Stevie Y for GM of the Year?

Is it too early to anoint Steve Yzerman as GM of the Year? Well of course it is. We haven’t even dropped the puck on the 2010-11 NHL season yet; hell, training camp hasn’t even opened yet. But that isn’t going to stop me from laying out what he’s done in his short time as GM, and how he has setup his team to excel long term.

When Stevie Y was named the GM of the Lightning in May 2010, he inherited an underperforming, overpaid team, with only a few gems, that hadn’t made the playoffs since 2007. Going into the off season, Yzerman had six forwards, six defensemen, and one NHL goalie under contract, totaling approximately 39 million dollars. With the team’s anticipated internal cap, set just above the league’s floor cap number, this wouldn’t leave very much room to improve the team’s performance for the upcoming year.

Yzerman had a difficult task in front of him.