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DETROIT a When a team endures a decade of misery, a staggering playoff drought and player unrest, a change in leadership isnat shocking.
When it features the inglorious fall of a franchise legend? One of the more shocking failures in Detroit sports history.
Steve Yzermanas ouster as Red Wingsa GM is the ending no one saw coming, right up until it became inevitable.
In a rapidly changing NHL, Yzerman couldnat make deals in the forceful manner that was successful elsewhere, in another time with another team.
He negotiated hard, tried to rebuild dutifully, but struggled to adjust in a league where players are gaining more control, where aOriginal Sixa teams donat have the same appeal, where the once-mighty Wings are just another dysfunctional franchise.