For Red Wings fans, Friday was a celebration. In hiring Steve Yzerman as its general manager, Detroit is bringing back a franchise hero — a man who led the city to championships as a player and whom it now hopes can do the same as an executive.



There is all kinds of poetic symmetry around No. 19 coming home on April 19, 2019. Friday was a reunion, and a party. But none of that, on its own, is what made this such a big day for the Red Wings as a franchise.



The significance of Yzerman’s return goes far beyond sentimentality. It’s what he can do when the celebration is over. He is a massive hire for the franchise because of the shrewdness he has shown as an executive in Tampa Bay — building a historically good team in the salary-cap era — and how he can similarly help the Red Wings in their rebuild.



He will not have all the same pieces available to him in Detroit that he did in Tampa (he’s not walking in with a franchise...