So Larkin Made Some Interesting Comments.

[RedHawkDown]

I would see if Columbus would bite on a Fantilli trade though that's obviously extremely unlikely. Marchenko/Voronkov/Werenski are a bit older than our core, though they have Johnson as well. Lindstrom could make a guy like Fantilli a bit redundant, and Larkin would allow them to contend a lot sooner. I would even take a gamble and do Larkin + 12th overall for Fantilli TBH.

 

[The Zetterberg Era]

None of us are in the room but we can only guess based on external comments made and the team's play. What evidence is there that Larkin is a good leader / a good captain? The team has collapsed in March 3 years straight under two different coaches, does that sound like a guy who has the team dialed in and is leading them well? He has whined and sulked to the media consistently since he entered the league. We also heard reports that the Wings' locker room is 'very quiet' and guys like Perron were the only ones being vocal leaders on the team. So again, what evidence is there that Larkin is actually acting like a captain on this team, other than being given the role because he was the only non-trash player on the team and a hometown kid when Zetterberg retired?

The 15-16 wings that made the playoffs with career-end Zetterberg scoring 50 pts in 82 games and Datsyuk with 49 pts in 66 games weren't a significantly more skilled team than what we had this season. 24-25 Larkin is a better player than Z was that year, and Raymond is far better than Datsyuk was that year. DBC is better than rookie Larkin. Kane is better than the depth pieces we had that year (the corpse of Mike Richards). On D, Seider is better than end of career Kronwall, and we had just as much trash on D (Quincey, Ericsson, Smith, etc). Difference is they didn't collapse because Zetterberg is 10x the captain and leader Dylan is or ever will be, IMO.

Again name the time or person that left that said a bad word about him.

That's fair. I'd turn it around though..you're Yzerman and you know Larkin isn't 100% and the team loses 4 in a row right before the deadline...is it the smart move to do anything significant in that scenario?

I think the criticism of Yzerman for this year is A- had too many existing shitty contracts which handicapped him in FA and 2- waited at least a month too long to get rid of Lalonde.

This is another one, again people around the team knew Lalonde needed to be gone as early as the first week on November. They gave him through the rest of that month, then the beginning of December. Nothing happened until Kane, Copp, and Larkin started to make it clear publicly he was a problem.

I think that is a substantial part of the calculus going on here. We might have to say the nice conversations behind closed doors out loud if they are going to keep kicking the can down the road.

Nobody knows if this isn’t an 18 month long behind closed doors thing. Similar to Yzerman giving it back to HSJ during the press conference after the trade deadline. Honestly I am glad to see pressure building, I know there were substantially less teams, but anytime you pass the Dead Things in the record books there should be some upheaval.

 

[RedHawkDown]

Again name the time or person that left that said a bad word about him.

This is another one, again people around the team knew Lalonde needed to be gone as early as the first week on November. They gave him through the rest of that month, then the beginning of December. Nothing happened until Kane, Copp, and Larkin started to make it clear publicly he was a problem.

I think that is a substantial part of the calculus going on here. We might have to say the nice conversations behind closed doors out loud if they are going to keep kicking the can down the road.

Nobody knows if this isn’t an 18 month long behind closed doors thing. Similar to Yzerman giving it back to HSJ during the press conference after the trade deadline. Honestly I am glad to see pressure building, I know there were substantially less teams, but anytime you pass the Dead Things in the record books there should be some upheaval.

This doesn't happen in the NHL. Can you name a time anyone said anything bad about a team's captain after leaving that team, like literally ever? Unless there was some massive public rift, that doesn't happen because most guys are professionals.

All we have are rumors.

 

[MarioBalotelli]

Yzerman will change this team big, hope he learns from his mistakes. Going forward this team should be built around Seider, Ed, Kasper and Raymond.

This. Move on from Larkin. Not meant to be the best player on a good team.

 

[The Zetterberg Era]

This doesn't happen in the NHL. Can you name a time anyone said anything bad about a team's captain after leaving that team, like literally ever? Unless there was some massive public rift, that doesn't happen because most guys are professionals.

All we have are rumors.

I also don’t have any rumors. We have a bunch of people around the league that hold him in pretty high esteem.

The only rumors around the market were a big part of what was said here which is when does he ask to be moved. Not he is bad guy, not he is a bad leader, that at some point he has to ask out. I believe they would grant that for the record, but at that point Larkin will hold most of the cards. I think he is putting this out so on the record this offseason has to be different.

The leadership award is named after pretty much the most famous case…

 

[SCD]

Unfortunately, this type of comment doesn't help the team in attracting UFAs.

 

[The Zetterberg Era]

I don't fault him for subjectively feeling like he does, but I do fault him for not having the sense to address it with the front office privately, outside of the media. How you go about your business says a lot about you.

The problem with the Wings is that as goes Larkin, so go the Wings. We simply do not have impactful depth at this point. Our skid last year directly correlated with his injury, and our post-deadline woes this season coincided with an injury. Larkin has been asked to do a ton of heavy lifting over the last five years.

Anyways, I expect the riff to grow. There is no big summer coming. We are a non-playoff team in an unsexy market looking at a super thin UFA market at a time when everyone has money. The only assets we actually have to move for significant upgrades are the assets we cannot afford to move. Enough with the big off season bullshit already.

Washington, Ottawa, and Montreal all managed to do things. This is sort of Yzerman’s job so that better not be the song and dance. We also I assume held onto our futures at the deadline to explore some of that this summer.

 

[Frk It]

Larkin has been here through a lot and I think he wants urgency.

I think that summarizes all of this perfectly.

I agree with Larkin that there needs to be more urgency from the front office, and all the comments from Yzerman come off as there is no urgency at all. After awhile that would probably bug me as well. Especially after this team just barely missed out on the playoffs last year.

And then this last off-season where we saw Pesce, Montour, Roy, Chychrun, Sergachev all change teams. And the best we could do was Erik Gustafson?

I can understand the frustration. The thing I would probably disagree with is voicing that publicly. Makes you wonder if they tried having this conversation privately and Larkin feels like he’s not being heard.

 

[JoesuffP]

Buying at the deadline would have been a stupid move and everybody that cared about long term success would say the same. Making the playoffs isn’t the end goal here. Also Montreal isn’t a good team either why are we looking at them like a blueprint

 

[The Zetterberg Era]

I think that summarizes all of this perfectly.

I agree with Larkin that there needs to be more urgency from the front office, and all the comments from Yzerman come off as there is no urgency at all. After awhile they would probably bug me as well. Especially after this team just barely missed out on the playoffs last year.

And then this last off-season where we saw Pesce, Montour, Roy, Chychrun, Sergachev all change teams. And the best we could do was Erik Gustafson?

I can understand the frustration. The thing I would probably disagree with is voicing that publicly. Makes you wonder if they tried having this conversation privately and Larkin feels like he’s not being heard.

I believe it is the last sentence at this point.

This is atypical behavior from him, I don’t think he was flippant about this.

 

[JoesuffP]

Ottawa is the proactive team here and they are slightly better than the wings who we think suck. All those moves for what? Getting embarrassed in the first round

 

[izlez]

This. Move on from Larkin. Not meant to be the best player on a good team.

Sooo you are saying he is in fact our best player. Then what is the plan to get players better than him?

 

[The Zetterberg Era]

On a trade if this deteriorated quickly I hope LA, I would say and I am scared to death of this but Larkin to Vancouver for EP40 might be a real thing assuming he would waive for there.

 

[RedHawkDown]

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.

 

[RedHawkDown]

On a trade if deteriorated quickly I hope LA, I would say and I am scared to death of this but Larkin to Vancouver for EP40 might be a real thing assuming he would waive for there.

I'd take that gamble TBH. Swap him for EP40 and allow Pettersson to rediscover his game without a letter on his chest. Give the C to Seider.

 

[jkutswings]

Anyways, I expect the riff to grow. There is no big summer coming. We are a non-playoff team in an unsexy market looking at a super thin UFA market at a time when everyone has money. The only assets we actually have to move for significant upgrades are the assets we cannot afford to move. Enough with the big off season bullshit already.

In that scenario, nothing will be done to move things forward (moving picks/prospects) and nothing will be done to reset the timeline (moving Larkin/Debrincat).

So no playoffs for the foreseeable future, the lineup will still have holes even after all the kids are up, and if nothing changes by then, the assets that no longer fit the timeline will have little to no trade value. Lovely.

 

[Coach Reggie Dunlop]

I would see if Columbus would bite on a Fantilli trade though that's obviously extremely unlikely. Marchenko/Voronkov/Werenski are a bit older than our core, though they have Johnson as well. Lindstrom could make a guy like Fantilli a bit redundant, and Larkin would allow them to contend a lot sooner. I would even take a gamble and do Larkin + 12th overall for Fantilli TBH.

I’d easily do Larkin plus 12 for fantilli. He’s 20 years old and just put up 30 goals.

 

[Lazlo Hollyfeld]

I believe it is the last sentence at this point.

This is atypical behavior from him, I don’t think he was flippant about this.

I watched a lot of the other pressers and honestly I like them all better than Larkin's. Don't get me wrong I'm not saying Larkin should lose the C or is a bad leader. He clearly cares deeply. But even though it was only 2 days after the season ended it's not like they asked him right as he was skating off the ice, the guy seems empty inside.

I hope he does what he needs to in order to recharge and get inspired to play hockey again next season and be a leader because the dude I saw in that press conference is cooked.

 

[izlez]

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.

2022-23
Center; .40 goals per game; .99 points per game; -7; 53.5 GF%
Winger: .23 goals per game; .61 points per game; -17; 55.2 GF%

2023-24
Center; .48 goals per game; 1.01 points per game; +5; 56.4 GF%
Winger; .33 goals per game; .96 points per game; -12; 53.8 GF%

And Raymond was significantly better???

 

[RedHawkDown]

I’d easily do Larkin plus 12 for fantilli. He’s 20 years old and just put up 30 goals.

Agree. He's expressed wanting to play with Werenski before. I think they should absolutely explore that...I highly doubt CBJ agrees but if they do it would be something to pursue for sure.

 

[minimal]

I’d easily do Larkin plus 12 for fantilli. He’s 20 years old and just put up 30 goals.

I would too, which tells me that it's never going to happen.

 

[RedHawkDown]

2022-23
Center; .40 goals per game; .99 points per game; -7; 53.5 GF%
Winger: .23 goals per game; .61 points per game; -17; 55.2 GF%

2023-24
Center; .48 goals per game; 1.01 points per game; +5; 56.4 GF%
Winger; .33 goals per game; .96 points per game; -12; 53.8 GF%

And Raymond was significantly better???

I'm not including 22-23.

Yes, last year Raymond was significantly better and drove the play on this team.

 

[izlez]

I'm not including 22-23.

Yes, last year Raymond was significantly better and drove the play on this team.

You said "and has been since 22-23"

This year? Yeah he absolutely has an argument. But also, if we're all gonna shit on Larkin's 17 points and -10 in the last 2 months of the season, Raymond's 17 points and -8 should be right there with him.

 

[Steve Yzerlland]

I would see if Columbus would bite on a Fantilli trade though that's obviously extremely unlikely. Marchenko/Voronkov/Werenski are a bit older than our core, though they have Johnson as well. Lindstrom could make a guy like Fantilli a bit redundant, and Larkin would allow them to contend a lot sooner. I would even take a gamble and do Larkin + 12th overall for Fantilli TBH.

I doubt they would take the older player and pay more in cap? Larkin is almost 10 years older they already have similar production... If I was a CBJ fan I would call for my GM's head.

 

[The Zetterberg Era]

I watched a lot of the other pressers and honestly I like them all better than Larkin's. Don't get me wrong I'm not saying Larkin should lose the C or is a bad leader. He clearly cares deeply. But even though it was only 2 days after the season ended it's not like they asked him right as he was skating off the ice, the guy seems empty inside.

I hope he does what he needs to in order to recharge and get inspired to play hockey again next season and be a leader because the dude I saw in that press conference is cooked.

He has been doing these for 9 years, probably 7 as the guy front and center. Again this is a longer streak than the Dead Things… I hope he can recharge as well, but I get being sick of the same thing and not offering rah rah or hockey cliches.