General Wings Comments 2026-2027

[lordstanley]

New season, how about a new thread. Wish we could start it off with better news, but could have been waiting a long time that way. 

 

[Jason_R]

18 minutes ago, lordstanley said:

New season, how about a new thread. Wish we could start it off with better news, but could have been waiting a long time that way. 

 

“Shawn, blink three times if you are in danger.”

He has all the non-verbals of someone who got shoved up to the podium at gunpoint. 

[lordstanley]

 

[lordstanley]

Good lord, he’s right. In an official press release, haha. 

 

[Jason_R]

Everyone is mailing it in. 

[gehringer_2]

2 hours ago, lordstanley said:

New season, how about a new thread. Wish we could start it off with better news, but could have been waiting a long time that way. 

 

well, without Larkin and Edvinsson they should be good for what? Maybe 50 pts?

[buddha]

There is still time, but this is just a horrible situation vis a vis edvinsson.

again, i ask.  where are the illitch supporters now?

[gehringer_2]

12 minutes ago, buddha said:

There is still time, but this is just a horrible situation vis a vis edvinsson.

again, i ask.  where are the illitch supporters now?

It takes some kind of talent to turn the Red Wings into an organization players don't want to play for, but this group seems to be hell bent to do it.

[buddha]

wallinder and mazur make the team.

for now.

[buddha]

1 hour ago, gehringer_2 said:

It takes some kind of talent to turn the Red Wings into an organization players don't want to play for, but this group seems to be hell bent to do it.

max slamming illitch in the athletic today.

"Then came two months of searching that led only to a temporary answer to their GM question — and no answer at all on Larkin, Edvinsson or DeBrincat, their leading scorer who can become a free agent next July. It’s a mess of the Red Wings’ — and owner Chris Ilitch’s — own making."

 

[Jason_R]

Worse owner: Chris Ilitch or William Clay Ford? 

[gehringer_2]

5 minutes ago, Jason_R said:

Worse owner: Chris Ilitch or William Clay Ford? 

Ilitch has made himself a short term mess - this season is probably going to be a loss in terms of any progress, but who knows, he may get it straightened out by next year. WCF proved it over decades, that will be hard to top. But let's not forget Bruce Norris. 

Edited September 29 by gehringer_2

[buddha]

39 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

Ilitch has made himself a short term mess - this season is probably going to be a loss in terms of any progress, but who knows, he may get it straightened out by next year. WCF proved it over decades, that will be hard to top. But let's not forget Bruce Norris. 

its been one decade for chris.  he's 1/4 of the way to wcf.

[gehringer_2]

13 minutes ago, buddha said:

its been one decade for chris.  he's 1/4 of the way to wcf.

TBF, not too many complaints about Ilitch after things started looking better under Yzerman and we thought we had a strong pipeline coming - so for score keeping purposes I'd count for him starting with these last three collapse years.

Edited September 29 by gehringer_2

[Jason_R]

True, Chris's ownership tenure has been much shorter than Ford's. But Ford seemed clueless about what was going on. Chris seems to be actively steering the car into the ditch. It is incomprehensible. 

[Jason_R]

I’m not sure I believe this random anonymous internet source… but I’m also not sure I don’t believe them. 

[gehringer_2]

1 hour ago, Jason_R said:

I’m not sure I believe this random anonymous internet source… but I’m also not sure I don’t believe them. 

it's one way to make the story coherent.

OTOH, the counterpoint could be: The Wings play in a capped league and Ilitch hasn't had any problem spending the cap so what does it mean he wouldn't green light the money? And he oversees a baseball team where everyone just makes what they make regardless of who they are so why would he be fixed on a highest paid player idea? Also I thought the word was the Hughes deal died because they wanted Edvinsson. Pick your preferred truth.

Or was it Yzerman hadn't left the team with the flexibility to do the deal inside the limit? Again, take your pick.

If one accusation is all he pays attention to are the Tigers it doesn't also parse that he's micromanaging to the point of making salary slot decisions for the Red Wings. 

Or it's all just smoke by the sharks circling because they smell blood in the water 🤷‍♂️

I'm coming around to the idea that Ilitch needed to wipe out this FO and start over and he couldn't pull the trigger on that, maybe decided it would require too much of his own time he was unwilling to invest - whatever. But right now that looks like a large mistake to me. Or maybe Horcoff is a genius that was being managed by morons..

We'll see how it plays out.

Edited September 29 by gehringer_2

[buddha]

3 hours ago, gehringer_2 said:

TBF, not too many complaints about Ilitch after things started looking better under Yzerman and we thought we had a strong pipeline coming - so for score keeping purposes I'd count for him starting with these last three collapse years.

hey, the lions were pretty decent for a few years under joe schmidt too...

 

[buddha]

1 hour ago, gehringer_2 said:

it's one way to make the story coherent.

OTOH, the counterpoint could be: The Wings play in a capped league and Ilitch hasn't had any problem spending the cap so what does it mean he wouldn't green light the money? And he oversees a baseball team where everyone just makes what they make regardless of who they are so why would he be fixed on a highest paid player idea? Also I thought the word was the Hughes deal died because they wanted Edvinsson. Pick your preferred truth.

Or was it Yzerman hadn't left the team with the flexibility to do the deal inside the limit? Again, take your pick.

If one accusation is all he pays attention to are the Tigers it doesn't also parse that he's micromanaging to the point of making salary slot decisions for the Red Wings. 

Or it's all just smoke by the sharks circling because they smell blood in the water 🤷‍♂️

I'm coming around to the idea that Ilitch needed to wipe out this FO and start over and he couldn't pull the trigger on that, maybe decided it would require too much of his own time he was unwilling to invest - whatever. But right now that looks like a large mistake to me. Or maybe Horcoff is a genius that was being managed by morons..

We'll see how it plays out.

they've made zero changes to the front office other than kicking yzerman upstairs.  its an embarassment and is similar to when he just promoted avila.

honestly, the only thing that makes sense if you want to give illitch any benefit of the doubt is that they wanted a candidate and he backed out.  most likely greenberg.  they waited until the end of baseball season (or after the trade deadline) to interview him, they thought he would say yes, and then greenberg ultimately said no.

now, if that is true, it takes a lot of balls to be in the running for a job that your boss was waiting to hire you for, and then publicly pull out and make your boss look stupid, but hey...

the other explanation is that illitch is incompetent and has run a terrible search late in the process and ended up just promoting the guy in the room because he cant make up his mind.

i believe either could be true.

[Jason_R]

 

[Hongbit]

1 hour ago, Jason_R said:

 

Holy TLDR!   Whoever wrote this needs serious psychological help.   Did anyone take the time to read even half of it?   

[gehringer_2]

45 minutes ago, Hongbit said:

Holy TLDR!   Whoever wrote this needs serious psychological help.   Did anyone take the time to read even half of it?   

The SO saw showed it to me from across the room, immediately reasoned that no one could have that much to say about this wings team that was worth saying.

[buddha]

like stanley said earlier, i'm waiting for them to start giving away a car at every game.

nhl season starts tonight and i am trying to find any reason to get excited.

[Jason_R]

At this point, it is not really all that far-fetched to believe that Stevie had a trade lined up for Quinn Hughes, along with a handshake deal on an extension, and that Ilitch nixed it, after having nixed Stamkos. And it is not too far-fetched to believe that Larkin got pissed when they pissed away Hughes and said “trade me.” And it is not too far-fetched to believe that Yzerman got pissed because he had a good futures trade in hand for Larkin and Ilitch nixed it, and after all of Ilitch’s meddlesome lack of support Yzerman finally just said “fire me.”

I really can’t remember seeing this kind of aggressive recklessness on the part of any owner in any sport. I hate to say it but it almost makes me wonder if Ilitch is driving that train high on cocaine. The franchise is making decisions that simply cannot be squared with reality.

 

[Hongbit]

Among all the other ridiculousness that has gone on this offseason, its unfathomable that Edvinsson does not have a contract and will not be able to start the season with the team.    

Normally, I’d assume they would get it worked out before their season started on Friday but I don’t assume anything with this franchise now.