lordstanley

It gets worse ...Eastern conference points since return from the Feb 5-Feb 24 Olympics break (which for most teams is around 18 games +/-). Buffalo -30 Boston/Philadelphia -25 Montreal -24 Columbus/Ottawa- 23 Carolina/Pittsburgh -22 NY Rangers - 21 Tampa/NYI/Washington/New Jersey- 20 Detroit/Toronto/Florida- 14 In just over a month, February 25-March 31, the Wings lost 6 points or more in the standings to 13 of the other 15 teams in the conference. https://www.shrpsports.com/nhl/stand.php?link=Y&season=2026&divcnf=div&month=Feb&date=5

I can't be too hard on the Mantha trade because I thought it was great value at the time. And also because Vrana (just turned 25 when acquired) is the type of guy I was fine with Yzerman picking up, a potential diamond in the rough in his mid-20s who potentially could flourish with a new organization. Like Fabbri (24 when acquired) and Nedeljkovic (25 when acquired). Problem is none of them panned out.

The depressing thing though is that we were just as excited about this prospect pool - ranked top 10 at the time - as we are about today's prospect pool. And that was in 2014, when the Wings had made the playoffs 23 consecutive seasons, won a Cup six years earlier, been to an SCF five years earlier, and had pushed the Hawks to Game 7 of the 2nd round a year earlier. I'm not arguing that some of Kaspar, Danielson, MBN, ASP, Bear, Cossa, Augustine, Lombardi will become NHL players. But it's starting to look they might turn out like any random batch of mid-1st round prospects, which many teams have. This idea of "we're not building to make the playoffs, we're building to win the Cup" is the part that we all should have serious doubts about. 1. Anthony Mantha, RW 2. Dylan Larkin, C 3. Xavier Oullett, D 4. Ryan Sproul, D 5. Teemu Pulkkinen, LW 6. Petr Mrazek, G 7. Mattias Backman, D 8. Tyler Bertuzzi, LW 9. Axel Holmstrom, C 10. Alexey Marchenko, D

You trade him for a package of picks and prospects and then turn around and trade those picks and prospects for someone similar to Larkin but a few years younger. Supplement with a prospect or pick of our own if necessary. So 3 teams involved, even if it's not actually a 3-team trade. At least resets the clock to an extent.

What did I do to deserve this Red Wings game and Tigers game on a Tuesday night.

Not Vest’s night.

5-7-2 for 12 pts in 14 games in March. 7-11-3 for 17 pts in 21 games since late January - only the Canucks have been worse.

Columbus, NYI, Detroit, Ottawa and Philadelphia all lost in regulation tonight. The good teams zoomed up the standings and only the mediocres are left flailing for a spot. Saturday morning just 10 days ago the Wings were tied with the Habs and Bruins - since then they’ve lost 10 points on the Habs and 8 points on the Bruins.

Larkin has to be traded this summer.

The sad reality is that the Wings have been a bottom 3 NHL team for a full quarter of the season now. 7-10-3 in past 20.

This is a new low. How do you trail 3-0 and be outshot 14-5 in the 1st to a team that played the night before.

I thought you were nuts!

Dan called that ball gone. Then noticed the yellow line.

Storybook returns aren’t always like a Disney movie.