Steve Yzerman Publicly Blasts His Players For Detroit's Poor Start To The Season
Steve Yzerman wasn't holding anything back when he spoke publicly recently, making sure his players knew they had failed to live up to expectations.
The Detroit Red Wings have indeed made some serious changes, as general manager Steve Yzerman parted ways with head coach Derek Lalonde and assistant coach Bob Boughner.
Replacing them is Todd McLellan, who brings championship experience as an assistant coach during the Red Wings' 2008 Stanley Cup victory under Mike Babcock.
He is joined by assistant Trent Yawney, a former defenseman and head coach of the Chicago Blackhawks.
Steve Yzerman addressed the media today in a press conference, first and foremost, to acknowledge this roster had not met his expectations while adding at the beginning of the year, he wanted to be in a position to contend for a Wild Card playoff spot.
Collectively, we are where we are and we're playing the way we are, and a decision comes at some point. We see teams make coaching changes all the time, some times it makes a difference and sometimes it doesn't.
Ultimately, you need good players to have a good team, and a coach needs good players. So, you need to take time to think about what the right move is. Recently, watching our team play, the spirit was zapped out, Sitting back and watching our coaching staff, everyone is frustrated.
It's not like they're not trying to win or trying to figure it out, but you could see it in the players' frustrated. In Montreal, even going back to Buffalo in the game we won, just sensing the frustration and the will being zapped from everyone.
Ultimately after the Toronto game, it's never the right time, but it was the time it needed to be done.
- Steve Yzerman
Everyone will be watching to see if this coaching change is what the team needed to turn their season around.
| POLL | ||
DECEMBRE 27 | 95 ANSWERS Steve Yzerman Publicly Blasts His Players For Detroit's Poor Start To The Season Can the Detroit Red Wings turn their season around and make the playoffs? | ||
| Yes | 25 | 26.3 % |
| No | 70 | 73.7 % |
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