Red Light newsletter 🏒 | This is The Athletic’s hockey newsletter. Sign up here to receive Red Light directly in your inbox.Good morning to everyone except anyone who ever said “sportsball,” and happy schedule-release day to those who celebrate. We got a sneak peek at opening night yesterday, and it’s honestly pretty great. Plus, the season starts in September, creating a bit more room to fit in the new 84-game schedule. Nice work by everyone involved.Walking the Yzer-plankWe had a bit of a bomb dropped on us yesterday, in what’s normally the slow-news dead zone of mid-July: Steve Yzerman is out in Detroit.Well, not “out,” at least not all the way. Instead, Yzerman has been kicked upstairs, where he’ll be an advisor to owner Chris Ilitch. That’s not quite the same as being sent to the unemployment line, but make no mistake — this is the Red Wings firing Yzerman as GM, in spirit if not in so many words.Max Bultman goes deeper on what it all means, but in the immediate aftermath, three questions loom:What now for the Red Wings?It’s unusual for a team to make a GM change this late in the offseason, and it was notable that there was no immediate replacement named, which ends any thought that this was some kind of planned succession scenario. Instead, the Wings will start the hunt for a new GM — weeks and, in some cases, months after other teams making changes have already hired theirs.In theory, this should be a reasonably attractive job, one in a strong market and with some good young pieces already in place. But the pressure will be high, as patience is running exceedingly thin in Detroit these days. If Steve Freaking Yzerman ran out of time, how much runway can a new GM expect to get?What does this mean for Dylan Larkin?Yzerman vs. Larkin had been shaping up to be the story of the summer, and now it’s over. Did … Larkin just win? Did the Wings’ current captain just beat their old one in a power struggle? And if so, does that mean there’s a way for him to come back after his trade demand, or that a new GM will be told to move him to one of his preferred destinations?Is this it for Yzerman’s front office career?In theory, it could be. Yzerman is 61 years old, and he might decide that it’s time to ride off into the sunset, cashing some (presumably large) paychecks for doing occasional consulting work while retaining most of his hero status in Detroit.But I can’t help but think back a decade or so to when the Devils kicked GM Lou Lamoriello upstairs. Like Yzerman in Detroit, Lou felt like a lifer in New Jersey. But after being “promoted” out of the job he’d held for 28 years, he lasted just a few weeks in his new role before quitting to become GM in Toronto. Will Yzerman be looking for a similar opportunity at some point in the next year or two? We’ll find out.Hey, speaking of being kicked to the curb …World Cup lessons for the NHLHave you been watching this World Cup thing? It’s a big international soccer tournament, and I’m pretty sure they based the idea off of the 4 Nations Face-Off. (Note to self: Verify that fact before hitting send.) The final is on Sunday, with Spain taking on Argentina, and The Athletic has been all over the coverage.I’ve never been a soccer diehard, but I’m enjoying this year’s tournament. And it’s got me thinking about what the hockey world should learn — and not learn — from the competition. Here are five that I’ve come up with:DO learn: … how to start games on time. I made a classic hockey fan mistake last week. There was a game scheduled for 3 p.m. ET, and so I finished up some stuff I was working on and turned the TV on in time to catch the kickoff I figured would come at 3:15 or so. Oops, I missed the first 15 minutes of the game because when soccer tells you a start time, they actually mean it. It’s a wild concept, but maybe we could try it?