Steve Yzerman feels pressure to get Detroit Red Wings into playoffs: 'A little bit, yeah'

Steve Yzerman was in a jovial mood on the Fourth of July, jokingly asking reporters why they were at Little Caesars Arena on a holiday.

For himself? "I have to be here," the Detroit Red Wings general manager said.

It has been a busy week — another busy week — for Yzerman, who had a plan heading into the start of free agency, changed course out of necessity, and emerged with a roster that begged the question: Does Yzerman feel pressure to make the playoffs?

"Yeah, a little bit, honestly," Yzerman said. "Our fanbase wants to win. We came close last year to making the playoffs. The finish of our season was very dramatic. A little bit maybe misleading — like, we’ve got to really improve in some areas. We’ve got to get deeper."

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Over the past week, the Wings have signed, among others, top-six forwards Patrick Kane and Vladimir Tarasenko, defenseman Erik Gustafsson, and goaltender Cam Talbot. Yzerman said there was one top free agent the Wings targeted but it became clear as soon as the market opened that it was not realistic to pursue the player, given the fiscal maneuvering it would have taken to make a competitive offer. (Yzerman didn't name names, but odds favor Steven Stamkos, given their shared history with the Tampa Bay Lightning, and because Stamkos is a top-line center. Stamkos got four years at an average annual value of $8 million from the Nashville Predators.)

"We had certain objectives at the opening of free agency that we hoped to accomplish and address," Yzerman said . "We adjusted, or pivoted, and were able to bring in some players to replace some of the players we couldn’t bring back and address some areas of maybe weakness or concern with the players we brought in."

The way last season ended, with the Wings giving chase until Game 82, raised expectations that next season will see the end of what has grown to be a franchise-worst eight-year playoff drought. After losing forward David Perron and defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere — both offensive producers and key power play contributors — in free agency, Yzerman pivoted to Taransenko, a former 40-goal scorer, signing him for two years at a $4.75 million salary cap hit. That in turn required trading Robby Fabbri and his $4 million salary cap hit to the Anaheim Ducks. Yzerman needs around $20 million — exactly what's left — in salary cap space to sign restricted free agents Moritz Seider, Lucas Raymond, Joe Veleno and Jonatan Berggren.

Keeping Kane was a big win, and while questions remain as to how effective the power play will be without Gostisbehere (who had a team-leading 29 man-advantage points), Gustafsson can play the point, and Tarasenko buffers the loss of Perron and Daniel Sprong's offense. Talbot offers insurance in net given the injury-induced uncertainty hanging over Ville Husso. He's healthy and training, but the Wings thought he was healthy when he entered the lineup Feb. 13, and he didn't last 10 minutes. The plan is to go to camp with Husso, Talbot and Alex Lyon, and see how it pans out.

That's also the reasoning for the eight defensemen that are currently on the roster.

"We were really fortunate last year, we didn’t have a lot of injuries on D," Yzerman said. "A couple of guys didn’t play much because of that. We don’t want anybody to get hurt, but the odds are, we are going to face some injuries. I think you need eight, nine defensemen — you are not going to carry nine, most teams carry seven, but plan on having eight and having somebody called up if you have injuries."

With Kane, Raymond, Tarasenko, Alex DeBrincat and Dylan Larkin headlining the forward group, Seider headlining a deeper (and cheaper) blueline corps, and Talbot strengthening the goaltending spot, the Wings look like if things go right, they can compete for a playoff spot. It's tough to predict in July — who last summer had Lyon emerging as the No. 1 in goal? – but despite Yzerman being unable to add a big name like Stamkos, free agency provided balance and ballast.

"I think we’re in with that group of our teams that have a chance to compete for the playoffs if we stay healthy, if our goaltending is good, and you get some players who outplay your expectation," Yzerman said. "We might get in. I look at our team today and roster today, and compared to last year’s group, it’s a little bit different. It might be a little bit better fit as far as roles for players, where they play, or where they sit on the roster today.

"We’d love to make the playoffs, but we're going to try to continue to build a really strong nucleus of younger players that are going to be around here. It’s the right way to do it and it’s taking some time. I can’t tell you if it’s five years, seven years, 10 years. I’m just going to stick with it here and we’ll keep going. But we’d all love to win."

Contact Helene St. James at hstjames@freepress.com . Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames . Her latest book, “On the Clock: Behind the Scenes with the Detroit Red Wings at the NHL Draft,” is available from Amazon , Barnes & Noble and Triumph Books. Personalized copies available via her e-mail.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Steve Yzerman feels pressure to get Detroit Red Wings into playoffs: 'A little bit, yeah'