Steve Yzerman says he won't spend money just because it's there

The Detroit Red Wings have over $27 million dollars worth salary cap space with which to work, and many have assumed that space will soon be filled with established players who have a knack for scoring goals, perhaps Detroit's biggest need right now. 

Instead, general manger Steve Yzerman offered a frankly puzzling comment at the conclusion of the Draft, which just wrapped up from Nashville. And this is already on the heels of his once again saying that his team is still in the mode of collecting assets and not ready to compete for the postseason. 

“I think we’re positioned reasonably well to have the ability with cap space, with draft picks (in 2024, including two first-rounders), if we want to go at it through trade or if we want to go through free agency, there’s options there,” Yzerman told media at the draft. “But I’m not going to just spend the money because I have it and we’re not going to just trade the picks because we have them. We’ll try to make good decisions regardless of our cap space or our depth. But it gives you options." 

“It’s just hard. If we want young players, and there aren’t many of them on the market. To get them you got to be prepared to pay and you got to prepared to pay a lot of money to them as well.”

Yzerman did make a trade earlier today with his former Red Wings GM in Ken Holland, who is now running the show with the Edmonton Oilers. Holland sent bottom-six forwards Kailer Yamamoto and Klim Kostin to the Red Wings in what was purely a salary cap dump, a far cry from the rampant rumors that Farmington Hills native Alex DeBrincat was on the verge of being acquired. 

Now, this does not mean that a deal is not forthcoming. Free agency officially starts this weekend, and there is still plenty of time for an impactful trade to be made before the puck drops in October.

But for everyone who was hoping that they'd be served a prime rib dinner with a fancy bottle of wine, it sounds like right now, they're having to settle for a Quarter Pounder from the Golden Arches instead - which is still good, but not anywhere close to the same level as the former. 

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