General Wings Comments 2025-26

[Motor City Sonics]

15 hours ago, Jason_R said:

It will be at least three years and several strokes of good luck with respect to the development of their prospects before they might be a top team in the conference. Until then they will scratch and claw to be in playoff contention. 

This team, the way it is now, isn't going to scratch and claw for anything.  They're the softest Wings team since the 70's.   

 

Las night they could have gone out and played for pride, but instead got destroyed because they have no pride.  

Mo is the only one I care about.  They can trade every other player and I wouldn't care, because they don't seem to.  

[Hongbit]

Is there a reason they didn’t bring up Cossa to play one of the last two games?

[Jason_R]

2 hours ago, Motor City Sonics said:

This team, the way it is now, isn't going to scratch and claw for anything.  They're the softest Wings team since the 70's.   

 

Las night they could have gone out and played for pride, but instead got destroyed because they have no pride.  

Mo is the only one I care about.  They can trade every other player and I wouldn't care, because they don't seem to.  

Yeah that was ugly. 

Mac has seen these guys long enough to know who the problems are. And he’s been around long enough to be able to shoot straight with Stevie. It will be a real bad sign if all of CCR are on the roster next year. It will be a good sign if they can figure out how to move on from two of them. 

[Jason_R]

Worth a read. 

[Shinzaki]

I'm not giving Todd a free pass...your team completely tanks down the stretch two years in a row?  Sure the roster is flawed...but they appeared to lack motivation over much of the last two months.  That's at least partly on him.

If they do start relying more on younger players...I do not think he's they man to integrate them quickly

[slothfacekilla]

17 hours ago, Jason_R said:

 

This season truly might be my joker moment

[Jason_R]

43 minutes ago, Shinzaki said:

I'm not giving Todd a free pass...your team completely tanks down the stretch two years in a row?  Sure the roster is flawed...but they appeared to lack motivation over much of the last two months.  That's at least partly on him.

If they do start relying more on younger players...I do not think he's they man to integrate them quickly

From the Bultman article. I agree 100% that this roster doesn’t have nearly enough players who are hard to play against. Todd seems to agree. He doesn’t control the roster, so it will be interesting to see whether he can persuade Yzerman to bring in a few more players to serve as irritants on the ice and in the locker room

  

This year, the only forwards who registered 100 hits for the Red Wings were Kasper and Finnie. The division-rival Ottawa Senators had seven such forwards. The Boston Bruins had five. Those were the teams that earned the Eastern Conference’s wild-card bids.

It’s a problem in the bottom six, where there was no consistent identity throughout the year. J.T. Compher entered Wednesday’s game with 22 hits all season while also putting up only 28 points. Michael Rasmussen went from the 120-140-hit range in the past four seasons to just half that this year (64) — while also at the lowest per-game point production rate of his career (0.22). Free-agent signing Mason Appleton had 89 hits, more than he had a season ago with the  Winnipeg Jets, but considering he had 3 points in his final 34 games, there wasn’t enough overall to move the needle.

This is not to say the Red Wings should fill their bottom six with nothing but fighters or mindless body-bangers next season. But they have too many lineup spots being filled by players who aren’t finding enough ways to contribute, and there is value in adding at least one of that bruising style of player — even just as a deterrent to the liberties opposing teams take with Detroit’s stars.

[gehringer_2]

I wonder if the Wings philosophy isn't just wrong. Yzerman looks at his own career and probably thinks he should have been the 200 ft player he eventually became from the beginning and everyone else should be too. But maybe it just doesn't work that way - maybe  you just have to let young players play and take the speed, energy and skill they bring on their terms (at least a little) along with the mistakes because if you try to beat them into fully 'responsible' players before you ever let them play, they end up stillborn. Just a thought, whatever it is they seem to be doing something wrong.

The hits thing - it has to be one or the other. I don't care you hit anyone if you score and forecheck, but if not you do at least need to be hard to play against. No question the Wings have too many players doing neither. And to me this also goes back to why you can't utilize Seider and Edvinsson more. They can't risk spending much time deep in the offensive zone if there is nobody who can/will backcheck hard.

Edited 21 hours ago by gehringer_2

[Cruzer1]

20 hours ago, buddha said:

i dont see how you can watch this team and think that.  they got caved in by the best teams quite regularly when those teams turned up the intensity.

I'm talking about Cossa and Augustine.

[buddha]

16 hours ago, Cruzer1 said:

I'm talking about Cossa and Augustine.

you wrote that you didnt think they were far from being the top team in the conference.

i think theyre miles from being the top team in the conference.

[buddha]

multiple good pieces out there in the substack-verse on the need to overhaul the front office.

"Look, those are the three most important picks Yzerman has made, since they were the highest. But you also get less credit for nailing them. Getting a really good hockey player out of the 6th, 4th, and 7th overall picks should be the baseline expectation for any GM in the National Hockey League. But can you get really good (or even just regular good) players when you pick 9th or 14th or 20th? Or out of the 2nd or 3rd rounds? That’s what differentiates strong front offices from average/weak ones, and what elevates rebuilds into contenders. 

Right now, it’s not great. Only seven Yzerman draft picks played more than 40 games for the Red Wings this season, in year #7 of a rebuild. Of those seven players, one is a third pair defenseman, one is a young D who was clearly not NHL ready, and the other is a former 7th rounder who scored 30 points. The final name is Marco Kasper, who went from one of the most exciting players at the end of last year to scoring just 19 points. That is close to a five-alarm fire for me. 

As it stands currently, Detroit doesn’t have a single impactful NHL player out of the 2022 or 2023 drafts. Maybe that will happen in the future but I’m not feeling great right now. Nate Danielson, the 2023 first rounder, came up and played 28 games, making little impact. Together with the Kasper, the players you picked 8th and 9th overall in ‘22 and ‘23 combined to score 26 points. "

[buddha]

AJD Melting Pot.  really good substack from one of the mgoblog boys.

i think the wings' problem is not yzerman per se, but that yzerman has allowed the wings' front office to become the wings' retirement home.  yzerman led a really good front office in tampa bay, one that has continued to be good after he left.  

here, he has draper and horcoff.  guys who have been here for a decade.  a decade of losing and tiny improvements on the ice and - outside of three top 6 picks - has failed in the draft.

why are they still here?  why are the only additions to the staff nick kronwall and lidstrom?

julein brisebois never played an nhl game in his life and now he's the best gm in hockey after being there with yzerman.

it takes talent to find that guy.  it takes no talent to find kronwall or lidstrom, theyre literally contacts in his phone.  

time to overhaul this mess.  go get the next julien brisebois, and if yzerman isnt ruthless enough to fire his underperforming ex-teammates, then go find someone who will.

[Jason_R]

12th best goalie, 12th best record.