Helene St. James | Detroit Free Press

Helene St. James/Detroit Free Press

Romain Blanquart DFP

Patience isn’t easy, and no hockey team wants a marketing slogan that says, “Please wait five years. Probably more.”

Building a contender is time-consuming, and it can be elusive. It is a trajectory on which the Detroit Red Wings are in the beginning stages as they seek to regain championship competitiveness after paving a playoff streak unlikely ever to be matched.

It's not an exact science. Just ask Steve Yzerman.

Since taking over as general manager of the Tampa Bay Lightning in the spring of 2010, Yzerman methodically has made the moves he thought were prudent to build a team that can contend for the Stanley Cup.

It has, above all, required patience.

“Our approach has been that we try to hang onto our draft picks and develop players,” Yzerman told the Free Press this week. “It’s my eighth year and I was fortunate to come in when we had our first-overall and second-overall picks in Steven Stamkos and Victor Hedman, so I got a running start. Eight years later we have a contender, but we haven’t won a Cup.”

The Edmonton Oilers drafted first overall in 2010, 2011, and 2012, seventh overall in 2013, third overall in 2014, and in 2015 they picked first and landed Connor McDavid, the reigning NHL MVP who is considered a generational player. The Oilers are about to miss the playoffs for the 11th time in the past 12 seasons. Since the 2004-05 lockout, the Arizona Coyotes have drafted inside the top 10 six times, but they are about to miss the playoffs for the sixth straight time.

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The Wings advanced to the Stanley Cup playoffs every season from 1991 through 2016, winning Stanley Cups in 1997, 1998, 2002 and 2008, and advancing at least to the second round six out of seven times from 2007-2013. That success has left the organization low on high-end talent, and reinvigorating it could take years.

“There is no magic wand,” general manager Ken Holland said. “There is no hockey store. It’s the old-fashioned way: you have to draft and develop. You probably have to be bad for a period of time.

“It’s about patience. Those teams in the league that are good now, they probably were bad for a period of time. They picked high, they used that bad period of time to acquire an excess of draft picks, and then they did a great job at the draft and they built up a core. Now they’re going to run it for six or seven or eight years and they’re going to see what that foundation can do.”

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Holland, in his 21st year as Wings general manager, used to trade away draft picks and prospects for pieces that complemented a team headlined by Yzerman, Nicklas Lidstrom and Sergei Fedorov, and later by Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg, all players drafted by the Wings. All players who, at one point or another, were among the best in the world.

Holland has held onto first-round picks since 2013 and over the past two seasons has shifted the focus to adding even more picks. The Wings made 10 selections in the 2017 draft, and have accumulated 11 in advance of the 2018 draft, including two first-round picks and four picks likely to fall within the first 40 selections. The hope is that in a few years, some of those players can stoke a rebuild that began with 2013 first-round pick Anthony Mantha and 2014 first-round pick Dylan Larkin.

“Finding superstars in the sixth and seventh rounds is not a sustainable model,” Holland said. “We beat the system a little bit by finding Datsyuk and Zetterberg, and they played basically their whole careers together. We found two top-five picks in the sixth and seventh rounds.

“The same franchise can’t keep beating the odds. When you pick late enough long enough, the system probably wins out. We’ve picked late enough long enough. So going forward, we are acquiring draft picks, we are building through the draft.”

Julian H. Gonzalez/Detroit Free Press

Time and luck

The Lightning has missed the playoffs three times during Yzerman's tenure as GM. That’s how hard it is to be successful in the salary cap era, which began in 2005 in an effort to regulate salaries and create parity.

“The biggest challenge is really finding players that can make a difference,” Yzerman said. “There are 31 teams in the league, and we’re all competing for the same talent. Whether it’s through the draft or free agency or trades, it’s difficult to improve your team. It takes time and you have to get lucky a little bit along the way.

“I believe to be a good team, it takes time. One player can have an impact, but to build a team, it takes years. You’re drafting players at 18, and the majority of them aren’t helping you for five years. The Connor McDavids and the Auston Matthews step in right away, but that’s rare. It takes time to build a team.”

The Lightning’s luck included drafting Nikita Kucherov at 58th overall in 2011. At 24, he’s on his way to a second straight 40-goal season, and is a contender to be the NHL’s leading scorer.

Jim Nill has worked on building the Dallas Stars into a contender since taking over as general manager in April 2013. He had been part of the Wings’ front office since 1994, including stints as assistant general manager and director of amateur scouting.

With Dallas, Nill made trades to acquire Sergei Gonchar, Tyler Seguin, Jason Spezza, and Ben Bishop, and he signed Ales Hemsky and Johnny Oduya in free agency.

All of them either were or became talented veterans. Yet the Stars have missed the playoffs three times in Nill's tenure and are fighting for a playoff spot this spring.

“You have to have a game plan and then stick with your game plan,” Nill said. “Once you deviate it can affect your team for another five years. There’s a process to it — you might get fortunate and speed it up, but it’s not going to happen overnight. And you have to get a little bit lucky.”

The Stars had the good luck last year to get one of three draft lottery positions, and they used the third overall pick on defenseman Miro Heiskanen, who ex-Red Wing Igor Larionov said reminds him of Lidstrom, one of the greatest defensemen of all-time.

How soon will Heiskanen pay off? It’s uncertain.

“We’re drafting 18-year-olds, so patience is the big word,” Nill said. “You have to develop them at the right speed. Players want to be here tomorrow. It’s having that calmness and right people to understand that everyone progresses at a different pace. You have to trust the system.

“The biggest thing is, you’re a general manager, emphasis on general. You’re managing a bunch of different people and situations. You’re dealing with ownership, the coach, the media, players. You’re dealing with scouts. So it’s really dealing with people, it’s hiring good people and trusting them to do their job. And you can’t let the outside influence decisions. If you let the outside weigh into your thoughts, that’s when you make mistakes.

“You have to have patience in this business, but the world has no patience any more. People want overnight change and it doesn’t happen that way.”

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Photos: Ducks 4, Red Wings 2

Drafting and developing

In the spring of 2008, the Wings won the Presidents’ Trophy with 115 points and went on to celebrate a Stanley Cup championship. The Lightning finished 30th with 71 points and drafted Stamkos, now a five-time All-Star. In the spring of 2009, the Wings finished third with 112 points and advanced to the Stanley Cup final. The Lightning finished 29th and drafted Hedman, who has made two All-Star games.

A decade later, the roles seemingly have reversed.

The Wings are likely to finish in the bottom-five of the standings this season, and the Lightning are in position to claim the Presidents' Trophy and are a Cup favorite.

There have been bright spots for the Wings — Larkin leads the team with 50 points, Mantha has a team-high 23 goals, Tyler Bertuzzi has worked his way onto a top-two line — but the Wings have struggled to score and victories have been scarce. They head into the final 11 games on an 0-8-1 skid.

While that frustrates the team, it is, ultimately, better for the organization. The lower the Wings finish in the standings, the better their draft odds, which have yet to be released. Drafting inside the top three can accelerate a rebuild. The Blackhawks missed the playoffs nine times from 1998-2008, but during that time they drafted Jonathan Toews (third, in 2006) and Patrick Kane (first, in 2007).

The Blackhawks won Stanley Cups in 2010, 2013 and 2015. The Pittsburgh Penguins had incredible luck in 2005 when they were awarded the No. 1 pick, which yielded superstar Sidney Crosby. That was a year after they'd used the second overall selection on Evgeni Malkin. The Penguins went on to win Stanley Cups in 2009, 2016 and 2017, and are contenders again this spring.

This draft, defenseman Rasmus Dahlin has the makings of a franchise player. He's the consensus to go at first overall. He's the type of player the Wings need.

Then they need more.

“You need to have three or four super-duper stars that are in the prime of their careers,” Holland said. “I’m talking generational players. Wasn’t Lidstrom a generational player? Wasn’t Yzerman a generational player? Wasn’t Fedorov?

“We had generational players, Hall of Fame superstars. When you look at teams today who you think are Cup contenders, go to the NHL Guide and Record Book and figure out when the makings of those teams began. It takes a number of years. I’m trying to speed the process up between this year and last year by acquiring more draft picks. Now, the process only gets sped up if we do a great job at the draft.

“The goal is to contend for a Stanley Cup. The reality is, you look at the teams that are Cup contenders — Tampa, Pittsburgh — they’re not teams built on 21-year-olds. They’re teams built on 25-year-olds and older, 28-year olds, 30-year-olds. We’re going to continue to draft and the team has to be built — the engine, the foundation — for the most part has to be built through the draft. That’s how the Detroit Red Wings were built in the 1990s and 2000s.”

The Wings have tipped younger in recent years, and the plan is for that to continue. Center Michael Rasmussen, the Wings’ 2017 first-round draft pick, will get a good look at training camp, and the hope is he can push to make the Wings as soon as next season. Defenseman Dennis Cholowski, drafted 20th overall in 2016, will turn pro this spring and likewise is expected to push for a spot with the Wings come autumn.

Defense prospect Filip Hronek may help in another year or so. It looks like defenseman Gustav Lindstrom, drafted 38th in 2017, is a future NHLer. Bertuzzi, a second-round pick from 2013, already has made himself part of the rebuilding process, looking at home on a line with Zetterberg.

As they embrace young players, there remains an emphasis on the importance of having players such as Zetterberg and Frans Nielsen and Niklas Kronwall on the team, veterans who teach newcomers how to be a good pro. Zetterberg called out the team’s young players after the March 8 loss to Vegas, saying that “poke-and-hope hockey” — i.e., making lazy plays — does not lead to team success. As the Wings rebuild, it’s vital for the next generation to learn to play the right way.

“We are not nearly as good as we need to be,” Holland said. “Going into next year we are going to try to put two or three more young players onto our team. We want to see what Cholowski can do. We want to see what Hronek can do. We want to see what Rasmussen can do. Joe Hicketts. Dominic Turgeon. It appears we are going to have a first-round pick of some importance.

“It’s important that they are in an environment that is as competitive as can be. The goal is to become younger, but better. It has to be about player development and getting young players to Detroit when they are ready to make an impact to push your team forward. Z came out and had a message for our young players, and if you don’t have those kinds of veterans around, the kids sort of run their own program. You can say make them accountable, but you’re trying to get 20- and 21-year-old players to understand how they have to play at the NHL level for the team to have success. Not for them to get points, but for the team to have success. They need role models.”

Present and future

Holland, 62, has been the Wings’ general manager since taking over in 1997 for Jim Devellano, who was hired to run the team in 1982 by new owner Mike Ilitch. Holland is in the last year of his contract, and his future is uncertain. The expectation is Holland will meet with current owner Christopher Ilitch soon after the season ends. Maybe Holland is renewed for two or three years, with Kris Draper continuing as an understudy. Maybe Holland joins another organization. Holland wants to keep working, and said he is not concerned about the uncertainty of whether he’ll be staying in Detroit or looking for a new job.

“It’s not odd for me because I’ve been here for a long time,” he said. “The Red Wings have been a big part of my life, my family’s life. It’s like somebody who went to the University of Michigan — you’re a Michigan alumni and you want Michigan to do good even when you leave. Right now, I’m a Red Wing and I want the Red Wings to be successful. The work we are doing right now is going to pay dividends down the road. I can’t tell you how far down the road. It depends on how many of those kids become players and then what other things happen. But this is an important stretch for the team in order to compete for a Stanley Cup down the road.”

Holland is aware of the criticism that he has signed players to constrictive contracts, including Jonathan Ericsson for six years for in 2013, Justin Abdelkader for seven years in 2015 and Danny DeKeyser for six years in 2016. A section of the fan base wants him gone. Holland knows that. But like Nill, Holland keeps the outside chatter at a distance.

“It’s a conscious decision because no one understands,” Holland said. “They don’t know all the information. They’ve only got pieces of the information. They don’t understand what factors into drafting, into developing. You’re going to have some things that don’t go your way, and at the end of the day, we made the playoffs 25 years in a row, we won Stanley Cups.

“I love that Wings’ fans are passionate. I can understand they’re frustrated. When you’ve been as good as we’ve been for as long as we’ve been, it’s no fun building. But the (collective bargaining agreement) has done a fabulous job creating a system that provides competitive balance.”

Holland heard Wings fans chant for Yzerman to “come home” at the Joe Louis Arena finale last April. Holland points to the work Yzerman, under contract through next season, has done with the Lightning, and why it is a contender.

“I think he’s done a great job in Tampa Bay,” Holland said. “He’s been there eight years and when he got there, Stamkos and Hedman were there. He’s done a fabulous job. I think he’s one of the best general managers in the NHL. He and his people have done a fabulous job.

“They built through the draft.”

Yzerman, 52, spent four years in the Wings’ front office after having played his entire 22-year career with Detroit. He is an icon in Michigan, known simply as “The Captain.” However long Yzerman stays with the Lightning, he will always be synonymous with the Wings. He deflected questions about his future, and emphasized his past when asked about the Wings.

“I can’t overstate how much I learned of value from the Detroit Red Wings,” Yzerman said. “I came in at 18, and we won the Cup 14 years later. I learned a lot as a player, from the all the experiences I went through, from all of our coaches, and then being able to work with Kenny and Jimmy D. I really feel I cannot overstate how much I learned. And I’m still learning. When you start out you think you know a lot, but every situation is different. You keep learning along the way.”

Yzerman, Nill and Holland each emphasized how important patience is to their jobs. It is not fun for fans, but it is the only way forward.