from Bob Wojnowski of the Detroit News,
Suffering along the way generally is unavoidable, unless a team gets lucky with a generational superstar draft pick. But if you’re going to be bad, there has to be a method to the badness.
Yzerman’s method is to be rational and realistic, and then aggressive when warranted. For instance, Larkin can’t slide through next season like this, with 17 goals after scoring 32 the previous year. Yzerman said he expects to finally name a captain, and it appears Larkin remains the favorite, but there’s a reason it has to be earned.