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Oh, don't get me wrong -- I wouldn't want an all-in, playoffs-or-bust approach to this offseason. And I don't think there's any chance Yzerman will be swayed to think that way at this point in the rebuild, even if we get Lafreniere. Suter-Parise 2.0 is not in the cards for us this offseason; Yzerman won't be signing Hall and Pietrangelo. lol! But if we get Lafreniere and if it's looking like next season will be truncated, I think we might see Yzerman take a slightly more ambitious, aggressive approach to this offseason than he otherwise would. Maybe we do need to be solidly in the mix for the 1st overall pick next season, even if we get Lafreniere. I'm willing to accept that a bad 2020-21 season is what's best for this franchise's long-term health. At the same time, I do think meaningful regular season hockey and a surprise playoff berth would be a good thing. This season was rough for everyone in Red Wings world. It was rough for the franchise. It was rough for the brand. It was rough for the players. It was rough for the fans. Just look at the state of this forum. So true, man. So true.

Other than signing a cheap backup goaltender, I hope Yzerman stays away from free agency this offseason. Especially the big name free agents the day free agency opens... If he wants to sign another stop-gap Filppula / Nemeth type, whatever, but no thanks on Hall, Pietrangelo, Krug, etc., players that are going to be massively overpaid in salary / term. Sign our big name RFA's, Mantha, Bertuzzi, Fabbri to hopefully team friendly contracts, and maybe one or two of Erne, Perlini, Ehn, Timashov, Bowey to near league minimum contracts, and let everyone else walk. I'd also be okay with bringing Gagner back on a short-term contract. I'm still hopeful that Yzerman gets creative and signs a player like Sergachev to an offer sheet. I think a bold move like that, along with getting a top two pick in the upcoming draft, and we will be in great shape going forward. Likely not a playoff team by next season, but the season after, I think we would be in position to make a strong push.

I definitely think if Yzerman wanted to put pieces together to make a push then he could, but I think it would most certainly result in the same short term success that got us in trouble in the first place. As we all know Holland forced prolonged our rebuild by achieving the "streak" with overpaid FA's that didnt work out and overpaying current roster players, whereas in rebuild mode these some of these guys dont get the contracts they did. It seems as Yzerman has set his focus on making this team a giant again and adding players like Hall, that could indeed help the next few seasons and perhaps even give us the fuel for another push, isnt in the big picture. These short term contracts would not only affect our draft chances (that we perpetually drop as low as possible anyway) they also take ice time away from growing players in key development time. If our roster with new long term acquisitions (draft/trade/goalie FA) can make a push Id be stoked af. I do think we have one more jittery season to go through until we start to see a huge difference at the start of the 21/22 season though.