Yzerman standing by long-term plan

Take a trip back to May 25, 2010, when Lightning owner Jeff Vinik formally introduced Steve Yzerman as the team's next general manager. Consider all the questions Yzerman fielded that day about the time he spent in Detroit under the tutelage of Hall of Famer Jimmy Devellano and Ken Holland at what Yzerman called Red Wings University.

When it came to discussing how to apply what he learned there in his new position in charge of building the Lightning, Yzerman talked of a plan — and it wasn't one or two years, it was a three-year plan, even a five-year plan.

So why are so many people now asking Yzerman to abandon that plan?

I get that many are disappointed, even angry to a certain extent, at how Tampa Bay's season has transpired as it battles to stay out of the Eastern Conference basement. I sense plenty of that in the questions I get asked on Twitter, most wanting to know what Yzerman is going to do to save the season or why he hasn't he done so already.

My response is generally the same: Yzerman is not going to abandon his plan less than two years into the job.

While last season certainly changed everybody's expectations, with the Lightning coming within one win of the Stanley Cup finals in Year 1, it can't change the focus of making this franchise an annual playoff threat instead of a one-year wonder.

This Yzerman quote from last week, as Tampa Bay was in the midst of a seven-game winless streak, sums up the situation perfectly:

"What happened last year or so far this year will not change our long-term goals. I'm not going to do something short-term that's going to jeopardize our plan. We've got to build depth, and the way you do that is to draft well and develop players.

"We're not giving up our picks and our top prospects, period. I've been humbled before in this game many times. You just believe in yourself and the people around you and you'll get there.

"No matter what, we're not going to sacrifice the future around here."

There you go, folks. Yzerman answered the question many of you have been asking for about the past six weeks.

When Yzerman came to this position, he inherited a team that had some solid top-end NHL talent with the likes of Steven Stamkos, Vinny Lecavalier, Marty St. Louis, Ryan Malone and Victor Hedman, among others. But he also inherited a team void of any blue-chip talent in the system and a lack of organizational depth, the by-product of a decade of poor drafting by previous regimes.

The only way to build that is to draft and develop while being shrewd with other moves, such as free agency and trades. And that doesn't happen overnight, even if it felt that way following the instant success the team enjoyed last season.

This season, which feels lost even as those inside the locker room feel it's too early to count them out, is more about growing pains for those in the organization and those who cheer for the team.

As frustrating as that is to hear, it's the reality of the situation as the league goes on a short hiatus for next weekend's all-star festivities in Ottawa.

That makes it an important early testing ground in the young career of GM Yzerman.

When it comes to staying true to his convictions, he's passing that early challenge with flying colors by sticking to the course he set out during his initial news conference and not abandoning his plan at the first showing of adversity — no matter how much outside pressure might be mounting as this season continues to slide down the path to bitter disappointment.