So Larkin Made Some Interesting Comments.

[drw02]

Yzerman has done plenty to make the team competitive while his prospects develop. The fact they just missed out on playoff hockey two years in a row should make the fanbase feel good about the direction, but the team captain whines about 4th round draft picks.

Yzerman can't seem to decide what he's doing. Why all these half measures? Why make the team competitive if you're rebuilding? If you're trying to be competitive why wouldn't you upgrade the couple glaring holes on the roster before the deadline while your team is in a playoff spot? It all makes little sense and reeks of incompetence frankly

IDK how y'all can watch this team over the last 2 years and think Larkin is our best player. I would say he's not even 50% of the player Raymond is and has been since 22-23.

Raymond has to be the most overrated player on this forum. He's a moderately skilled perimeter player who falls down from contact almost as much as rasmussen. He lives off Larkin's play driving and seems to become more of a ghost when they're separated. He's nothing more than a 2nd line W getting top line minutes on a mediocre team, atp at least.

What is this magical move you wanted him to make so bad? He failed when he signed these Bums years ago. We have to try to dump them this summer and push our chips in for a Marner and a top 4 d. No more lateral moves. We need difference makers and I would seriously consider moving Larkin as well.

Yzerman is supposed to be this wizard GM. Draw up some proposals, negotiate with teams, find a way to get some players who don't suck. In 6 years he's made like one impactful trade that actually improved the team and it was handed to him on a silver platter.

 

[FMichael]

Reading the first couple of pages on this thread reminds me why I stopped posting here. Its weird that everyone here is a Red Wings "fan" when we all have such different opinions about the organization.

If we all shared the same opinions this board wouldn’t be so interesting would it?

 

[RRhoads]

This past season was a write off from the start with Uncle Fester behind the bench...How Yzerman gets a pass from that??!!

I think that's on Chris Ilitch. Yzerman used a lot of time to authorize letting Lalonde go, even during the season. I think it was a money issue.

 

[Hockeyfan2390]

If ya’ll could name a player Yzerman should have drafted instead his entire time as red wings GM I would entertain the discussion but he hasn’t missed in every key draft

How about Michigan’s own Lane Hutson instead of Dylan James?

 

[SCD]

It is always interesting to me when people around here want to trade players while their value is relatively low. People want major change but want to sacrifice total asset value at the same time. Why? Trading Larkin would bring back a Larkin or less, but a truly major move like trading Seider would bring in a king's ransom.

You trade a player when his role no longer meshes with the need of the organization or when the return value out weighs the value of the asset being traded. The trade value of a player like Larkin does not typically improve with age. Sometimes it is more about cutting losses and getting some value in return.

Larkin is not an untouchable. His trajectory does not place #71 in the rafters.

 

[SCD]

I doubt Larkin is moved without asking for it.

I bet Yzerman asks the question.

 

[SirKillalot]

He's nothing more than a 2nd line W getting top line minutes on a mediocre team, atp at least.

As long as he keeps up being around point per game or above, I hope he keeps being that 2nd line W that gets top line minutes.

 

[SirKillalot]

Larkin is not an untouchable. His trajectory does not place #71 in the rafters.

Larkin gotta stop putting blame elsewhere and step up his game.
He want to be the captain and a 1st line center? Great! Play like one!

 

[jkutswings]

I honestly feel different about this teams' performance after the Tournament...Prior to they appeared to be 'legit capable' (after firing Lalonde and McLellans 1st few weeks on the job) and looked great...Afterwards it's like they regressed to what they were while Lalonde was behind the bench

Which (to an extent) should be expected. There's almost always a short term bump to performance with a coaching change that then normalizes.

Did I expect a better record down the stretch? Yes. But I also didn't expect quite as much of a good stretch prior to that. It's still a very mediocre roster, now with a better coach, that settles out somewhere in the middle.

 

[jkutswings]

I think that's on Chris Ilitch. Ilitch used a lot of time to authorize letting Lalonde go, even during the season. I think it was a money issue.

Then the GM isn't being allowed to properly do his job, and the franchise is handcuffed before the players even step on the ice.

Talking it over with the owner is one thing. Needing half a season of begging to fire an obviously bad head coach is another.

 

[Winger98]

I honestly feel different about this teams' performance after the Tournament...Prior to they appeared to be 'legit capable' (after firing Lalonde and McLellans 1st few weeks on the job) and looked great...Afterwards it's like they regressed to what they were while Lalonde was behind the bench

oh, they definitely still had their WTF moments, I'm not saying they were perfect, but we know they're not Florida or Tampa level good. After the 4 Nations, I think there were a good 4-6 games we played well enough to win where we walked away with nothing.

In the end results are what matters, but I don't see how this season ended being the same as last season. Last season they weren't competitive and looked awful. This season, I think they played better than they are given credit for the majority of nights and were in a lot of games where they just weren't good enough to make it go their way.

 

[SCD]

I think Yzerman had written off the season well before the coaching change. I don't think he, or anyone, thought the team would get such a historic bump that put them back in playoff contention. When they dropped those string of games before the trade deadline, he wasn't willing to burn future assets on this team. I just wish he went full tank from early on.

 

[SCD]

Some of the national sports media have picked up on Larkin's comments. I found an article on Sports Illustrated this morning. This will only add to negative discourse.

 

[izlez]

Larkin is our Duchene for the Avs before they got good it happens in every rebuild cycle don’t be married to mid players

Or maybe Larkin is our Eichel for the Sabres. Blaming their best players for not having a complete roster and stuck being worst-of-the-worst while all the good players you trade away go on to lead their new teams to Cups

 

[jkutswings]

In the end results are what matters

Last season they weren't competitive and looked awful. This season, I think they played better than they are given credit for the majority of nights and were in a lot of games where they just weren't good enough to make it go their way.

And yet they finished this season with fewer points than last year.

I'll agree that they looked different this year, and in some ways it was an improvement. But they lost a ton of scoring while the PK went full dumpster fire - those aspects were a clear step backward and need to be addressed this summer.

 

[deca guard]

heres a bunch of the top rated ufa past 5 years that yzer'bashers claim would have made detroit a contender . but in reality most turned out to just be long term bad cap hits . mean while who says the better guys on list would have signed here in the first place . also , what would a gm rather have : say 3 of these ufa = hamilton - kadri - zadorov , which would have made us good but not champions . or that 20 mil in cap space to have signed sidez n rayz long term and our other young guys going forward ????????? while also drafting in a better position these past 4 years making our depth chart deeper , as instead of drafting say 20th with these ufa we drafted 8 , 12 , 15 , plus 2025 12 without them . you people criticizing yzerman dont know what your talking about , your just throwing tantrums and ignoring how long it takes to rebuild a wrecked depth chart in nhl :

hamilton
kadri
johhny hockey RIP
gudas
trochek
orlov
oreilly
bertuzzi
stamko
zadorov
lindholm
toffoli

 

[FMichael]

I think Yzerman had written off the season well before the coaching change. I don't think he, or anyone, thought the team would get such a historic bump that put them back in playoff contention. When they dropped those string of games before the trade deadline, he wasn't willing to burn future assets on this team. I just wish he went full tank from early on.

I myself wrote the season off considering that inept boob Lalonde was still employed…And that’s 100% on Yzerman!

 

[FMichael]

And yet they finished this season with fewer points than last year.

I'll agree that they looked different this year, and in some ways it was an improvement. But they lost a ton of scoring while the PK went full dumpster fire - those aspects were a clear step backward and need to be addressed this summer.

Agreed…Moments where we appeared better, but when looking at the standings and points - it’s like wtf??!!

 

[deca guard]

lalonde was an attempt at a new age coach , for now he didnt work out in nhl . but imo was worth the gamble as opposed to hiring a retread because lalonde might have become , and still might in future after learning lessons , a new coaching edge . mean while i know ive said this 1,000,000 times but even a proven top coach would have made detroit decent but not contenders with this depth chart . all he woulda done bottom line is weaken the depth chart / future because of worsening our position in draft . but cry babys wanna throw hissy fits cuz they didnt get to trash talk bout their redwings owning teams in the playoffs .

 

[RRhoads]

Then the GM isn't being allowed to properly do his job, and the franchise is handcuffed before the players even step on the ice.

Talking it over with the owner is one thing. Needing half a season of begging to fire an obviously bad head coach is another.

I wrote wrong, and fixed it in my post, but it seems you understood what I meant.

I agree, if it the reports are correct, he was handcuffed.

 

[Run the Jewels]

Yzerman can't seem to decide what he's doing. Why all these half measures? Why make the team competitive if you're rebuilding? If you're trying to be competitive why wouldn't you upgrade the couple glaring holes on the roster before the deadline while your team is in a playoff spot? It all makes little sense and reeks of incompetence frankly


Raymond has to be the most overrated player on this forum. He's a moderately skilled perimeter player who falls down from contact almost as much as rasmussen. He lives off Larkin's play driving and seems to become more of a ghost when they're separated. He's nothing more than a 2nd line W getting top line minutes on a mediocre team, atp at least.


Yzerman is supposed to be this wizard GM. Draw up some proposals, negotiate with teams, find a way to get some players who don't suck. In 6 years he's made like one impactful trade that actually improved the team and it was handed to him on a silver platter.

I'm not sure this is going to be very productive, so I'll reply once. What has Yzerman done?

1. Took on the worst team in the league in 2019-20 which had zero elite talent and was pretty much capped out.
2. Built one of the best prospect pools in the league according to people who follow this stuff.
3. Spent $116 million in term/AAV over the 2022 and 2023 summers to fill out the roster while his prospects develop so Dylan had a shot at playoff hockey.
4. Due to s***ty leadership, the team bottled a playoff spot in 2023-24 by losing 15 of 20 games. Yzerman gets no credit for the team being in 6th place, 4 points behind Toronto and Carolina, but gets all the criticism when Larkin's team drops 15 of 20 games? Absurd.
5. Replaces Lalonde with proven NHL coach who has over 1,000 games and has taken two teams from the outside to playoff hockey.

Seriously what the f**k has Larkin done other than been a passenger at 4 Nations?

 

[Run the Jewels]

Some of the national sports media have picked up on Larkin's comments. I found an article on Sports Illustrated this morning. This will only add to negative discourse.

Awesome, the rest of the NHL will get some insight into how bad Larkin is in a leadership position. This should make it much easier to move on from him as captain of the Red Wings before the start of next season.

 

[The Zetterberg Era]

lalonde was an attempt at a new age coach , for now he didnt work out in nhl . but imo was worth the gamble as opposed to hiring a retread because lalonde might have become , and still might in future after learning lessons , a new coaching edge . mean while i know ive said this 1,000,000 times but even a proven top coach would have made detroit decent but not contenders with this depth chart . all he woulda done bottom line is weaken the depth chart / future because of worsening our position in draft . but cry babys wanna throw hissy fits cuz they didnt get to trash talk bout their redwings owning teams in the playoffs .

Well they played at a 96 point pace with McLellan so this isn’t entirely accurate. What he would have done is likely make them a playoff team if he arrived in early November.

In all of their postseason interviews the players were glowing on McLellan, Copp even refused to speak on the Lalonde time which was pretty damning.

 

[RedHawkDown]

Yzerman can't seem to decide what he's doing. Why all these half measures? Why make the team competitive if you're rebuilding? If you're trying to be competitive why wouldn't you upgrade the couple glaring holes on the roster before the deadline while your team is in a playoff spot? It all makes little sense and reeks of incompetence frankly


Raymond has to be the most overrated player on this forum. He's a moderately skilled perimeter player who falls down from contact almost as much as rasmussen. He lives off Larkin's play driving and seems to become more of a ghost when they're separated. He's nothing more than a 2nd line W getting top line minutes on a mediocre team, atp at least.


Yzerman is supposed to be this wizard GM. Draw up some proposals, negotiate with teams, find a way to get some players who don't suck. In 6 years he's made like one impactful trade that actually improved the team and it was handed to him on a silver platter.

He lives off Larkin’s play driving so much that he out scored him by 10 pts. Make it make sense.

 

[Henkka]

I just wonder who was the miraclous player, we didn't trade for?

Cozens? And all asks from Buffalo included Kasper. We are not gonna do that kind of trade, it does not make us any better.

Last 42 games of the season - Marco Kasper, 17+13 = 30 points.
Last 42 games of the season - Dylan Cozens, 8+19=27 points.

We were never on Rantanen sweepstakes.