GDT: Game 61: Red Wings vs caness 7:00 pm et 3/4/25

[Pavels Dog]

I find it hard to criticize this team too much for not continuing to be the best team in the league since the coaching change. Definitely going to have to dig deep to turn this around though given the schedule and injuries.

Raymond scored goal after goal in November and December, but recently he's been awful.. He's still on pace for a good season statistically, but you need your best players to elevate their game when games get more important, and he's done the opposite. He gets a pass because he's still young though

The problem is when 40+ games are very important you're asking guys like Raymond and Larkin to never have a slump.
Yes, the Columbus games were important, as was this one. But they wouldn't have been if they hadn't elevated their game to actually put the team in this position in the first place.

 

[cvaicunas]

No it's not, it happens every year at this time and it's happening again

Raymond scored goal after goal in November and December, but recently he's been awful.. He's still on pace for a good season statistically, but you need your best players to elevate their game when games get more important, and he's done the opposite. He gets a pass because he's still young though

Larkin on the other hand though...ouch. he wears the C and gets paid the big bucks, but he's once again not leading the team anywhere. I'm seriously starting to doubt this guy as a leader.

Its 4 games dude. Are you forgetting how Raymond played down the stretch last year? You get real cranky when they lose, like stomping your feet, throwing a temper tantrum kind of cranky.

 

[Henkka]

Oh, man. How poor we are always against Metropolitan Division. And it's weaker Division now than on the glory days. Always lose some critical points against them.

 

[odin1981]

Well by the comments in this thread we can see here who foolishly put money on the Wings making the playoffs.

 

[OgeeOgelthorpe]

Well, that sucked.

 

[izlez]

No it's not, it happens every year at this time and it's happening again

Raymond scored goal after goal in November and December, but recently he's been awful.. He's still on pace for a good season statistically, but you need your best players to elevate their game when games get more important, and he's done the opposite. He gets a pass because he's still young though

Larkin on the other hand though...ouch. he wears the C and gets paid the big bucks, but he's once again not leading the team anywhere. I'm seriously starting to doubt this guy as a leader.

Is there a specific difference between the games on February 22nd/23rd and the game on February 25th that make one important and the other two not important?

Can I put this on my calendar every year marking this as the day things start to matter, or is it specific to this year?

 

[nbwingsfan]

Raymond and Larkin are not the problem lol.

Gus and Holl being on the ice is a problem

Having zero secondary scoring is a problem

Having Chiarot on the top pair is a problem

Having an all rookie second pair is a problem (some games)

If Yzerman, once again, does nothing of importance at the deadline and holds onto more prospects and draft picks, who are unlikely to ever be impactful in the NHL, I will be pretty speechless.


We absolutely cannot barely miss the post season again while making zero changes to the roster.

 

[RedWingzz]

Raymond and Larkin are not the problem lol.

Gus and Holl being on the ice is a problem

Having zero secondary scoring is a problem

Having Chiarot on the top pair is a problem

Having an all rookie second pair is a problem (some games)

If Yzerman, once again, does nothing of importance at the deadline and holds onto more prospects and draft picks, who are unlikely to ever be impactful in the NHL, I will be pretty speechless.


We absolutely cannot barely miss the post season again while making zero changes to the roster.

Larkin and Raymond have been complete no shows since 4 nations, they definitely deserve a fair bit of criticism. Larkin admitted it himself that he needs to be way better. You can't have your 2 best players be complete no shows at this time of year.

As for the bolded, I agree. Yzerman needs to ask himself if he truly believes this team can make it. If the answer is yes, be a buyer, trade some picks and B-prospects to improve the team immediately and push for the playoffs. If the answer is no, then he has to sell what we have. He absolutely cannot do what he did last season again and do nothing. It's one or the other, and it may not be an easy decision, but he has to go with his gut and either buy or sell.

 

[Frk It]

Yzerman needs to ask himself if he truly believes this team can make it. If the answer is yes, be a buyer, grade some picks and B-prospects to improve the team immediately and push for the playoffs. If the answer is no, then he has tol sell what we have. He absolutely cannot do what he did last season again and do nothing. It's one or the other, and it may not be an easy decision, but he has to go with his gut and either buy or sell.

The time to upgrade your team is the off-season, not the trade deadline.

You should neither blow up or expect your team to make significant changes at the deadline.

 

[Lazlo Hollyfeld]

Well by the comments in this thread we can see here who foolishly put money on the Wings making the playoffs.

It was always going to be a struggle to dig out of the Lalonde era back into the playoffs, especially with the tough schedule.

Now losing Copp and Ras, and even Petry makes that an even bigger struggle. Plus our goalies seem to be faltering and Ray and Larkin have gone quiet at the absolute worst time.

 

[Steve Yzerlland]

It was always going to be a struggle to dig out of the Lalonde era back into the playoffs, especially with the tough schedule.

Now losing Copp and Ras, and even Petry makes that an even bigger struggle. Plus our goalies seem to be faltering and Ray and Larkin have gone quiet at the absolute worst time.

Its a perfect storm. It's like we are cursed.

 

[Lazlo Hollyfeld]

Its a perfect storm. It's like we are cursed.

I blame the jersey ad. They've angered Mr. Hockey.

 

[RedWingzz]

The time to upgrade your team is the off-season, not the trade deadline.

You should neither blow up or expect your team to make significant changes at the deadline.

I'm not saying blow it up, I'm saying do one or the other.

Trading away pending UFAs with no future on the team is not blowing the team up. Also trading away 3rd/4th round picks and B-prospects once again isn't blowing it up. Yzerman did nothing last year, and we had nothing to show for it. It's his job to manage the team, so if he thinks were a playoff team, add some depth pieces by flipping B-prospects/picks. If he doesn t think we're a playoff team, trade pending UFAs for whatever you can get, and get a look at prospects who may have a future with the team (Mazur, Danielson, Wallinder, Lombardi etc...)

Also complete sidenote, but obviously last off-season Yzerman didn't "upgrade" the team enough, because we are worse, not better.

 

[Frk It]

I'm not saying blow it up, I'm saying do one or the other.

Trading away pending UFAs with no future on the team is not blowing the team up. Also trading away 3rd/4th round picks and B-prospects once again isn't blowing it up. Yzerman did nothing last year, and we had nothing to show for it. It's his job to manage the team, so if he thinks were a playoff team, add some depth pieces by flipping B-prospects/picks. If he doesn t think we're a playoff team, trade pending UFAs for whatever you can get, and get a look at prospects who may have a future with the team (Mazur, Danielson, Wallinder, Lombardi etc...)

Also complete sidenote, but obviously last off-season Yzerman didn't "upgrade" the team enough, because we are worse, not better.

I see, I didn’t realize you were talking about trading away older guys or expiring UFA’s.

I’m pretty eh on what we do at the deadline. I think we had an underwhelming off-season and kind of made our bed and are laying in it at this point.

I’ve seen people on here want us to do something with some real desperation, and I think that’s a bit of a slippery slope. It would be nice (or would have been nice) to add a vet like Cam Fowler to the back end at a reasonable price. Not sure if there are other deals out there to be had like that still or not.

I’m not expecting us to do anything too significant, I’d be all for trading Kane or Tarasenko for a middle round pick if possible. It’s hard to say what we should or shouldn’t do at the deadline and what it says about the team because we are right on the bubble and we don’t know how the rest of the season will play out.

 

[nbwingsfan]

It was always going to be a struggle to dig out of the Lalonde era back into the playoffs, especially with the tough schedule.

Now losing Copp and Ras, and even Petry makes that an even bigger struggle. Plus our goalies seem to be faltering and Ray and Larkin have gone quiet at the absolute worst time.

Why is this suddenly the narrative? I said this early in the winning streak and was blasted by all of you for saying that.

There was of course going to be losing streaks along the way.

My fear is Yzerman once again does nothing though

Larkin and Raymond have been complete no shows since 4 nations, they definitely deserve a fair bit of criticism. Larkin admitted it himself that he needs to be way better. You can't have your 2 best players be complete no shows at this time of year.

As for the bolded, I agree. Yzerman needs to ask himself if he truly believes this team can make it. If the answer is yes, be a buyer, trade some picks and B-prospects to improve the team immediately and push for the playoffs. If the answer is no, then he has to sell what we have. He absolutely cannot do what he did last season again and do nothing. It's one or the other, and it may not be an easy decision, but he has to go with his gut and either buy or sell.

Every single star player has periods of low production. They’re not the Elite of the Elite. Even McDavid had like 1A the first 4 games coming out of the 4 nations, and he’s one of the best to ever play.

The problem is we have no one to help when the top guys hit a slump.

 

[Lazlo Hollyfeld]

Why is this suddenly the narrative? I said this early in the winning streak and was blasted by all of you for saying that.

There was of course going to be losing streaks along the way.

My fear is Yzerman once again does nothing though

It's not suddenly the narrative. People were enjoying the win streak but there many mentions of how tough their remaining schedule was.

 

[ShanahanMan]

Soderblom belongs on the 1st line. Literally the only player who looked dangerous tonight. Berg should be moved up too. Let Fisher, Tarasenko, Motte and Veleno talks turns on the 4th or just rot on the bench

 

[Euro Twins]

Are we still crying about the loss and declaring bankruptcy?

 

[RedWingzz]

Why is this suddenly the narrative? I said this early in the winning streak and was blasted by all of you for saying that.

There was of course going to be losing streaks along the way.

My fear is Yzerman once again does nothing though


Every single star player has periods of low production. They’re not the Elite of the Elite. Even McDavid had like 1A the first 4 games coming out of the 4 nations, and he’s one of the best to ever play.

The problem is we have no one to help when the top guys hit a slump.

Kane and Cat have stepped up and helped

I'm actually astonished by the amount of people giving Larkin and Raymond a pass. What are we in kindergarten? They are supposed to be the best players on the team and have done absolutely nothing the last 5 games

The team is missing the playoffs 9 years in a row, yet here we are giving Larkin a pass? He has never stepped up and elevated his game in crunch time, he does the complete opposite every year and folds.