Red Wings Offseason 2025

[Shinzaki]

Rumor has it that Martin Necas wants out of Colorado.  Signed for one more year at $6.5 million.  Would be a viable 2C here and allow Kasper to move back to the first line with Larkin and Raymond.

Not my 1st choice of guys to acquire...but he would def solidify the top 6

[slothfacekilla]

But have you considered the emotional anguish I'd feel every time I saw Necas and was reminded we drafted Rasmussen over him? 

[buddha]

colorado just paid brock nelson $7.5m a year to be their 2C

[slothfacekilla]

2 minutes ago, buddha said:

colorado just paid brock nelson $7.5m a year to be their 2C

Pretty expensive imo..... Contracts are about to be insane this offseason after all the years of the flat cap.

[buddha]

if the wings were lucky enough to win a bidding war for jason robertson, his cost is likely to be 8×$12

[lordstanley]

9 minutes ago, buddha said:

colorado just paid brock nelson $7.5m a year to be their 2C

After getting rid of Rantanen for financial reasons. 

[buddha]

9 minutes ago, lordstanley said:

After getting rid of Rantanen for financial reasons. 

it doesnt really make a ton of sense.  

and now necas wants out?  i'd rather have rantanan at 12 than necas and nelson at 7.5 plus whatever extension necas is going to get.

its possible they painted themselves into a corner with how cheap makar's contract is and have said were not going over $9 with anyone.  stupid if thats the case.

[slothfacekilla]

Stole this from a poster on the hfboards who didn't cite what podcast....but I love the attitude from MBN here the Wings need this fire haha:

Quote

MBN in a podcast a few days ago told a story from the Worlds, when he was ejected in the Denmark game. On his way to the locker room he broke four sticks and destroyed a door.

"The hit wasn't even a penalty. If I met that referee after the game I wouldn't sit here today"

He was fined by the IIHF and had to pay for the door.

 

[Jason_R]

1 hour ago, slothfacekilla said:

Stole this from a poster on the hfboards who didn't cite what podcast....but I love the attitude from MBN here the Wings need this fire haha:

 

Grit. 

Current Wings team does not seem to have anyone with this kind of fire and edge. 

[gehringer_2]

you don't even need 'grit' or 'edge' to forecheck, you just have to skate fast and hard be a little relentless. To me the 'attitude' aspect is way overrated. The Wings have had attitude guys whose skating wasn't good enough to make a difference in the forecheck and they were just as useless for helping the Wings overcome their possession game problems, grit or not.

[slothfacekilla]

True, but luckily MBN is supposed to be a pretty good forechecker!  I just hope we find someone somehow that isn't afraid to mix it up a little bit.  I'm still annoyed that Utah ran Mrazek and not only was there no call the Wings just shrugged their shoulders and was like well that's life!  From what I've seen MBN isn't shy about engaging other players especially when he's fired up.

[Jason_R]

On 6/5/2025 at 3:16 PM, gehringer_2 said:

you don't even need 'grit' or 'edge' to forecheck, you just have to skate fast and hard be a little relentless. To me the 'attitude' aspect is way overrated. The Wings have had attitude guys whose skating wasn't good enough to make a difference in the forecheck and they were just as useless for helping the Wings overcome their possession game problems, grit or not.

OK, let's parse the different meanings of "grit," "edge," "relentlessness," and "attitude."

Every successful NHL team has a couple of forwards who are hard to play against, who are going to punish defenders in the corners or in front of the net. The Wings do not have this. 

[gehringer_2]

40 minutes ago, Jason_R said:

OK, let's parse the different meanings of "grit," "edge," "relentlessness," and "attitude."

Every successful NHL team has a couple of forwards who are hard to play against, who are going to punish defenders in the corners or in front of the net. The Wings do not have this. 

No arg on the bolded, My comment was aimed more that what seems to be conventional wisdom that you can achieve that with guys that are just going end up fighting and taking penalties, or like Austin Watson. A good forecheck that generates takeaways requires *skill*, and the other side of the coin is guys who either skate well enough or are at least strong enough on the puck to maintain possession in the face of the opponents forecheck. All deficiencies that this team has not addressed for years running.

[slothfacekilla]

I don't think anyone has any illusions that Austin Watson is a key piece to a hockey team 😉

[Mr.TaterSalad]

1 hour ago, slothfacekilla said:

I don't think anyone has any illusions that Austin Watson is a key piece to a hockey team 😉

Stevie is delusional enough to think that Chiarot, Compher, Holl, Mrazek, and Rasmussen are a key part of a successful team. So who knows what he think at this point. I'd doubt he thinks Austin Watson is such, but after trading for Mrazek and Smith at the deadline, you never know.

Edited June 7 by Mr.TaterSalad

[buddha]

5 minutes ago, Mr.TaterSalad said:

Stevie is delusional enough to think that Chiarot, Compher, Holl, Mrazek, and Rasmussen are a key part of a successful team. So who knows what he think at this point. I'd doubt he thinks Austin Watson is such, but after trading for Mrazek and Smith at the deadline, you never know.

mrazek at the deadline was a hedge on cossa next year.  and really, its an acknowledgment that cossa isnt ready and the goalie free agent market was terrible.

smith was a 4th line player who is active.  unlike almost every other 4th line player the wings have.  and many of their 3rd line players.

what did you want them to do at the deadline?  trade a first round pick for a 3rd pair defenseman?  or a rental like marchand?

where we probably agree, the real criticism is that they signed the players you mentioned with the idea of forming a base to "not be terrible."  they did that.  HOWEVAH, the flip side of that was they didnt bottom out long enough to accumulate enough assets to build a bigger base, and they failed to draft/sign elite players.  no lottery luck?  sure.  that hurt them.  but spending on copp and compher and chairot elevated them from bottom 3 to bottom 10 while never getting them to top 10 and now it prohibits them from going balls to the walls to sign marner.

and we are here in the mushy middle.  forever to remain.

 

[buddha]

oh, and when kenny bottomed out he drafted filip zadina, joe veleno, denis cholowski, and michael rasmussen.  lets not forget that.

[gehringer_2]

19 minutes ago, buddha said:

mrazek at the deadline was a hedge on cossa next year.  and really, its an acknowledgment that cossa isnt ready and the goalie free agent market was terrible.

smith was a 4th line player who is active.  unlike almost every other 4th line player the wings have.  and many of their 3rd line players.

what did you want them to do at the deadline?  trade a first round pick for a 3rd pair defenseman?  or a rental like marchand?

where we probably agree, the real criticism is that they signed the players you mentioned with the idea of forming a base to "not be terrible."  they did that.  HOWEVAH, the flip side of that was they didnt bottom out long enough to accumulate enough assets to build a bigger base, and they failed to draft/sign elite players.  no lottery luck?  sure.  that hurt them.  but spending on copp and compher and chairot elevated them from bottom 3 to bottom 10 while never getting them to top 10 and now it prohibits them from going balls to the walls to sign marner.

and we are here in the mushy middle.  forever to remain.

 

right. If he had just played young, let them lose, the pipeline, which despite the bad draft luck would still be what it is, which is not bad - or better, and he'd have a lot of money to spend. Yzerman will argue that he's not managing for a one and done trip to the playoffs, but really, that's exactly what he's been doing.

Edited June 7 by gehringer_2

[Jason_R]

24 minutes ago, Mr.TaterSalad said:

Stevie is delusional enough to think that Chiarot, Compher, Holl, Mrazek, and Rasmussen are a key part of a successful team. So who knows what he think at this point. I'd doubt he thinks Austin Watson is such, but after trading for Mrazek and Smith at the deadline, you never know.

Yzerman is not delusional. Anyone who thinks there was some magic formula that would have allowed him to rebuild a barren roster and minor league system in five years is delusional. 

The FA market is what it is. Want talent? You are going to overpay, especially if you are not a competitive team. They blew it on Holl, there is a back story we will never know on Walman, and they are asking Chiarot and the rest of their FA acquisitions to do a bit too much. 

They could have made the playoffs this year but Larkin let the team, the front office, and the fan base down by pouting that they didn't acquire talent at the trade deadline. If the captain doesn't believe the players in the locker room are good enough to make it to the playoffs, the team doesn't believe it either, and if the team doesn't believe it, well, they are not going to make it. 

If the fan base is going to be mad at anyone, it should be Larkin. That press conference was a shameful display. Worse, if he is saying these things in public, imagine what he was saying in the locker room. He needs to get his mind right or give up the "C."

[gehringer_2]

15 minutes ago, Jason_R said:

If the fan base is going to be mad at anyone, it should be Larkin.

we'll see. If this take is correct, he won't be wearing the C for McLellan next season, and/or they will move him. If he's back next season with the 'C' again, then this take will not have aged well. 

[Jason_R]

55 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

we'll see. If this take is correct, he won't be wearing the C for McLellan next season, and/or they will move him. If he's back next season with the 'C' again, then this take will not have aged well. 

Regardless of what they do with Larkin, the take is the truth, and it seems to be shared by Yzerman and McLellan. 

It is possible they are looking to trade Larkin but that would be a major move and hard to accomplish even if they thought it was the right thing to do. Assuming they keep him it would be a bad move to demote him — as bad a move from the FO level as Larkin’s comments were from his level. Yzerman and McLellan dealt with Larkin’s comments the right way in public, but I suspect Stevie took him to the woodshed in private. If Larkin is a man, he will take the punishment he deserved from a man eminently qualified to deliver it, and he will do the job he is supposed to do as Captain. 

[gehringer_2]

4 hours ago, Jason_R said:

but I suspect Stevie took him to the woodshed in private.

TBH, I sort of doubt there is such a thing a management taking any professional athlete 'to the woodshed'. This isn't 1950 and the NHL isn't high school sports. He doesn't have to 'take' anything from management he doesn't care to. That's just a reality in modern pro sports.

If Larkin has a fracture with the Wings I put the odds of him being back on his feet in another gig before the Wings turn it around as pretty good.

Edited June 8 by gehringer_2

[Jason_R]

11 hours ago, gehringer_2 said:

TBH, I sort of doubt there is such a thing a management taking any professional athlete 'to the woodshed'. This isn't 1950 and the NHL isn't high school sports. He doesn't have to 'take' anything from management he doesn't care to. That's just a reality in modern pro sports.

If Larkin has a fracture with the Wings I put the odds of him being back on his feet in another gig before the Wings turn it around as pretty good.

Yes, I'm sure Stevie brought in a nice lady from HR to oversee his performance evaluation with Larkin. 

And yes, I'm sure it wouldn't raise any red flags if the captain of a team led by "The Captain" demanded a trade or otherwise seemed to be doubling down on his tantrum at not having made trades at the deadline. I'm not saying he's not tradable, but he wouldn't want his legacy in Detroit to have been that Stevie Y ran him out of town.

Larkin is not going anywhere, but I'm sure Stevie made it clear to him the expectations for continuing to wear the C. I wouldn't be surprised if Stevie asked Larkin if he was prepared to meet those expectations or if Seider should start wearing the C. 

[slothfacekilla]

22 hours ago, Mr.TaterSalad said:

Stevie is delusional enough to think that Chiarot, Compher, Holl, Mrazek, and Rasmussen are a key part of a successful team. So who knows what he think at this point. I'd doubt he thinks Austin Watson is such, but after trading for Mrazek and Smith at the deadline, you never know.

I have to hand it to you, when you decide you hate someone in sports you really go all in on it no matter what.

[Mr.TaterSalad]

1 hour ago, slothfacekilla said:

I have to hand it to you, when you decide you hate someone in sports you really go all in on it no matter what.

I'm not at the hate Stevie stage yet. I'm at the disappointed in the moves he's made haven't worked out yet stage. 7 years in and there has been minimal success on the ice. That's directly on the moves he's made and hasn't made. For a good add his first round drafting has been, his pro side moves have been equally as bad or subpar. 

I'll always love Yzerman the player, but that doesn't mean I have to love Yzerman the GM. He's been good in some areas (like drafting) and poor in other areas (like determining when to let a HC go and pro scouting).