from John Niyo of the Detroit News,

But when you take all the time Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman has had to prepare for next week’s NHL draft — we’re closing in on seven months since his team last played a hockey game — and add all the picks and possibilities in front of him, what you get is a man who sounds unencumbered.

The Red Wings and general manager Steve Yzerman own the No. 4 pick in next week's NHL draft.
That’s a refreshing change, after too many years of feeling the opposite here in Detroit, whether it was the weight of bad contracts Yzerman's predecessor handed out or the outsized expectations that left a Red Wings roster that was sinking instead of swimming.

It’s also a rarity in the NHL at the moment, as many of Yzerman’s peers find themselves scrambling now in the face of a compressed offseason schedule and a depressed league economy. The annual entry draft is scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday, qualifying offers for restricted free agents are due at the same time, and the floodgates for unrestricted free agency will open next Friday.

A flat salary cap ($81.5 million) for next season — and maybe the season after that as well — is forcing teams to make some deeper cuts than usual. And quickly, in some cases, as Yzerman’s successor in Tampa, Lightning GM Julien BriseBois, noted shortly after his team hoisted the Stanley Cup this week, because "the longer we wait, the fewer options we may have."

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