Steve Yzerman Strictly Lives To Bully Other GMs Around The NHL
Dave Reginek. Getty Images.There are plenty of former NHL players who attempt to make the jump to the managerial positions after their playing careers are done. But I don't think there's anybody I'd put above Stevie Y as far as guys who were both great as a player and also great as a GM go. Typically it's just one or the other. You were either a below average player who turned out to be great at the GM position, or you were great at playing the game but you couldn't piece together a roster for shit. Steve Yzerman won 3 Stanley Cups as a player, is a Hockey Hall of Famer, basically orchestrated that Tampa team that just won back-to-back Cups as the team's former GM, and is now being a total menace as the GM back in Detroit after pulling the trigger on this trade for Alex Nedeljkovic yesterday.
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Nedeljkovic is just 25-years-old and finished up his rookie season with the Canes. He was a Calder Trophy finalist. Granted, it was a small sample size. But you still figured the Carolina Hurricanes had a great foundational block for the future of their crease set in place. I mean how often do you see a Calder Trophy finalist immediately traded away that following offseason, especially at the goalie position?
Ah right. Not once since the trophy was created in 1933. Just a mere 88 years ago. And why would the Carolina Hurricanes be okay with dealing away what could have been their answer in net for years to come? Actually, HOW could the Carolina Hurricanes be okay with dealing away what could have been their answer in net for years to come? And for just Jonathan Bernier and a 3rd round pick?
Live look at Stevie Y completing that trade and subsequently answering that question:
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Don Waddell welcome to the Terrordome. You're in Stevie's playhouse now. Not only is he going to bully you into an extremely ill-advised trade, but he's going to make sure to make you look like a fool on the way out. And sure, maybe it wasn't fully Don Waddell's fault. Maybe Tom Dundon is just incredibly cheap and this price tag was clearly way too high for a team that has roughly $30M in cap space at the moment.
Plenty of UFAs to still sign, but Carolina has the money. They're just idiots who let a guy from the Alliance of American Football run the show there. Imagine having a stud on your roster like Sebastian Aho, a coach of the year in Rod Brind'Amour, and then you have some idiots wearing suits upstairs protect Nedeljkovic at the expansion draft only to let him sign a $6M ticket in Detroit for Jonathan Bernier and a 3rd. Big yikes, but that's what the Yzerman Experience is all about. He won't stop until he makes everybody out to look like a complete and total fool. He's a killer.