from Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press,

Now, nearly every player on the roster bears Yzerman’s endorsement. Gone from the squad that finished the 2018-19 season are: forwards Anthony Mantha, Andreas Athanasiou, Frans Nielsen, Thomas Vanek, Darren Helm, Luke Glendening, Justin Abdelkader, Christoffer Ehn and Jacob de la Rose; defensemen Niklas Kronwall (who retired and joined the front office), Trevor Daley, Madison Bowey and Jonathan Ericsson; and goaltenders Jimmy Howard and Jonathan Bernier. In addition, defenseman Dennis Cholowski, a first-round pick from 2016, was lost in the Seattle expansion draft, and forward Evgeny Svechnikov, a first-round pick from 2017, was not tendered a qualifying offer this summer.

Nielsen was the last player of the group Yzerman inherited to be cut, bought out in August when a window to do so was triggered after the Wings came to terms with forward Adam Erne before an arbitration date.

Erne was one of the first players Yzerman added to the roster, in August 2019. Over the past two years, Yzerman has brought in new faces in forwards Jakub Vrana, Pius Suter, Robby Fabbri, Vladislav Namestnikov, Sam Gagner, Mitchell Stephens and Carter Rowney; defensemen Nick Leddy, Marc Staal, Troy Stecher, Jordan Oesterle, and goaltenders Thomas Greiss and Alex Nedeljkovic. Rowney and Stephens and swingman Luke Witkowski add further depth.

This summer, Yzerman re-signed multiple players he inherited: Tyler Bertuzzi (two years, $4.75 million average annual value), Michael Rasmussen (three years, $1.46 million AAV), Filip Hronek (three years, $4.4 million AAV) and Gustav Lindstrom (two years, $850,000 AAV). Givani Smith, a restricted free agent, has yet to be re-signed.

The only NHL regulars Yzerman hasn’t either acquired or re-signed are Dylan Larkin and Danny DeKeyser. DeKeyser was placed on waivers last season and is in the last year of his deal, so his future with the team is limited, but Yzerman tagged Larkin to serve as captain.

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