Red Wings 2024-25 Season Catch All

[Jimmybigrigs69 366]

9 hours ago, Jimmybigrigs69 said:

As others have mentioned... MBN and ASP will likely finish their seasons with the Griffins. But the other two whom seem just as ready are Kiiskinen and Buchnelikov. If they are not signed nowish, or at the very least this summer, I'd be super surprised.

I really don't see much of a reason to sign ANY UFAs this summer... maybe some Austin Watson types just for competition, but we dont need any big term comitments IMHO. 

Just realized Buchnelikov has another year on his KHL contract after this one. Probs doesnt come over till 26/27 season. Bummer. 

[town123 231]

Utah must be wondering how they lost.   We got fluky!

[stephen-gregory-yzerman 133]

Acquire a young top 4 defenseman to pair with Seider. Go hard to get Nikishin out of Carolina.

Not sure what itd cost. Expendable pieces - 2025/26 1st/2nd round picks, roster players Compher/Copp/Rasmussen/Berggren/Chiarot/Gustafsson/Johansson, prospects Lombardi/Buium/Wallinder.

Resign Kane. Bring Buchelnikov over/ Danielson/Mazur up from GR.

Soda-Larks-Ray
Dcat-Marco-Kane
Buch-Nate-Vlad
Ras-Copp-Mazur
Watson

Nikishin-Mo
Ed-ASP
AlJo-Chia
Holl

Mrazek
Talbot
Cossa

[LeftWinger 5,129]

The problem is Larkin and Raymond have disappeared. Raymond has fallen under a PPG and Larkin has just slowed down.

[AtlantaHotWings 1,124]

They both look lethargic after the stupid 4 Nations thingy. Always felt that the 4 Nations killed our momentum as we were on a bit of a roll in Jan(10-3). We were 3 - 1 going into the break 2 weeks later the wheels pretty much come off the bus. 

Which begs the question why do the wheels come off mid Feb into March? Correct me but this meltdown has happened the last 3 years with 2 different coaches. Close to the same roster so is it lack of focus/youth/lack of faith?/not getting help at trade deadline?

[town123 231]

Playing time has caught up to Larkin and Ray Ray.   Seider has played the hardest minutes and looks pooped as well.

 

We need more muscle.  Period.   The Cats have it figured out.  They don't play hard every shift or every game, just enough to keep fresh and ready for the playoffs.    We're spent and soft.

[AtlantaHotWings 1,124]

On 3/26/2025 at 2:21 PM, town123 said:

Playing time has caught up to Larkin and Ray Ray.   Seider has played the hardest minutes and looks pooped as well.

 

We need more muscle.  Period.   The Cats have it figured out.  They don't play hard every shift or every game, just enough to keep fresh and ready for the playoffs.    We're spent and soft.

 

Just for grins looked at the month by month between us and the cats this year and last. 

2024-25                                                                  2023-2024

Panthers    Pts                 Wings                          Panthers                     Wings

Oct 7-3-1    15                Oct 4-5-1         9          Oct  4-3-1     9            Oct 6-3-1    13

Nov 8 - 6     16                Nov 6-6-1.     13          Nov 10-4-1  21            Nov 6-4-2   14

Dec 8 -4 -1  17                Dec 5-7-2.     12         Dec 8-5        16             Dec 5-9-1   11

=================================================================================

48                                     34                                    46                                    38

Jan 7-6-1     15                Jan 10-3-1     21         Jan  9-2-2   20               Jan 9-2-2       20

Feb 6-2        12                Feb 5-2-1      13          Feb 9-2      18                Feb 7-3          14

Mar 7-4        14                Mar 3-9           6          Mar 7-6-1   15                Mar 3-9-2        8

==================================================================================

41                                    40                                    53                                      42

Because this seemed like a pattern I went back to 2022-23

Panthers                          Wings

Oct 8-0-1    17                Oct 4-3-2        10      

Nov 7-4-2    16               Nov 7-3-3       17       

Dec 5-3-1   11                Dec 5-6-2.      12   

==================================

44                                     39

Jan 12-2-1    25                 Jan 5-7-1       11 

Feb 3-4           6                 Feb 7-5           12 

Mar 11-2-1    23                Mar 5-9-1        11  

======================================

54                                      34 

We never cracked 40 points or over in the first 3 months of the season vs the Cats whose worst record was 41.

IMHO we have a sloppy start and then struggle to get back into contention and either injuries or mental fatigue becomes a factor and we die off. Been a pattern for the past 3 seasons under 2 coaches

 

 

 

[GMRwings1983 8,803]

On 3/26/2025 at 1:21 PM, town123 said:

Playing time has caught up to Larkin and Ray Ray.   Seider has played the hardest minutes and looks pooped as well.

 

We need more muscle.  Period.   The Cats have it figured out.  They don't play hard every shift or every game, just enough to keep fresh and ready for the playoffs.    We're spent and soft.

This team has been soft for 25 years.  They had talent for much of that period and that made their soft play less relevant.  Now they're soft and not talented.  A bad combination.  

[Rick D 390]

This season is over. 

[AtlantaHotWings 1,124]

i think Toddfather agrees with my assessment based on this https://www.freep.com/story/sports/nhl/red-wings/2025/03/28/detroit-red-wings-playoff-chase-blame-it-on-mental-sags-todd-mclellan/82698702007/ 

"I go back to when we arrived, we talked about building up a belief system," McLellan said. "It’s getting tested, and it has been getting tested this whole month. It’s not just the wins and losses in your record, it’s about what happens in a game. And we’ve seen that multiple times where it doesn’t go our way and it drops off for five minutes. And then we get it back. 

"We can’t sag. It’s as much mental as it is physical and structural."

We don't need UFA we need a shrink STAT!!!

[town123 231]

Skellefteå  won 2-1 last night in 2OT to advance to the final 4.   MBN was steady with 3rd line ice time,  with good net front presence.   

 

ASP played over 24 min on 2nd pairing.   He made a few mistakes, one resulting in a goal.   He also scored that game tying goal on a nice rush and wristshot.   The kid can skate and handle the puck for sure.

 

They won't be over any time soon if they keep winning.

[kipwinger 8,751]

Here's where I'm at with the season: I understand that for good or ill, SY is putting all his chips behind the kids he drafted. We shouldn't expect outside help until THOSE kids put this team into the playoffs. THEN he'll make the kinds of deals we all wish he'd make. Until then he's not buying and he's not selling. So what does that mean?

It means that Larkin should continue to see hard defensive matchups AND the best defensive forwards the opposition can throw at him. There may come a time when Kasper or Danielson will eat some of those tougher minutes and Larkin gets freed up to play offense...but we aren't there yet. Until then he HAS to perform better than he did in the second half of this season. I get that he's worn completely out (because he's the only quality center we have) but he can't disappear like this anymore. He's got at least one more year of getting worked night in and night out before he gets those easier minutes. He better text Mark Scheiffle and see what the secret is.

Speaking of Kasper, it should be obvious to guys like him, Edvinsson, and Berggren that there are spots available for the taking on this team. Kane is probably gone, so we're going to need playmaking off the wing. Berggren better have the best offseason of his life because the ice time is there. Likewise, it should be obvious to Marco that neither Compher nor Copp are obviously higher in the depth chart than he is. That 2C spot is his if he can take it. Same for Edvinsson on the 2nd powerplay unit. His even strength scoring and defense are already good, here's a chance for him to go from a 40ish point defenseman to a 60ish point defenseman. Better step up.

Speaking of stepping up: Seider and Raymond need to take over at their positions. They're still riding high of their rookie seasons and that is ancient history. If Lucas wants to be a top young winger in the NHL he needs to start taking games over with regularity AND he can't disappear when games matter (down the stretch this season AND last). Same with Seider. You wanna be talked about in the same breath as the Dahlins, Heiskanens, Hughes, and Makars? Make a difference every single night. Right now is when he determines whether he's a good defenseman or a great one, but he was pretty absent lately too. I get that he gets tough matchups. I get that he defends well. But to be elite he needs to be on the score sheet most nights, and he needs a good portion of those points to come at even strength. Let's see what kind of a player he is.

Outside of that I won't waste too much breathe. We all know who's disposable, we all know who's coming, we all know what we're getting from the mid level guys. We also all know that we need help on defense from outside the organization (SY???). But none of that really matters if Lucas and Seider don't take another step and become elite. Or if Marco doesn't take over as a hard minutes 2C (think Kesler or O'Reilly). Or if Edvinsson doesn't become a two-way force in his own right. Or if Larkin doesn't embrace the suck for a while longer because he believes in the payoff.

Thankfully I don't think those things are especially unrealistic given what we've seen from each of those players up to this point.

[Jimmybigrigs69 366]

3 hours ago, kipwinger said:

Here's where I'm at with the season: I understand that for good or ill, SY is putting all his chips behind the kids he drafted. We shouldn't expect outside help until THOSE kids put this team into the playoffs. THEN he'll make the kinds of deals we all wish he'd make. Until then he's not buying and he's not selling. So what does that mean?

It means that Larkin should continue to see hard defensive matchups AND the best defensive forwards the opposition can throw at him. There may come a time when Kasper or Danielson will eat some of those tougher minutes and Larkin gets freed up to play offense...but we aren't there yet. Until then he HAS to perform better than he did in the second half of this season. I get that he's worn completely out (because he's the only quality center we have) but he can't disappear like this anymore. He's got at least one more year of getting worked night in and night out before he gets those easier minutes. He better text Mark Scheiffle and see what the secret is.

Speaking of Kasper, it should be obvious to guys like him, Edvinsson, and Berggren that there are spots available for the taking on this team. Kane is probably gone, so we're going to need playmaking off the wing. Berggren better have the best offseason of his life because the ice time is there. Likewise, it should be obvious to Marco that neither Compher nor Copp are obviously higher in the depth chart than he is. That 2C spot is his if he can take it. Same for Edvinsson on the 2nd powerplay unit. His even strength scoring and defense are already good, here's a chance for him to go from a 40ish point defenseman to a 60ish point defenseman. Better step up.

Speaking of stepping up: Seider and Raymond need to take over at their positions. They're still riding high of their rookie seasons and that is ancient history. If Lucas wants to be a top young winger in the NHL he needs to start taking games over with regularity AND he can't disappear when games matter (down the stretch this season AND last). Same with Seider. You wanna be talked about in the same breath as the Dahlins, Heiskanens, Hughes, and Makars? Make a difference every single night. Right now is when he determines whether he's a good defenseman or a great one, but he was pretty absent lately too. I get that he gets tough matchups. I get that he defends well. But to be elite he needs to be on the score sheet most nights, and he needs a good portion of those points to come at even strength. Let's see what kind of a player he is.

Outside of that I won't waste too much breathe. We all know who's disposable, we all know who's coming, we all know what we're getting from the mid level guys. We also all know that we need help on defense from outside the organization (SY???). But none of that really matters if Lucas and Seider don't take another step and become elite. Or if Marco doesn't take over as a hard minutes 2C (think Kesler or O'Reilly). Or if Edvinsson doesn't become a two-way force in his own right. Or if Larkin doesn't embrace the suck for a while longer because he believes in the payoff.

Thankfully I don't think those things are especially unrealistic given what we've seen from each of those players up to this point.

I'm just so done with Larkin... the dissapearing act down the stretch is inexcusable. Same with Raymond... but then, Raymond also isnt the captain... how bad is Ray supposed to feel about his performance when his captain, leader, and face of the franchise is right there next to him doing the same thing? 

Further, both Lalonde and McLellan FINALLY did what I've been begging for for years, and took Larkin off the PK. And his response to that refocus on offense is to completely dry up... not okay.

IDK... part of me suspects we broke something in Larkin last year. You could tell how devasted he was to miss the playoffs after battling injury and fighting so hard for it, only to have it ripped away at the last second. This year he just seems glum about it. Like the fight is gone. Another spring of "hello darkness my old friend"

There is a user on HF boards who claims to know several agents/scouts, so he often hears insider stuff, and he's been right about a lot of inside info he's presented over the years... well he's posted recently that there is a rumor swirling around the scouting community that Larkin approached the team after 4nations to warn (threaten?) the team that he may want to be traded in the near future. The story being he loved playing meaningful hockey at 4nations and some of his USA teammates got in his ear about joining them on a contender. The user admits he can't verify this (nor the scouts) but it is a rumor that has started and folks are whispering about it. 

IDK how others feel about this. The story line/arc for the Detroit franchise would suck... the captain trading away our hometown captain bc we couldnt get this ship to sail... but on paper it might be the move. The return for him would be big and Kasper and Danielson are both nearly ready.... and if Larkins confidence in the team is shattered at this point anyway it do more good than harm.

---------------------------------

I'm hating what this org is doing to Seider as well. What happened to the violent dynamic rookie with a big personality that we drafted? The team started forcing him to play this more calculated robotic Lidstrom/Rafalski style, and it's like you can see the joy slowly but surely slipping out of him... the infectious smile and goofy swagger is fading. His game is becoming boring and uninspired. It hurts to watch. Its like we drafted a Mike Tyson, but were forcing him to fight like a Floyd Mayweather. Sure Mayweather's style is technicallyyyyy the best, but youre not playing to Tyson's strengths making him fight like that... Seider is a beast you unleash and get the hell out of his way. Weve all seen it. Just let the boy play. If you want more autistic Lidstrom bots go focus that attention and energy on Ajo. You gotta let Mo Pronger do his thing...

[LeftWinger 5,129]

I think just split up those two (Larkin and Raymond) teams know they are our best, if we can split them up, make things harder on other teams.

Soderblom - Kasper - Raymond 

that could be a good one!

On the top line:

Debrincat - Larkin - Oh, I dunno, maybe Marner?

[mackel 763]

3 hours ago, Jimmybigrigs69 said:

I'm just so done with Larkin... the dissapearing act down the stretch is inexcusable. Same with Raymond... but then, Raymond also isnt the captain... how bad is Ray supposed to feel about his performance when his captain, leader, and face of the franchise is right there next to him doing the same thing? 

Further, both Lalonde and McLellan FINALLY did what I've been begging for for years, and took Larkin off the PK. And his response to that refocus on offense is to completely dry up... not okay.

IDK... part of me suspects we broke something in Larkin last year. You could tell how devasted he was to miss the playoffs after battling injury and fighting so hard for it, only to have it ripped away at the last second. This year he just seems glum about it. Like the fight is gone. Another spring of "hello darkness my old friend"

There is a user on HF boards who claims to know several agents/scouts, so he often hears insider stuff, and he's been right about a lot of inside info he's presented over the years... well he's posted recently that there is a rumor swirling around the scouting community that Larkin approached the team after 4nations to warn (threaten?) the team that he may want to be traded in the near future. The story being he loved playing meaningful hockey at 4nations and some of his USA teammates got in his ear about joining them on a contender. The user admits he can't verify this (nor the scouts) but it is a rumor that has started and folks are whispering about it. 

IDK how others feel about this. The story line/arc for the Detroit franchise would suck... the captain trading away our hometown captain bc we couldnt get this ship to sail... but on paper it might be the move. The return for him would be big and Kasper and Danielson are both nearly ready.... and if Larkins confidence in the team is shattered at this point anyway it do more good than harm.

---------------------------------

I'm hating what this org is doing to Seider as well. What happened to the violent dynamic rookie with a big personality that we drafted? The team started forcing him to play this more calculated robotic Lidstrom/Rafalski style, and it's like you can see the joy slowly but surely slipping out of him... the infectious smile and goofy swagger is fading. His game is becoming boring and uninspired. It hurts to watch. Its like we drafted a Mike Tyson, but were forcing him to fight like a Floyd Mayweather. Sure Mayweather's style is technicallyyyyy the best, but youre not playing to Tyson's strengths making him fight like that... Seider is a beast you unleash and get the hell out of his way. Weve all seen it. Just let the boy play. If you want more autistic Lidstrom bots go focus that attention and energy on Ajo. You gotta let Mo Pronger do his thing...

The 4nations derailed both Larkin and Raymond... be it injuries, sulking, fatigue, whatever the were no the same afterwards. I'm not sure if any other players in that tournament fell off as hard as they did.

I agree unless we can add a legit player like Marner or Ehlers... it's time to trade Larkin. We also need to change our management philosophy it's an absolute joke that Cossa and a couple more kids aren't up these last 4/5 games to get a taste of the NHL.

 

[Jimmybigrigs69 366]

10 minutes ago, mackel said:

The 4nations derailed both Larkin and Raymond... be it injuries, sulking, fatigue, whatever the were no the same afterwards. I'm not sure if any other players in that tournament fell off as hard as they did.

I agree unless we can add a legit player like Marner or Ehlers... it's time to trade Larkin. We also need to change our management philosophy it's an absolute joke that Cossa and a couple more kids aren't up these last 4/5 games to get a taste of the NHL.

 

Im pretty checked out at this point. 6-7 years in, 8-9 if you consider Holland started rebuilding before SY even jumped in...... and still no playoffs? Not even anything to be proud of? Like at least the crap 90s panthers had pavel bure to be excited about. We have NOTHING. Our best player is a 2C. Seider has been castrated by our coaches. Raymond dissapears as much as Larkin. Edvinsson is an overgrown poosy who can hardly stand up for himself. And our GM who is 6+ years into a rebuild is about to tell us "just 6 more my guys" lol

Id bet money this team is stripped down and restarted all over again b4 another cup is delivered. Welcome back to the dead wings. 

 

[kipwinger 8,751]

11 hours ago, mackel said:

The 4nations derailed both Larkin and Raymond... be it injuries, sulking, fatigue, whatever the were no the same afterwards. I'm not sure if any other players in that tournament fell off as hard as they did.

I agree unless we can add a legit player like Marner or Ehlers... it's time to trade Larkin. We also need to change our management philosophy it's an absolute joke that Cossa and a couple more kids aren't up these last 4/5 games to get a taste of the NHL.

 

The Four Nations tourney was a disaster for teams, despite how obviously successful it was for the league. The NHL asked these guys to play in playoff caliber games in the middle of the season. Guys get absolutely f*cked up in the playoffs every year, specifically because the games are so intense and the league thought it was a good idea to do that IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SEASON! Charlie McAvoy was injured for the rest of the year. Matthew Tkachuk was injured for the remainder of the regular season. Larkin and Raymond experienced obvious drop-offs afterward; maybe due to the intensity of the games, maybe due to injuries sustained, maybe due to the fact that they were asked to play in extremely high profile games right before making a playoff push. In any case, they weren't the same players after the tourney as they were during or before it.

But what killed our season was the back-to-back against Columbus. We were sitting in a Wild Card spot with points in hand against Ottawa. If we'd won those games (or even one of them) we'd have been like six points up with a game in hand. Instead we walked away with nothing AND got absolutely spanked. It was deflating and we never recovered.

I also think the lack of moves at the trade deadline killed us again. I seriously don't think SY pays enough attention to the mental/emotional state of his players. You can't ask guys like Seider and Larkin (or the goalies) to get absolutely mauled all season long and then do nothing to help them down the stretch. It kills them, year after year. Imagine busting your ass every night (and getting the hell beat out of you too!), all while laboring under the hope that maybe your GM will get you some help at the deadline. And then nothing happens...again...year after year. You absolutely CANNOT compete in the modern NHL with the defense we just iced for a whole season. SY says the team HAS to be better defensively and then moves on from Walman, Maatta, and Gostisbehere while icing a roster with Holl, Peter, and Gustafsson. HOW??? Like, HOW was that going to make us better defensively?

There were many critical moments during the season when a variety of Red Wings, from management to the coach to the players, had opportunities to step up and make something happen. Instead we got a HUGE dropoff from our best players after the 4 Nations, back to back losses to Columbus, a humiliating final game against Montreal, Craig Smith at the trade deadline, and Holl/Petry/Motte playing big roles on a historically bad PK.

 

Edited April 15 by kipwinger

[AtlantaHotWings 1,124]

10 spins at the wheel at Tankathon 

2 times we got to 2nd ...this is the YEAR!! 

[Jimmybigrigs69 366]

5 hours ago, kipwinger said:

The Four Nations tourney was a disaster for teams, despite how obviously successful it was for the league. The NHL asked these guys to play in playoff caliber games in the middle of the season. Guys get absolutely f*cked up in the playoffs every year, specifically because the games are so intense and the league thought it was a good idea to do that IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SEASON! Charlie McAvoy was injured for the rest of the year. Matthew Tkachuk was injured for the remainder of the regular season. Larkin and Raymond experienced obvious drop-offs afterward; maybe due to the intensity of the games, maybe due to injuries sustained, maybe due to the fact that they were asked to play in extremely high profile games right before making a playoff push. In any case, they weren't the same players after the tourney as they were during or before it.

But what killed our season was the back-to-back against Columbus. We were sitting in a Wild Card spot with points in hand against Ottawa. If we'd won those games (or even one of them) we'd have been like six points up with a game in hand. Instead we walked away with nothing AND got absolutely spanked. It was deflating and we never recovered.

I also think the lack of moves at the trade deadline killed us again. I seriously don't think SY pays enough attention to the mental/emotional state of his players. You can't ask guys like Seider and Larkin (or the goalies) to get absolutely mauled all season long and then do nothing to help them down the stretch. It kills them, year after year. Imagine busting your ass every night (and getting the hell beat out of you too!), all while laboring under the hope that maybe your GM will get you some help at the deadline. And then nothing happens...again...year after year. You absolutely CANNOT compete in the modern NHL with the defense we just iced for a whole season. SY says the team HAS to be better defensively and then moves on from Walman, Maatta, and Gostisbehere while icing a roster with Holl, Peter, and Gustafsson. HOW??? Like, HOW was that going to make us better defensively?

There were many critical moments during the season when a variety of Red Wings, from management to the coach to the players, had opportunities to step up and make something happen. Instead we got a HUGE dropoff from our best players after the 4 Nations, back to back losses to Columbus, a humiliating final game against Montreal, Craig Smith at the trade deadline, and Holl/Petry/Motte playing big roles on a historically bad PK.

 

THIS. Add or sell. No in between. It infuriated me last year, and weve done it again, and there's again nothing to show for it. 

Adding at the TDL would have been a huge morale boost for our players. It doesnt even have to be a major meaningful pickup. We could have traded a 7th to bring back Sprong... a guy our boys know... a guy who sucks in his own zone but is talented at scoring and could have provided a boost when Ray and Larks are snake bitten. And it wouldve cost us a measly 7th... a pick SY has shown he already values so little that he wasted one on Kienan Draper.

Want to do more? Pickup Brad Marchand for a 2nd. And then send off Berggren for a 3rd. Now we have no 2nd rounders... but we have three 3rds to make up for it. And now we have a proven vet leader and cup champion in Marchand. A guy who can steady a mentally weak team. A guy who can play top 6. A guy who brings the sand paper our team lacks...

If we want these players to fight to make the playoffs, management has to be willing to show them they believe they can accomplish that. And you do that by adding. Even with a small gesture like Sprong. 

If we are not even willing to do that... then sell. Berggren and Ras are not the players we'd hope they become, but there are playoff teams who would overspend on them at the TDL bc they still have youth, are cheap, and they hope their superior team can fix them.

I do agree with you when you basically said SY wants this team to pull itself up by its bootstraps b4 he's going to do anything. That's so fukt IMO. And this team is becoming a losing culture. At least if you sell it becomes obvious to the team and city that we are not expected to win this year, and that takes the pressure off the boys. Instead SY didnt remove that pressure, but also didnt help them, and they feel like an utter dissapointment to themselves and the city again.

Yzerman does not understand the morale of his team. And for the past two seasons he has not done a good enough job. 

[kipwinger 8,751]

5 minutes ago, Jimmybigrigs69 said:

THIS. Add or sell. No in between. It infuriated me last year, and weve done it again, and there's again nothing to show for it. 

Adding at the TDL would have been a huge morale boost for our players. It doesnt even have to be a major meaningful pickup. We could have traded a 7th to bring back Sprong... a guy our boys know... a guy who sucks in his own zone but is talented at scoring and could have provided a boost when Ray and Larks are snake bitten. And it wouldve cost us a measly 7th... a pick SY has shown he already values so little that he wasted one on Kienan Draper.

Want to do more? Pickup Brad Marchand for a 2nd. And then send off Berggren for a 3rd. Now we have no 2nd rounders... but we have three 3rds to make up for it. And now we have a proven vet leader and cup champion in Marchand. A guy who can steady a mentally weak team. A guy who can play top 6. A guy who brings the sand paper our team lacks...

If we want these players to fight to make the playoffs, management has to be willing to show them they believe they can accomplish that. And you do that by adding. Even with a small gesture like Sprong. 

If we are not even willing to do that... then sell. Berggren and Ras are not the players we'd hope they become, but there are playoff teams who would overspend on them at the TDL bc they still have youth, are cheap, and they hope their superior team can fix them.

I do agree with you when you basically said SY wants this team to pull itself up by its bootstraps b4 he's going to do anything. That's so fukt IMO. And this team is becoming a losing culture. At least if you sell it becomes obvious to the team and city that we are not expected to win this year, and that takes the pressure off the boys. Instead SY didnt remove that pressure, but also didnt help them, and they feel like an utter dissapointment to themselves and the city again.

Yzerman does not understand the morale of his team. And for the past two seasons he has not done a good enough job. 

The Griffins' talented play-by-play man, Bob Kaser, filled in for Ken Daniels last night because Ken was tasked with calling the Montreal game. During the broadcast Kaser mentioned that you could visibly see the Griffins' locker room get a boost when they got Auston Watson and Dominik Shine back from their NHL call ups in March. The Griffs were struggling through a huge slump and had lost a bunch of games before those guys came back. They couldn't score apparently. After getting Watson and Shine back they broke their slump and outscored their opponents by some crazy margin. Those guys aren't superstars, they were just badly needed reinforcements for a squad that was absolutely going through it.

That's the kind of thing I mean when I say SY doesn't pay attention to the mental state of the team. The answer is always "tough it out" from management. But what happens when they've been toughing it out all season already? How do you tell Edvinsson, Marco, or Johansson to do more than they're already doing as a rookies? How do you tell Seider he's going to get even tougher matchups than he's already facing? How do you tell Larkin that it's open season on his head by every rat in the league because every team knows we've only got one decent center to match up with?

For the 2nd year in a row we've watched management run these guys into the ground and then punt the second they have an opportunity to lighten the load a bit. In Larkin's case this has been going on his entire career. He's never had even a decent 2C to share tough minutes with. Seider only finally got Edvinsson to help him out, but A) nobody knew Edvinsson would be so good, and B) SY did everything he could to make the defense WORSE than it was a year ago prior to the season.

In "Work Me Lord", Janis Joplin sang: You ain't gonna find anybody who can say that they tried like I tried. How do you keep telling that person to tough it out until next year...over and over and over?

Janis goes on to say:

Can I show you how hard it is
Trying to live when you're all alone?
Everyday I keep pushing
Keep trying to move forward
But something is driving me, oh, back
And something's trying to hold on to me

Maybe it was the depression, or the alcohol, or the drugs, or maybe...just maybe...Steve Yzerman was her General Manager.

[Jimmybigrigs69 366]

6 minutes ago, kipwinger said:

The Griffins' talented play-by-play man, Bob Kaser, filled in for Ken Daniels last night because Ken was tasked with calling the Montreal game. During the broadcast Kaser mentioned that you could visibly see the Griffins' locker room get a boost when they got Auston Watson and Dominik Shine back from their NHL call ups in March. The Griffs were struggling through a huge slump and had lost a bunch of games before those guys came back. They couldn't score apparently. After getting Watson and Shine back they broke their slump and outscored their opponents by some crazy margin. Those guys aren't superstars, they were just badly needed reinforcements for a squad that was absolutely going through it.

That's the kind of thing I mean when I say SY doesn't pay attention to the mental state of the team. The answer is always "tough it out" from management. But what happens when they've been toughing it out all season already? How do you tell Edvinsson, Marco, or Johansson to do more than they're already doing as a rookies? How do you tell Seider he's going to get even tougher matchups than he's already facing? How do you tell Larkin that it's open season on his head by every rat in the league because every team knows we've only got one decent center to match up with?

For the 2nd year in a row we've watched management run these guys into the ground and then punt the second they have an opportunity to lighten the load a bit. In Larkin's case this has been going on his entire career. He's never had even a decent 2C to share tough minutes with. Seider only finally got Edvinsson to help him out, but A) nobody knew Edvinsson would be so good, and B) SY did everything he could to make the defense WORSE than it was a year ago prior to the season.

In "Work Me Lord", Janis Joplin sang: You ain't gonna find anybody who can say that they tried like I tried. How do you keep telling that person to tough it out until next year...over and over and over?

Janis goes on to say:

Can I show you how hard it is
Trying to live when you're all alone?
Everyday I keep pushing
Keep trying to move forward
But something is driving me, oh, back
And something's trying to hold on to me

Maybe it was the depression, or the alcohol, or the drugs, or maybe...just maybe...Steve Yzerman was her General Manager.

Idk if you've noticied, but SY has become increasely more chippy and irritable in his EOY media availbities each year... IMO.

And I get it... same fuqqing questions. Same fuqqing answers. 

And last year I was mad he fence sat, but I still had sympathy for him. I could at least rationalize why he did that. We were close...

This year I have no sympathy. And if he cops a fuqqing attitude with the media again then fuq him. 

He doesn't seem to have a pulse on the morale of his team, and he's also quickly losing the narrative with this city. Folks are turning on him in a big way. The tigers and pistons and lions are all excelling in big ways... and its making the wings look like a joke more than ever. Weve waited for the wings and folks are done waiting.

In the 90s classic hit film Toy Story, human character Andy famously says:

"i dont want to play with you anymore"

And that's the current sentiment about the Wings. 

Yzerman - you no longer have enough rope to act like an arrogant genius. We want some humility and some sorrys at this point. Otherwise, the bashing from woodward sports, 97.1, podcasts, boards, is going to drastically increase. And when it finally goes silent it will be bc we stopped tuning in.

Get ur fuqqing crap together and do something. 

[TLGTrico 660]

Well, this season has proven Scott wrong that just throwing all the kids in the lineup will fix all our problems.  We added two top 10 picks to the lineup this season and we still sucked

[kipwinger 8,751]

34 minutes ago, Jimmybigrigs69 said:

Idk if you've noticied, but SY has become increasely more chippy and irritable in his EOY media availbities each year... IMO.

And I get it... same fuqqing questions. Same fuqqing answers. 

And last year I was mad he fence sat, but I still had sympathy for him. I could at least rationalize why he did that. We were close...

This year I have no sympathy. And if he cops a fuqqing attitude with the media again then fuq him. 

He doesn't seem to have a pulse on the morale of his team, and he's also quickly losing the narrative with this city. Folks are turning on him in a big way. The tigers and pistons and lions are all excelling in big ways... and its making the wings look like a joke more than ever. Weve waited for the wings and folks are done waiting.

In the 90s classic hit film Toy Story, human character Andy famously says:

"i dont want to play with you anymore"

And that's the current sentiment about the Wings. 

Yzerman - you no longer have enough rope to act like an arrogant genius. We want some humility and some sorrys at this point. Otherwise, the bashing from woodward sports, 97.1, podcasts, boards, is going to drastically increase. And when it finally goes silent it will be bc we stopped tuning in.

Get ur fuqqing crap together and do something. 

 

In any other market he would have gotten roasted for the Walman trade alone. Forget the parts where he let all his decent defenders go and then stunk defensively. Or how he traded lost Fabbri, Sprong, and Perron, didn't replace those goals, and then predictably didn't have any even strength scoring all season long.

[kipwinger 8,751]

14 minutes ago, TLGTrico said:

Well, this season has proven Scott wrong that just throwing all the kids in the lineup will fix all our problems.  We added two top 10 picks to the lineup this season and we still sucked

I know you're being glib, so I'm not taking your post TOO seriously but Marco and Edvinsson were genuinely better options than roughly 90% of the veterans available on any given night. Scott was right about that. The point is that's ALL we should have done. Keep Walman, keep Ghost, keep Perron/Fabbri/Sprong...just ADD EDVINSSON AND KASPER!

It makes me feel crazy but it's so simple right? Why on earth did we give away better players and then pay the same money for worse ones? In what universe is Petry/Holl/Gustafsson a more capable defensive unit than Walman/Maatta/Edvinsson? Or Walman/Gost/Edvinsson? And you can't say "well nobody would want Petry or Holl" because we had to PAY someone to take Walman! Why not waive Petry, pay someone to take Holl, and then never sign Gustafsson? You could have added Berggren and Kasper to last season's lineup simply by...wait for it...not signing Tarasenko and Motte. That's all you had to do. I think that's probably was always implied in Scott's argument right? Get rid of the losers and bring in the kids? Only this time we kept all the losers, signed more losers, traded away actual contributors, and then brought up the kids. Hardly the same thing.

It really is that simple. SY just chose the wrong guys.

[Jimmybigrigs69 366]

15 minutes ago, kipwinger said:

 

In any other market he would have gotten roasted for the Walman trade alone. Forget the parts where he let all his decent defenders go and then stunk defensively. Or how he traded lost Fabbri, Sprong, and Perron, didn't replace those goals, and then predictably didn't have any even strength scoring all season long.

Ive been listening to a lot of local detroit sports talk recently to get their takes on the Lions upcoming draft, not even for Wings stuff. But boy when they talk about the wings its not good - and I would call the radio heads casuals when it comes to hockey. But when the casuals and media are even starting to turn on you... you got a serious problem. 

I dont think SY is in a contract situation - or personel situation - where he can reasonably make the moves to rectify this, this summer... unless by a long shot he lands Marner. And boy o man its gonna get bad if we repeat this season a 3rd time. Chris Illitch is going to feel forced to fire him or "promote" him, and let someone else take over. I honestly believe that. 

Hes put himself in a situation where hes going to have to overspend bigly on Marner or pull some other genius move. That would buy goodwill for another season or two.