from John Niyo of the Detroit News,

The sights were something to see, no doubt. But it’s the sounds of spring that we’re really missing these days in Detroit. And the calendar is full of reminders.

Take May 16, for example. This is the anniversary of that anxious evening back in 1996 when Steve Yzerman nearly blew the roof off Joe Louis Arena with a double-overtime winner to beat St. Louis, 1-0, in Game 7 of the Western Conference semifinals. The indelible sound of that 60-foot slapshot ringing off the crossbar, the sellout crowd erupting, air horns blasting … man, we’ve missed that in this town....

Yzerman’s NHL career began 40 years ago next month. And prior to returning to Detroit in 2019, he only needed one hand to count the number of years he’d been a bystander when the puck dropped on the Stanley Cup playoffs. So put it this way: He feels your pain.

“It's an emotional roller coaster for our fans, and I understand that,” Yzerman said last month. “Myself included, there's days you walk out of the rink, and you're like, ‘You know what? I'm real happy with the way things are going.’ … And then two weeks later, you walk out of the rink and you're like, ‘Oh, my God, there's no end in sight.’”

See what I mean? He’s with you. And quite frankly, that's the problem: They're all in this together, and so are we, watching and waiting and wondering when the silence will end.

more ($), Niyo brings up all the four teams in Detroit...