Bolstering The Defense, Yzerman Feeling Pressure
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00:00So, Eisman's response in public,
00:05in front of cameras and microphones,
00:06I think is completely different
00:08than the guy behind the scenes
00:09and is probably frustrated as all hell
00:12that he banked on this team by the trade deadline
00:14that you guys are gonna be good enough,
00:16we got this, and wasn't shipping guys out
00:21that they planned on, that this was the team to do it,
00:22and then they completely laid an egg.
00:25I think he was frustrated.
00:26I think this whole town was frustrated.
00:29They had won the six games in a row
00:31and looked like they were on top of the world
00:32to get all this national praise,
00:33and then they went into a seven-game losing streak,
00:36and what the hell just happened?
00:39They were comfortably in the wild card spot
00:42and then were uncomfortably out
00:45along with a bunch of other teams
00:47that were fighting to get back in.
00:51Is this a better team going into the season
00:55than what they had going into last season?
00:58Ah, my 51%, it was what we like to do on this show,
01:01it's 51, it's just a lean,
01:03because I don't say it definitively.
01:05My lean is yes, and it's because of defense.
01:10Unlike the NFL, which we're no longer say
01:13defense wins championships in the NFL,
01:15I say it in the NHL.
01:16You gotta have a good defensive crew
01:19to be able to withstand these games
01:22against some of the bigger and tougher teams.
01:24Look what Florida did.
01:26Florida had four players
01:27that were pretty good offensively,
01:29and the rest of the team were role players
01:31and guys who just gutted it out,
01:32and they had a great goaltender,
01:34and they went to Stanley Cup,
01:35and they were a really good team
01:36last year throughout the season.
01:37It wasn't like a fluke.
01:39With the Red Wings, the additions that they have made,
01:45I think some of them are smart additions.
01:48The losses they have don't bother me.
01:50I don't mind losing Perron, losing Sprong, losing Favre,
01:53doesn't bother me too much,
01:55because I know that it means it's opportunities
01:57for guys that we wanna see.
01:58We wanna see Bergen play.
02:00We wanna see Marco Kasper play.
02:02Getting Tarasenko, I like Tarasenko.
02:05Adding Mott isn't going to make anybody thrilled with it,
02:09but what it does is it brings you
02:11a defensive-minded forward,
02:12and if they can keep the puck out of the net
02:15more often than they did last year,
02:19then they should be in good shape.
02:21Now, scoring goals is gonna be tougher.
02:22They have to make up 75 goals
02:25that they lost from players that are exiting this team,
02:28and if you wanna try to make that up, you can try to,
02:32but I don't think they're gonna score
02:33as much as they did last year.
02:34I think they're gonna fall some goals short,
02:36but what I do expect is that the additions on defense now,
02:39bringing in Edmondson for a full season, Gustafson here,
02:43and Johansen getting an opportunity,
02:46that those guys, along with the more
02:49defensive-minded forwards,
02:51are going to be a better defense overall,
02:53and then you've got the backstop with Cam Talbot
02:56and the other goalies on this team
02:58that are gonna be fighting for the roster spot,
02:59which the competition should be good.
03:02Look, I expect it to be Alex Lyon and Cam Talbot,
03:06and those guys splitting the workload pretty equitably,
03:08which is going to take some pressure off
03:11of both of those guys,
03:11because neither one of them has to be the number one guy.
03:13You just go with the hot hand,
03:16and I think, if you look at their averages,
03:18that should be better than what we had last year.
03:21That's why I lean in that direction.
03:23There's no guarantees, but I'm also hoping
03:25that young guys, exactly what Iceman's,
03:27I said this yesterday before he spoke publicly,
03:30and he almost said exactly what I was thinking,
03:33and what I said, which was,
03:35Lucas Raymond should give you some more,
03:37and then you're making up goals from other areas.
03:40Patrick Kane should give you some more
03:42than what he gave you last year,
03:43but in the end, they probably score less,
03:46but I'm hoping they give up a ton less
03:48than what they did last year.
03:50I gotta tell you, man, hearing that clip,
03:52and I know that he does probably say things differently
03:55to the media and the public than he does behind the scenes.
03:57I get all that, but essentially,
03:59he says we're the same team going into next year.
04:02We have the same odds, the same group of other teams
04:04to make the playoffs as we did this year.
04:07If we're not getting better,
04:09if, yeah, Lucas Raymond's gotta get better,
04:10Sider's gotta get better,
04:11but then he mentions, unexpectedly,
04:13some guys gotta play better than we expect.
04:16What are we doing?
04:17This is year six.
04:19If his name's not Steve Eizerman,
04:22he's probably on the chopping block.
04:23The fans probably had enough,
04:25but his name is Steve Eizerman,
04:26and he's gonna get this limitless runway, it seems like,
04:30endless amount of time to do whatever he does,
04:32or is going to do, but at this point,
04:35I don't care if you think they're better or not.
04:37They have to make the playoffs next year.
04:39They have to.
04:40The only thing, there's two things, I think,
04:42that save Steve Eizerman around here
04:43is one, he's Steve Eizerman,
04:45and two, they have been technically getting better
04:48every year, but guess what next year means, then,
04:50if you continually get better?
04:51You get into the playoffs,
04:53and yes, they could technically have more points
04:56and not get into the playoffs,
04:57but I don't think that's gonna,
04:59is that gonna fly with anybody?
05:01Even the Izerbots?
05:04Well, maybe the Izerbots, but.
05:05I think it'll still fly with them
05:07because it'll show improvement
05:09even though they don't make the playoffs.
05:10I'm not gonna be happy with that
05:12because I expected there to be a playoff team
05:14this past season, and they weren't,
05:16and it's nobody's fault but their own,
05:19and they have to learn from those mistakes,
05:21and it starts in the back end with the goaltending,
05:24moves forward with the defense in front of the goaltender,
05:26and then the offense has to do their part.
05:28Every part has to improve,
05:30and I think it's gonna be tougher to score the more goals,
05:34but I think that they've made the moves
05:35to make it better where they can,
05:37they're not gonna have many games
05:39where they give up more than four goals in a game,
05:42so there's a lot there.
05:45There's a lot of unknowns
05:47because you might be counting on some players
05:49that you haven't seen yet, like Marco Kasper
05:52or Bergen playing a big role in this team.
05:54We haven't seen Joe Hanson play.
05:56We don't know about Gustafson
05:57unless you're a diehard NHL fan.
06:00We're gonna get a full season to Edmondson.
06:02I mean, we have, I feel confident Edmondson's good.
06:06I feel confident.
06:07You need to be confident.
06:08Yeah.
06:09Because I don't want this hope
06:10and a prayer thing, like I said, it's just.
06:12Yeah, it's not hope.
06:13I know, that's why I'm saying you should be confident.
06:16But what Eisman said didn't instill
06:18that much confidence in me.
06:19And I get it, because it didn't instill
06:21a whole lot of confidence in me either, okay?
06:23But I think that's, in part,
06:25I think that's his speech pattern,
06:27and I think it's what he does
06:28when he gets in front of the cameras and microphones.
06:30I don't think he wants to give anybody anything.
06:32And I understand you don't want to give yourself a timeline
06:34because then people will go back and go,
06:35well, you said this, we're gonna fire you then.
06:37I get that wordplay of it,
06:40but also, I know he wants a way to do things
06:44how to build a team, but in the end,
06:46in sports, all that matters is results.
06:48Exactly, exactly.
06:49And that's what you're gonna be judged on.
06:50And at some point, even the great Steve Eisman
06:54is gonna be judged and moved out of town
06:56because that's just what happens in sports.
06:58Happened to Joe Dumars.
07:00Built a championship team
07:02in the most unconventional way.
07:05And then what happened?
07:07Things fell apart and he had to go.
07:09I'm hoping that's not the case for Eisman,
07:11that someday he gets to ride off in the sunset
07:13on his own accord.
07:15But he's gonna be, he is gonna feel some pressure.
07:17And he admitted it.
07:18You gonna feel any pressure?
07:19Yeah, I kinda do.
07:21Okay, good.
07:23Everybody's getting to work here.
07:24Let's, you know, we'll see where they're at
07:26and what they can do.
07:27And it's gonna be a long season upcoming for sure.
07:29We got some calls on holding.