Who is in play for the Red Wings Coaching Vacancy?

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The Detroit Red Wings are watching closely as the playoffs power on with the off-season right around the corner. General manager, Steve Yzerman, is viewing his teams architecture and is undoubtedly hard at work.

Yzerman’s credentials lives in the Tampa Bay Lightning. With the Lightning only one round away from yet another Stanley cup apperance, Yzerman has the capability to create a championship caliber roster. Furthermore, his career as a player proves that he knows what it takes to be a champion.

While managing a team, it takes the ability to learn and understand that every team has its own makeup. With that being said, before the off-season craziness can happen, Yzerman will need to find someone to lead the Red Wings behind the bench.

Steve Yzerman’s current off-season plans are in motion. With the playoffs nearing, the Red Wings will be looking to take advantage of the coaching market.

In Yzerman’s forementioned Tampa Bay Lightning, the coach was not a name we had heard in the NHL before, John Cooper. Cooper had been on the ascend as a winning coach since he begin coaching high school hockey in Lansing, Michigan. If the Wings next coach follows the same trajectory, I hope there is an attorney in a Tallahassee, Florida that we can depend on- It is likely we will not see a mirror replication with the Detroit Red Wings.

The team has key players in the system currently as untradable assets: Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider. Players currently on the roster that have may have been either acquired and/or developed under Yzerman’s careful watch: Dylan Larkin, Tyler Bertuzzi, Robby Fabbri, Jacob Vrana, and Michael Rasmuessen to name a few. We have yet seen or witnessed a larger body of work from Simon Edvinsson (4th overall 2021), Joe Veleno, Jonathan Berggren, Albert Johansson, goaltender Sebastian Cossa, and next year’s 8th overall pick.

The future of the Detroit Red Wings is bright, and the team has the depth in terms of prospects and potential. Any coach should be excited for this opportunity to work with Steve Yzerman and their current roster and prospect pool.

There have been several firings of high-quality coaches during the season and during that last couple of weeks; Yzerman has a difficult task in front of him. He has a mission to find the right coach for the job.

“We’ve been unable to, with the group that we’ve had, specifically in that area, to get better,” Yzerman said. “To get our team to play, both individually and collectively, as a sounder defensive hockey team. And it’s been three years we’ve been trying.

“It hasn’t been a lack of discussion, a lack of effort on the coaching staff’s behalf, or trying. We just haven’t been able to do it. I look at this now as – that’s an area that’s going to need to improve. In order to do that, I’m going to bring in a new coach and see if he can’t do that with the group that we have.” -Detroitredwings.com

There is no easy button in this decision. The team needs structure to let their stars thrive offensively and be dependable in their own zone and in transition.

Let us look at some of candidates, in no particular order, the Red Wings could consider and why.

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