In the contract, there are clauses that would “reduce the cap impact if he misses games,” but he doesn’t expect to miss much. “My approach is, I’m not just trying to survive, I want to be a good player, but I’m prepared to accept any role,” Yzerman said. “I don’t expect any handouts. Sure, the fans may want to see familiar faces, but then they’re gonna want to see performance, and if the familiar faces aren’t performing, they won’t be happy.”

Hatcher to Philly
Derian Hatcher is leaving his hometown and heading to Philly where he will play there for four years while making $14 million. “He believed in me a long time ago,” Hatcher said. “I had five good years with Ken Hitchcock in Dallas. And the terms of the deal mattered, too. I have a family, and I didn’t want to be moving around every two years.” The Flyers also signed defensemen Chris Therien and Mike Rathje. “Derian’s a guy who plays big minutes and heavy minutes,” said coach Ken Hitchcock, also Hatcher’s coach in Dallas.

McCarty heads for Calgary
The Detroit Free Press reports:

McCarty joins Flames: Calgary signed unrestricted free agent forwards Darren McCarty and Tony Amonte, according to TSN.ca.

McCarty signed a two-year deal for $1.6 million Canadian ($800,000 per season). Amonte also signed a two-year contract at $1.85 million per season. McCarty’s contract was bought out by the Red Wings last week. Amonte’s contract was bought out by the Flyers.

With the introduction of a new scheduling format, fellow hockey bloggers and news organizations are voicing their strong opinions regarding the matter. I want to first present many of the opinions out there before presenting my own.

Before getting to the opinions, let me cover some of the basic highlights of the 2005-2006 season regarding the Detroit Red Wings schedule. The season opener is against the St. Louis Blues at home on October 5. Every team will be playing that day to start off the regular season with a bang. In total, the Wings will play seven home and home series. Each team plays their division opponents a total of eight times. In the Wings’ case, they will see Chicago, St. Louis, Nashville, and Columbus at home and then away four times a season.

They will also play all of their Western Conference opponents outside of the division (10 other teams). Against their Eastern Conference foes, the Wings only get to play a total of 10 games. Five Eastern Conference teams from one division will host the Wings. This season the Southeast Division, consisting of Tampa Bay, Florida, Washington, Atlanta, and Carolina, will all be visited by the Wings. Detroit hosts another five teams in the Eastern Conference. The Atlantic Division, composed of the Devils, Flyers, Rangers, Islanders, and Penguins, will visit Hockeytown. On December 12, Detroit will see Pittsburgh with their newly acquired phenom, Sidney Crosby.

For the traditional New Year’s Eve game, Joe Louis arena will feature Columbus v. Wings. On February 1, during Super Bowl week, the St. Louis Blues will visit Detroit. In the last week of October, the Wings play away in Columbus for two consecutive games then go on to play Chicago for three straight games.

While Hockeytown fans are pleased with the return of hockey, many aren’t overjoyed with the new schedule.

“It’s an absolute joke,” said David Miller, a 25-year season-ticket holder from West Bloomfield. “It used to be that there were games you wouldn’t give up your tickets for, regular-season games you looked forward to. That isn’t the case anymore.”

Missing from this season’s schedule are fellow Original Six teams, Boston, Montreal, and Toronto. Instead, focus will be placed on divisional rivalries. Even Red Wings general manager, Ken Holland, acknowledges the increase of games against divisional foes. “There are some quirks in the schedule, where the league is trying to emphasize the divisional rivalries,” Holland said.

Original Six teams have been rivals for ages and always marking special and competitive games. However, the new scheduling changes will only allow the Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, Boston Bruins, and New York Rangers to visit Joe Louis only once every three years. The Wings host the Rangers on January 14. In an exhibition game on September 30, Toronto will make a brief appearance in Hockeytown. Unlike other leagues, the NHL stands apart with the history of the game and its Original Six teams. Many fans view this new scheduling format as ridicule to the sport and its history.

Rick Schulte of Wyandotte: “You can’t forget the history of the game, but with this schedule, the league is turning its back on that history.”

Jennifer Starchenko of Woodhaven: “You’re taking away from the tradition of the game. Those rivalries are a big part of the NHL.”

Laura Agemak of Flat Rock: “Detroit is part of the Original Six. The hard-core hockey fans are going to be upset with this. They’ll miss those teams.”

Holland understands the fans’ frustration, but understands the NHL’s attempt to foster stronger divisional rivalries.

”I can go both ways,” he said. “On the one hand, not to play Toronto, Montreal and Boston, I can understand (fans’ frustration). You need rivalries and those are, and were, great rivalries. But we’re going to have to build other rivalries. The feeling around the league is when you start seeing teams more and more, you can build rivalries…I’d love to see more Montreal, more Boston and more Toronto. But there are some teams in the East that we don’t have any relationship with. Could they have handpicked certain teams? Maybe that’s something I can bring up at a general managers meeting down the road.”

The Detroit News conducted an online poll asking readers the following: “No Toronto, no Montreal, no Boston for the Red Wings this season. But plenty of Columbus and Nashville. Is an NHL schedule that emphasizes intradivision play good for the game?” 90.06% of those who responded believed that it was not good for the game while 9.94% believed that intradivisional rivalries would help the game. Fans were also given the option to leave comments regarding the poll and their individual opinions. Here are some of the comments left:

GhostofProbert from Toledo, OH - “In a way, this is a totally rational move by the NHL, in that it essentially pits Original Six teams with huge drawing power (Detroit, Toronto) against smaller market teams, the very teams that need that boost to revitalize their fan base. Having said that, as both a fan and student of the game, this strategy totally ignores the history of the game. There should always be a special category of match-ups, in my opinion, the “Original Six” match-ups. This category of games should be ranked very highly in any optimization model (which is the technique used to devise the schedule) with the goal of maximizing these matchups (with other constraints). Unfortunately, hockey fans such as Detroit fans (of which I am obviously a member) are the least of the NHL’s worries…we are so loyal and Detroit such a strong market that, paradoxically, our wishes are ignored. I’m sure people in Toronto and Montreal are feeling the same pinch.

T Unit from Sterling Heights, MI - “This is an outrageous demand that you put upon us as Detroit Red Wings fans. Gary Bettman and the NHL have already alienated so many fans with their stupidity in the last year, it is sad that we must go through yet another hardship. First we have to wait a year to see “professional hockey,” although it was entertaining to watch the mechanics play on UPN in place of the Wings. Then we have to ship out fan-favorite players because we’re not allowed to pay so much for them anymore under this new salary cap. Finally we have to play this annoyance of 24 games against St. Louis, Columbus, and Nashville. I’m not sure what the NHL is trying to do, but if they wanted the Red Wings to not be as dominant under this cap, it seems they might have made the wrong move. ‘Red-Wing-Proofing’ the NHL seems improbable when you give them 24 wins for free.”

Phil at The NHL is Back voiced his concerns, “Hey, at least you aren’t a Hawks or a Wings fan. They play each other back to back to back. That’s right. Three games in a row versus the same team.”

Brett at Red Line Sports believes that the 2005-2006 schedule really stinks.

This is how the NHL pays back the seventeen fans it has left? With all of the NHL’s jabbering about fixing the game and making it more fan friendly, which one would reasonably think should include marketing the snot out of it, the best the NHL think-tanks can come up with is this flaming dung-muffin.

While Brett believes that emphasizing inter-conference especially intradivisional play will help build rivalries and limit travel costs/time, he is especially concerned with the inability to play most of the opposite conference. Forty percent of the schedule is spent playing within one’s division. You don’t need to play a grand total of eight games a season to develop a rivalry.

Some may say that the added divisional emphasis is long overdue. But, keep in mind that it comes with a price tag. A steep one. There will be no visits to Canuck-ville (or many Western teams) from the likes of Mario Lemieux, Martin St. Louis, Vincent Lecavalier and the defeding Cup Champs, Dan Heatley & Ilya Kovalchuk, Martin Brodeur, Alexander Ovechkin, and more importantly, the NHL’s new poster child, Sidney Crosby.

As a fan of hockey in general, I’m a little ticked off. As a fan of the Canucks, I’m downright choked.

A reader of Brett’s blog with the username Rethinking the NHL voiced his own thoughts:

They should consider making each team play 4 games against each divisional rival (16 games), 2 games against each team in the other conference (30 games), and 3 or 4 games against nondivisional foes within the conference (32 games). All in all, a nice 78-game schedule where every team hosts each of the other teams at least once and NO team plays more than two home games against the same team. Also, they should return to the win-loss-tie format that they never should have messed with in the first place (2 points for a win, 1 point for a tie, zilch for a loss).

Hockey Country, an Ottawa Senator blog, talked about how the new format affected the Sens:

With the new schedule set-up and a greater emphasis placed on inter-divisional play (which for the Sens means facing the Leafs and Habs eight times), we will unfortunately see less of the Western Conference clubs. In fact, the Sens don’t play a Western Conference team until December when the Kings come to town on the 2nd. Under the new-set up, every year, a team only plays teams from one division of the other conference. For the Sens, it’s the Pacific, which means the grueling West Coast road trips are still on tap (something I’m sure most Eastern teams are glad to be seeing less of).

Eric at Off Wing Opinion has similar concerns to many fans and in a recent entry, his thoughts were covered in sarcasm:

In Denver, this means two more games with Vancouver. On Long Island, that means two more games with the hated Rangers.

Here in Washington, it means six more games with Carolina, Atlanta and Florida. I’ve died and gone to heaven!

David Singer at The Ice Block strongly opposes Eric and others with the same opinions. He believes that Wings fans and other Original Six team fans should stop complaining.

The NHL can do no right according to some.

You want more passion in your games? Have some rivalries says the NHL, and out come the whiners. “We don’t get to see every ‘Original Six’ team every year!”

Huh?! So? Who cares - the Wings played the Canadiens once in the 2003-04 season. Memorable it wasn’t - but hey - the jerseys were old school and we wouldn’t want to miss that! Complaining that the Habs-Wings game is being replaced by a divisional game against the Predators or Blue Jackets is just asinine. The Predators and Wings are developing a nice rivalry, one that probably would have blossomed well if there was a season last year (as they played a six-game playoff series against each other during the 2003-04 playoffs). The Blue Jackets are another new team, yes, but you’re also talking about adding games against the Blues and Blackhawks - and remember, rivalries will only grow with the increase in number of games played.

The reality is the Wings will play the Habs, but instead of once per season, it’s twice in one season every three years. The reduction is one game per three seasons. Wow, break out the Kleenex, I can only imagine the intense game that we’ll all miss.

But David seems to be in the minority, Boltsmag doesn’t even want to think about all the games Tampa Bay plays against their divisional foes: “I get sick looking at how many times the Lightning play the Panthers or Hurricanes or Thrashers (sidenote - any other Tampa Bay resident mistaking THrashers for Threshers lately?). The Panthers and Bolts play a home-and-home series on the 7th and 8th of October and 2 games within a week in April.”

Melissa, who just started a blog covering Colorado for Most Valuable Network, believes that this format will make certain teams (like Tampa, Detroit, or even San Jose) easy conference titles while weakening other teams’ chances.

She points out that in the Central Division, Detroit brought in a divisional, conference, and league title with 109 points. St. Louis and Nashville nearly missed the cut with 91 points. Other division teams, Chicago and Columbus, weren’t even close. Respectively, they had 59 and 62 points placing Chicago second to last in the entire league. Melissa is worried about her team, Colorado. The Avs took fourth overall in their conference with 100 points placing only second in their division. The Canucks were up by one point and the Flames finished behind the Avs with 94 points (3 more than Nashville and St. Louis). While Minnesota and Edmonton did not make the playoffs, they at least were up on the Blackhawks and Blue Jackets by over 20 points.

By adding two more games against each divisional opponent, her worries only compound. Melissa can only hope that with the new salary cap teams like Chicago and Columbus will now be placed on a more equal competitive level with Detroit. This makes Colorado in a similar boat with Detroit instead of last season’s disparity. “That way, if the Avalanche are facing relatively equal and tough opponents, at least their non-divisional opponents will also have to work harder to earn their points.” Another chance to even out the field will be the new points format. Without ties, stronger teams in weak divisions won’t gain as many points. At least hopefully for her team.

She also noted a similar or even worse difference in the Eastern Conference between the Northeast and Southeast divisions.

The Northeast Division is probably the most competitive division in the entire league: 4 out of the 5 teams made it into the playoffs, and of the 4 teams, 3 teams had over 100 points. Furthermore, the only team that didn’t make the playoffs, Buffalo, was only 6 points behind the last 3 playoff teams, and ranked second among non-playoff teams, eighteenth in the league overall. Meanwhile, the Southeast Division was probably the least competitive in the NHL. Tampa was the only team in the division to earn a playoff berth; the other 4 teams, Atlanta, Carolina, Florida and Washington weren’t even close, together averaging a mere 72 points total.

In my mind, everyone brings up very valid points. As a hockey fan, I really don’t want to play any team eight times a season much less Columbus. While our rivalry with Nashville was already building in the 2003-2004 season, I don’t want to watch back-to-back games against the Blue Jackets. And the fact that I can’t watch my beloved team face off with historically strong Original Six rivals is really disappointing. I realize that even before the lockout the Wings didn’t yearly play Toronto or Montreal, but I had hoped that with the new CBA a change would happen.

My favorite aspect of the game is the rivalry. I remember last Christmas watching the infamous Wings game against Colorado with “The Turtle.” My Dad and I started off watching the game at a party. Within ten minutes, the room filled with cousins and uncles surrounding the big screen cheering on Darren McCarty, Brendan Shanahan, and more. I especially took great delight in watching Roy take a beating. While I realize that the Wings will play Colorado four times this season, they’ll be losing competitive rivalry games against the Rangers, Bruins, Canadiens, and Maple Leafs.

Sorry that I’ve been MIA over the past few days even with all of the hockey news circling around. I have a bad sinus infection and it hurts to move- bad headaches are the worst! But anyways, I want to quickly touch upon the Detroit Red Wings’ buyouts and Steve Yzerman.

McCarty, Hatcher, & Whitney placed on waivers
As you’ve heard by now, Darren McCarty, Derian Hatcher, and Ray Whitney have been put on waivers.

“For a whole lot of reasons we needed to buy those guys out,” Holland said. “First off, we were at $31 million with 12 players signed. We’re going to go to about $36 million or $38 million on our payroll and leave some flexibility there in case of injury. When you need to sign 10 more players and you have only $4 million, it doesn’t take a genius to say the math doesn’t add up.”

But this wasn’t only a short-term fix. Holland has an eye to the future as well.

“Another factor is that all three of those players had deals that are longer than one year. And going into next summer, not knowing what the new cap number will be, unrestricted free agency will be 29 not 31, and for eight pro seasons not 10, so we needed to look ahead,” Holland said.

If they aren’t picked up within 24 hours, they will be bought out at up to 67% of their total contract. “They’ve been a big, big part of our franchise,” Red Wings assistant general manager Jim Nill said. “This is just a part of doing business right now with the new CBA.”

McCarty, a fan favorite, has played for Detroit for 11 seasons. He stood to earn $1.71 million if he hadn’t been put on waivers. I wasn’t surprised about these three being chosen, but it’s so weird to think that McCarty will be playing for another team next season. “It wasn’t a surprise,” McCarty said in an interview with WDFN-1130. “Everybody has to restructure.” If you haven’t already read it, you can view my Behind the Jersey column about McCarty, No. 25, here. I’ve always personally admired his hard work, gritty style, and his community service. “He’s a hardworking, roll-up-your-sleeves kind of guy,” Nill said. “He’s really what the city’s all about. He came every night to play hard.”

Two winters ago, I stood in line at Hockeytown Authentics for 3-4 hours in 25 degree weather to get an 8×10 photo of McCarty signed. The rules were: 1 item may be signed and no personalizations. The fee was at least one pair of mittens/hats/gloves for a local charity. I had recently finished reading his dad’s book (Craig McCarty) about his fight with cancer and his son’s hockey career. I had brought that book along with the photo. My brother brought a puck. When it was my turn in line, he signed the photo and the puck. He then noticed the book in my hand. He then asked for my name and wrote a quick message inside the cover:

Christy,
Enjoy the Book!
Darren McCarty 25

For someone who had already signed over 500 items, it was a very nice gesture for him to sign two of my items. And one of them was personalized. The book, Rinkside, remains one of my favorite of many Red Wings memorabilia decorating my room. I realized that McCarty hasn’t been the strength to the team that he used to, but it saddens me to see him leave. I saw a brief interview that he did with Channel 7 here in Detroit and you could trace absolutely no bitterness to the team or city. He plans to live here in the summers and his kids will continue to attend school here in Detroit. His daughter, Emerson, just finished her Kindergarten year at my high school. I wish Darren the best of luck and maybe for the 2006-2007 season we can negotiate some sort of deal to get him back here in Hockeytown.

Hatcher, also a Detroit native, may be returning back to Dallas. He would’ve cost the team $4.94 million this upcoming season and that’s including the 24% rollback. Unfortunately, we never really got to see what impact Hatcher could have in his hometown. After tearing his ACL in the third game, he came back as a different player. I’ve torn my ACL. I’ve had the surgery. And I’m waiting to have my ACL revised again. I can’t even imagine coming back from the surgery close to playoff time and people expecting you to perform at 100%. I was hoping we’d have the opportunity to see what he could really do when he had enough time to fully recover. I’m also disappointed to see him leave because I was so excited when I found out he was coming “home.”

Whitney, on the other hand, will not be missed as much. Like Brian pointed out, Whitney only finished the 2003-4 season with 14 goals and 29 assists.

As for Whitney, I could care less he’s gone. If you’re worried about losing his numbers (14 goals and 29 assists), remember that most of his points came off of second assists. Numbers like that are not impressive when you’re on the Wings - the best offensive team in the league with highly skilled linemates. I’m sure his bought out salary can be well spent on another forward out there…

Is Yzerman coming back?
As we all know, Steve Yzerman is either going to finish his career here in Detroit this next season or his last moment as a Red Wings player ended when the puck deflected into his eye. “I would like to end my career on a positive note,” Yzerman said, “but we’ll determine that soon.”

The Red Wings organization would obviously want to see Yzerman return for another year. “We want him back. He’s a tremendous leader, we still believe he’s got some real good hockey left in him. I think he should go out playing the game on the ice,” Holland said. He plans to meet with Yzerman soon to discuss his future. No contract offer has been created or presented yet. They just plan on talking. “I’m looking forward to sitting down and talking to Steve,” Holland said Tuesday from Detroit. “Beyond that, I have no idea if Steve wants to play or doesn’t want to play. I’ve made no contract offer to Steve. We just are planning to meet.”

Yzerman would’ve earned $4.5 million if the lockout hadn’t wiped out the 2004-2005 season. He will obviously need to sign for less if he is to remain on the team. What he’ll settle for is the big question. “It’s up to Stevie,” Ilitch said. “If he feels he wants to play another year, he’ll play another year. He’ll have to make that call, and I think it’s going to be shortly.” Yzerman won’t want to stay on the team for a farewell tour or as a pity case. He’ll want to make sure he can be of an asset to the team while being fairly compensated. “He can make us a better team. When you think of the Detroit Red Wings, you think of Steve Yzerman. I think he should go out playing the game on the ice,” Holland said.

In an interview on the WXYT 1270 radio program, “The Big Show,” Yzerman commented on the situation.

“If it makes sense to come back, I will, and if the right thing is to step aside, I will, and we’ll determine that in the next few weeks…It’s not really a tough decision. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about this. I think it will be an easy decision…and I’ll make the right decision for the Detroit Red Wings.”

Another worry for Yzerman is his health. He commented that his knee would’ve had an easier time adjusting between a four to five month period, but “this will be 18 months,” he said, a reference to NHL regular-season games resuming this fall, “and that’s too much.” Ilitch also brought up Yzerman’s injuries.

“We all want to have him come back, but he’s 40 years old, and he’s had some serious injuries the last couple of years,” Ilitch said. “I don’t know what the extent of those injuries are today, if they’re lingering-type injuries, but he’s a very well-conditioned athlete, probably one of our best. You never worry about his shape.

On August 14, Yzerman plans to attend Team Canada’s training camp.

Yzerman has heard of only good things about new head coach, Mike Babcock, from his close friend, Steve Thomas (who played for Babcock in Anaheim). “I don’t believe he’s as defensive-minded as he is portrayed to be,” Yzerman said. “His teams are aggressive, play at high tempo. I think he’ll fit in well.” Yzerman also admitted to the Detroit Free Press that he immediately noticed that the new head coach is only two years older than himself. “It wouldn’t be awkward,” Yzerman said. “Maybe we can hang out together.”