Jason_R

The beat guy for the Wild on theathletic.com Says Minnesota has made a huge offer for Larkin. I don’t know how big the offer could be with their current roster but this Russo guy has 200,000 followers so I assume he has actual sources. I would be surprised if there weren’t two or three offers on the table that Stevie is weighing and slow playing.

Let’s go.

Yzerman is known as The Captain™️ because he practiced and preached radical accountability as a player. Let’s see if he can do this as a GM. Maybe he had been fighting to get Larkin there but Larkin just wasn’t able to do it. What worries me is the thought that Stevie makes the players feel like they can never measure up, so like Larkin and maybe Cossa and others they just get demoralized.

Yeah I remember that. I figure other executives would understand why Yzerman would be frustrated that Larkin aired dirty laundry, but would also understand why a player of Larkin’s caliber would grow impatient. I doubt it makes a difference in trade value.

I don’t remember Yzerman saying anything critical other than an indication of disappointment that Larkin did not keep something in house that he should have kept in house. Anyway, I think this deal provides a floor for the Larkin deal. It is also the first domino to fall. There are only a few options out there for teams that want to make a major upgrade and now Brady is off the list. I’ll be surprised (and alarmed) if this gets dragged out beyond the draft.

This seems overly pessimistic. There is a “sky is falling” mentality among Wings fans, which I get, but which is overblown. There is no way that a consistent 30 goal scorer who is still one of the fastest skaters in the NHL and who continues to produce while consistently drawing the toughest defensive assignments is going to get traded straight up for a player who has never seen an NHL game.

At the very least I think it indicates a young established C with 1C potential, a 1st or equivalent prospect, and another piece is a reasonable expectation. But if Robertson could be had, what are we sending with Larkin?

OTOH…

Ottawa seems to be dropping itself out of contention in the East for next year. Or at the very least reckoning with the reality that Tkachuk would never re-sign with them in a million years. (It is interesting and kind of hilarious to see the Canadian press relentlessly harass the American players and then cry when they want to leave and play for American teams.) I think we should expect Larkin to get a better package than Tkachuk.

Cross Florida off the Larkin list.

Oh.

Fair.

Wasn’t quite ready for the NHL at age 19, direct from Europe, but should contribute next season.

I wonder if the prospect of tying the NHL record for playoff futility contributed to Larkin’s decision to pack it in.

Maybe Cossa is just a turd out there, being named to two AHL All-Star teams in two seasons, but it is hard to imagine him ever saying to Stevie, “Thank you for believing in me.”

I think an established young center with 1C potential, a high end prospect and or top draft pick, and a third asset is the ballpark. But Raddysh’s contract underscores what a great deal Larkin is signed to, and I would be thrilled to see a bidding war occur.

A fan base can dream. 😊

If this, or Lundell and 9OA, is on the table, Stevie should take it.

Reports on the one hand are that Stevie is not going to be rushed into trading Larkin. Reports on the other hand are that Kane is now weighing his options after having appeared eager to return. If Kane goes, is that a second domino that might knock ADB out of Detroit for his next contract? I think it is urgent for Steve to make this trade before or at the draft. It is encouraging to hear that Minnesota, Florida, Dallas, and maybe SJ, Anaheim, Vegas, and Utah are in the picture. The trade Iyer sketched out is reasonable and if Yzerman gets that offer he should take it. The one thing Steve can’t do s to sit around and wait for a perfect deal, especially if he is doing it to spite Larkin. I don’t know if there was some weird pissing contest going on between them but if Stevie believed his team wasn’t getting good leadership before, it is his time to provide that leadership now.

I don’t know how any of these things go behind the scenes, but we had the great highs from the Wings and to a lesser degree the Tigers due to Mike Ilitch. We are now living through the hangovers. It is frustrating, but very few teams had a kind of high like the Red Wings dynasty did. it seems like the tigers have made a significant commitment to bolstering their analytics operation. This has had mixed results, but the franchise is generally moving in the right direction. I don’t see anything obvious along these lines for the Wings. it seems likely that Chris would write the checks for this if asked. But obviously none of us knows what goes on behind the scenes. Anyway, the bet with Stevie is not that he has a magic wand, but that he is competitive and accountable enough to do whatever it takes to win, even changing his game in a fundamental way. Seems like he needs to do this now.

maybe you and tater should write a strongly worded letter to Chris Ilitch and threaten to boycott the team until Stevie gets fired.

I’m not wedded to him. I’ve said he inherited one of the worst teams in modern NHL history. I’ve said his timeline is not the fans’ timeline (which is unrealistic), and that only his status as a team legend has allowed him enough time to rebuild a barren roster through the draft. It needed to be done and there were no shortcuts. I agree with you and others who are concerned about the lack of success outside the first round. I disagreed with you and others who were preparing for another March swoon. I was wrong about that. When it happened again it seemed likely there was something wrong with the culture. Larkin’s trade demand made that clear. Nobody on the outside knows what is wrong with the culture. With Larkin as good as gone, though, the spotlight is on Stevie. It is all his now to own and to fix. I’ve long assumed that his rebuild timeline coincided with the end of the CCR contracts in 27/28. I still assume this. But the clock is still ticking on Yzerman and it is getting pretty loud, as it should.

This is the key point. Carolina has become one of the NHL’s model franchises due to their complete organizational commitment to analytics. They have figured out a way to be competitive and even to win the top prize without McDavid, Matthews, MacKinnon, etc. Stevie should have been competing in this space long ago and Chris Ilitch should have been demanding it. Hopefully Carolina’s win helps push Detroit down this path.

Yes, he’s done a pretty good job rebuilding the defense… but there are twice as many forwards so it takes twice as long. Kasper will be pretty good. MBN will be pretty good. Bear will be pretty good. Plante should be pretty good. Hopefully Danielson has recovered from his injuries and will be pretty good. Maybe one or two of them will pop and become very good. They will get something out of Mazur, Lombardi, and Genborg. I’ve always thought the window starts when the CCR contracts are off the books. Still think that. The March collapses have been discouraging and embarrassing but help is on the way and Larkin’s trade demand is a blessing in disguise.

Nobody outside the room knows who is at fault for anything. But something wasn’t working in that room.