Abel to Yzerman

Abel to Yzerman

Video- Recap Of Steve Yzerman's Press Conference

02/24/2020 at 5:34pm EST

You can watch the press conference below.

from Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press,

Yzerman spoke to reporters for about 45 minutes Monday afternoon, less than an hour after the NHL trade deadline. Yzerman shipped forward Andreas Athanasiou and defenseman Mike Green to the Edmonton Oilers in return for two second-round draft picks and a conditional fourth-round pick....

Yzerman doesn’t place blame for that on Blashill

“I’ve enjoyed working with him,” Yzerman said. “When I came in last summer, we talked about our team – what my expectations were, what we hoped to do.

“It’s unfair to judge Jeff Blashill on our team’s record, it really is. I put this team together. I had expectations for the year. I don’t think this team is a playoff team honestly. A lot of things would have had to go right for us to be a playoff team at the start of the year. Obviously that hasn’t happened. A lot of things went wrong that we necessarily didn’t foresee, whether it be injury or what not.

“I can tell you that Jeff has done a very good job, he and his staff, with these players. It’s been a very difficult season, and I think they’ve managed it very well and coached the team very well.”

read on

from Ted Kulfan of the Detroit News,

Athanasiou was the biggest name to be dealt, and evidently had the most interest from teams.

“We’re trying to rebuild the team, we’re trying to add draft picks and prospects and you have to decide everybody has a value,” Yzerman said. “Some (players) have more value, or are more marketable than others.

“Andreas, several teams had inquired or expressed a serious interest. This one (trade offer) made sense for the Detroit Red Wings in the short term and in the future.

“Ultimately you have to decide who we are going to keep and if we’re going to move guys, we’re not going to move guys for the sake of moving them. Ultimately, the return was two second-round picks, and we felt that was a good value for what we’re trying to do.”

Dealing with Edmonton was a unique instance, Yzerman said, in that Holland knew Athanasiou and Green so well from Holland’s years as the Wings’ GM.

more

scroll to the 7:50 mark...

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