Red Wings 2026 April Game Thread

[Jason_R]

Yes and one of his seventh round picks was the best player on the ice yesterday. And he brought in the team’s best forward through a trade. And he signed Gibson who covered up for a full season of weak offense and almost dragged them to the playoffs. And he made a trade at the deadline like the players asked for last season and they still wet the bed. 

I don’t claim he is perfect, but yes, when we could have had Quinn Hughes and Kenny picked Zadina, when we could have had Martin Necas or Nick Suzuki or Robert Thomas or Jason Robertson and Kenny picked Rasmussen… you can go on and on down the list and see that good franchises still have players contributing and even leading their teams from draft picks made ten or more years ago. Any one of those players would have made this a playoff roster. 

Firing Yzerman is not going to help. In fact he is the only one who has the credibility to rebuild this franchise from the depths that Kenny left it in. Do they need more money in analytics? Do they need more help in scouting? Player development? I don’t know, but I think Yzerman should be on the phone to his peers across town who are leading franchise turnarounds. I think he needs to buy out Compher. I think he needs to let Mac call up some kids who will allow him to bench bottom six vets who aren’t playing with an edge. And I think he needs to listen to trade offers for Larkin,  Raymond, Edvinsson, or a goalie prospect. 

[Mr.TaterSalad]

If you trade Larkin then you might as well start the rebuild over and keep on taking until you get a top line capable of putting up 90+ points in a season on the regular. 

[buddha]

12 minutes ago, Jason_R said:

Yes and one of his seventh round picks was the best player on the ice yesterday. And he brought in the team’s best forward through a trade. And he signed Gibson who covered up for a full season of weak offense and almost dragged them to the playoffs. And he made a trade at the deadline like the players asked for last season and they still wet the bed. 

I don’t claim he is perfect, but yes, when we could have had Quinn Hughes and Kenny picked Zadina, when we could have had Martin Necas or Nick Suzuki or Robert Thomas or Jason Robertson and Kenny picked Rasmussen… you can go on and on down the list and see that good franchises still have players contributing and even leading their teams from draft picks made ten or more years ago. Any one of those players would have made this a playoff roster. 

Firing Yzerman is not going to help. In fact he is the only one who has the credibility to rebuild this franchise from the depths that Kenny left it in. Do they need more money in analytics? Do they need more help in scouting? Player development? I don’t know, but I think Yzerman should be on the phone to his peers across town who are leading franchise turnarounds. I think he needs to buy out Compher. I think he needs to let Mac call up some kids who will allow him to bench bottom six vets who aren’t playing with an edge. And I think he needs to listen to trade offers for Larkin,  Raymond, Edvinsson, or a goalie prospect. 

come on, jason.  7th round pick hits are pure luck.  getting a plugger like finnie is nice, but it doesnt show any particular acumen.

gibson for a second was a decent trade.

debrincat told ottawa he would not sign an extension and would only sign an extension in detroit.  that's not yzerman finding a good deal, its having a deal thrown into his lap.  i dont give him much credit for that.

every prospect who we are expecting to be good will not pan out.  we expected kasper to be good, buium, wallinder, tuomisto...where are they?

he's reponsible for the final product and the final product hasnt been good enough.  in fact, its failed in spectacular ways in multiple seasons now.

none of us can say with any certainty that "firing yzerman wont help."  how do you know that?  

the criticism about yzerman's plan when he started this was his signing middling talent to long term deals, thus raising the floor temporarily but in a way that prevents them from bottoming out long enough.  the second criticism was in his drafting "try hard" players who dont have elite skills like danielson and kasper.  well, how are they doing?  third, the "plan" to get cap space and sign free agents failed because he refused to sign any top free agents while we had space and now EVERYONE has space and there is no one to sign.  no kyle connor.  no mitch marner.  no gavrikov.  no guentzle.

and stop dreaming about trading for austin matthews because 1) they traded their asset for justin faulk; and 2) the bidding would start with mo seider.

we need to stop blaming kenny for taking zadina over hughes and realize yzerman's failure to draft quality depth players and inability to sign quality players has resulted in this season's collapse.

[buddha]

11 minutes ago, Mr.TaterSalad said:

If you trade Larkin then you might as well start the rebuild over and keep on taking until you get a top line capable of putting up 90+ points in a season on the regular. 

i think its too late to trade larkin.

[Jason_R]

2 minutes ago, buddha said:

come on, jason.  7th round pick hits are pure luck.  getting a plugger like finnie is nice, but it doesnt show any particular acumen.

gibson for a second was a decent trade.

debrincat told ottawa he would not sign an extension and would only sign an extension in detroit.  that's not yzerman finding a good deal, its having a deal thrown into his lap.  i dont give him much credit for that.

every prospect who we are expecting to be good will not pan out.  we expected kasper to be good, buium, wallinder, tuomisto...where are they?

he's reponsible for the final product and the final product hasnt been good enough.  in fact, its failed in spectacular ways in multiple seasons now.

none of us can say with any certainty that "firing yzerman wont help."  how do you know that?  

the criticism about yzerman's plan when he started this was his signing middling talent to long term deals, thus raising the floor temporarily but in a way that prevents them from bottoming out long enough.  the second criticism was in his drafting "try hard" players who dont have elite skills like danielson and kasper.  well, how are they doing?  third, the "plan" to get cap space and sign free agents failed because he refused to sign any top free agents while we had space and now EVERYONE has space and there is no one to sign.  no kyle connor.  no mitch marner.  no gavrikov.  no guentzle.

and stop dreaming about trading for austin matthews because 1) they traded their asset for justin faulk; and 2) the bidding would start with mo seider.

we need to stop blaming kenny for taking zadina over hughes and realize yzerman's failure to draft quality depth players and inability to sign quality players has resulted in this season's collapse.

We must never stop blaming Kenny! His failure was abject and complete and will still be felt for another five years. If anyone other than Yzerman was responsible for cleaning up the nuclear waste dump Kenny left, Hockeytown would have chewed them up and spit them out a long time ago. 

I haven't said a word about trading for Matthews. Not sure where that is coming from. Their best trade option is probably Edvinsson, once they sign him to an extension. I'm not sure I'd want to part with him now that he and Seider are the on the way to being the best pairing in the league. Would I consider trading him for Brady Tkachuk if he told Ottawa I'm not re-signing here and if we could get him extended? Now that would be interesting. 

[Hongbit]

Had anyone looked up Mo Mantha’s numbers in Pittsburgh this season.  Hockey is weird. 

Kenny also made a few very good deals this season to put the Kings on the cusp of the playoffs despite having the 2nd fewest regulation wins in the league and also get a few extra draft picks while doing it.