So Larkin Made Some Interesting Comments.

In training camp before the start of this season, Larkin made the comment about their struggles down the stretch of last year to the effect of "Some players last year lacked the intensity and focus on the road and that was addressed in the offseason," clearly a shot at Walman and possibly others.

Combining that with his play down the stretch this season and his recent comments, I'd say Dylan can f*** off. I got no love for the job Stevie's done either, but you're part of the problem buddy.

I'm really curious what went down with Walman that they felt he had to be moved with a 2nd round pick. Was it Lalonde? Was it Yzerman? Was it a salty team captain whining to Lalonde and Yzerman?
It’s been well documented what went down with Walman.
 
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Well here is another angle on this. Why is it taking our high floor guys so long to get here. Start leaving spots for some young guys. There are 20 vet depth guys available at the end of NHL camps. I get you want guys to earn spots. But as a board we have talked about for a while you cannot be bringing them all in at the same time. Now it is happening with a log jam. Why didn’t we see Wallinder or Toumisto when Petry was out and the two bottom dman were playing like crap.

We need a strategy reset. We have built some decent organizational depth in the farm. Start using it, between Danielson and Ammo you have a potential top 9 spot. Don’t fill that. Attach some guys to things if you don’t want to play them. Eat some of Compher’s salary and replace him with a ELC. I don’t know every answer but I sure as hell would like to see an adjustment. If the team isn’t heavy enough go get some of that, stop selling patience in year 7. I have it for the prospects not the roster at this point.
Good post. The prospects need to play. Signing the washed up vets hurt draft position and prevented the youth movement at times.
 
You thought the rebuild was going to end sometime soon?????
I think we have two more years where Yzerman is involved. So he has a vested interest in ending it sooner too. He can move up into the Jimmy D role but he isn’t going to get a big reset. I don’t believe they would ship Larkin for pure futures if he asked to be moved.
In training camp before the start of this season, Larkin made the comment about their struggles down the stretch of last year to the effect of "Some players last year lacked the intensity and focus on the road and that was addressed in the offseason," clearly a shot at Walman and possibly others.

Combining that with his play down the stretch this season and his recent comments, I'd say Dylan can f*** off. I got no love for the job Stevie's done either, but you're part of the problem buddy.

I'm really curious what went down with Walman that they felt he had to be moved with a 2nd round pick. Was it Lalonde? Was it Yzerman? Was it a salty team captain whining to Lalonde and Yzerman?
He was hurt and played through it unlike Walman. I think a big part of this is that was running cover for a move that Yzerman got raked over the coals for. He has defended a lot of this and been the good soldier. He has a long contract, substantial ties to the area and full NTC. He is the one guy in the room that can say this publicly for the room. People point to Kane’s different tone, yeah he wants a contract next year.
 
What do you mean exiting too quickly?

They were never going to get the 1st overall pick. That much was made clear when they fell to 4th in 2020.
One time. You think it would have happened again? How do other teams get consecutive top picks? They suck multiple years… badly. Obviously it’s not guaranteed you will get a top pick, but you have a better chance at it then signing mediocre vets who will do just enough to ensure your not bad but not good enough for the playoffs either.

Chicago tanked hard for three years and may walk away with three years of lotto picks. Worked for them.
 
Oh don’t get me wrong, I want every Detroit prospect to pan out. I was referring to just the prospect pool as of right now. Outside of Pelikka, all listed have graduated.

Raymond is the best offensive player of the bunch. I hope he hits 100 points but he needs offensive support. Kasper had a good first year as a winger. I’m not sure if that pace will continue as a center with more defensive responsibilities. Edvinsson is great no doubt. Pelikka remains to be seen. If all pan out as of right now, they have an elite RW, a solid 2C and a top defensive pairing. Need more. Larkin is aging and Debricat is a solid winger. Our goalie prospects look good too.

Who else could be an elite forward like Raymond?
Kasper had the same number of even strength goals as Macklin Celerbini and was one goal behind Cutter Gauthier and Matvei Michkov. I don't expect him to produce as much as them but people should be excited about his development.
 
He was hurt and played through it unlike Walman. I think a big part of this is that was running cover for a move that Yzerman got raked over the coals for. He has defended a lot of this and been the good soldier. He has a long contract, substantial ties to the area and full NTC. He is the one guy in the room that can say this publicly for the room. People point to Kane’s different tone, yeah he wants a contract next year.
Team has faded badly for three years in a row.

Feb 25-Mar 25, 2023: 3 wins, 12 losses
Feb 29-Apr 11, 2024: 5 wins, 15 losses
Feb 27-Mar 27, 2025: 3 wins, 11 losses

It's always someone else's fault.
 
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What significant moves apart from the draft has Steve made? The only good one was DeBrincat, which was basically hand fed to him. All the other trades he made have really turned into a large collection of nothing players for us. I love Steve and think he is a good GM, but the past 2 offseasons and deadlines he has not made good adds to this team, apart from Cat.

Blaming Larkin is ridiculous. Look at the Wings subjectively will ya. Larkin, Ray, Mo, Ed, Kasper, Cat, and then a whole lot of over played and downright bad players on this team. Not really counting Kane as he is as much a hindrance as a help a lot of the time, with lots of floating and nothing else brought to the table. 5 or 6 good players, plus a lot of junk is not a very good team, unless at least 1 of those was Marner/Rantanen level which upfront we don't have currently.

I really feel like a lot are not separating their love of Yzerman the player and taking it out on Larkin. The Wings have been terrible for the majority of his run here and he barely has said peep about it. He says one minor nothing burger comment in frustration in his 10th season of this and a small fraction are ready to boot him to the sun.
His first three years were handled pretty well. The last three not as much. The last two years of FA signings have been rough and unnecessary.
 
Kasper had the same number of even strength goals as Macklin Celerbini and was one goal behind Cutter Gauthier and Matvei Michkov. I don't expect him to produce as much as them but people should be excited about his development.
For sure. I hope he exceeds expectations. Time will tell.
 
Team has faded badly for three years in a row.

Feb 25-Mar 25, 2023: 3 wins, 12 losses
Feb 29-Apr 11, 2024: 5 wins, 15 losses
Feb 27-Mar 27, 2025: 3 wins, 11 losses

It's always someone else's fault.
We sold the first year…

He missed most of it and then was our best player with Raymond for the end run.

He disappointed this year.

But we spent all of those seasons talking about how much the defense, goaltending, and forward depth sucked. I think those were a bigger factor than one of our best three players.

I think it is everyone’s fault and have been pretty clear on that.
 
Oh don’t get me wrong, I want every Detroit prospect to pan out. I was referring to just the prospect pool as of right now. Outside of Pelikka, all listed have graduated.

Raymond is the best offensive player of the bunch. I hope he hits 100 points but he needs offensive support. Kasper had a good first year as a winger. I’m not sure if that pace will continue as a center with more defensive responsibilities. Edvinsson is great no doubt. Pelikka remains to be seen. If all pan out as of right now, they have an elite RW, a solid 2C and a top defensive pairing. Need more. Larkin is aging and Debricat is a solid winger. Our goalie prospects look good too.

Who else could be an elite forward like Raymond?
Kasper’s underlying numbers, eye test, like everything was good. Sophomores can have a slump, but he looks like a 60 plus point and very good defensive center at this point.

I think the goal would be to kick older Larkin out to the wing here eventually during the later part of his contract. Not with the trade him crowd. Until he asks it is really a moot point.
 
No, it really hasn't.
Wings were on a 2 game Florida swing and fighting tooth and nail for a playoff spot.

Walman posted a picture of the Florida beach with the caption ‘On Vacation’.

The players themselves took immediate offense and demanded he take it down because it reflected poorly on the team. He did, but he became an outsider.

He was healthy scratched for the first time soon after this. And eventually became a regular scratch.
 
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He was hurt and played through it unlike Walman. I think a big part of this is that was running cover for a move that Yzerman got raked over the coals for. He has defended a lot of this and been the good soldier. He has a long contract, substantial ties to the area and full NTC. He is the one guy in the room that can say this publicly for the room. People point to Kane’s different tone, yeah he wants a contract next year.

And yet the outcome was the same as when Larkin didn't play through his injury last March. So what was gained?

You may very well be right about him being a good company man and running cover for Yzerman's Walman move.
 
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Wings were on a 2 game Florida swing and fighting tooth and nail for a playoff spot.

Walman posted a picture of the Florida beach with the caption ‘On Vacation’.

The players themselves took immediate offense and demanded he take it down because it reflected poorly on the team. He did, but he became an outsider.

He was healthy scratched for the first time soon after this. And eventually became a regular scratch.
Is that the confirmed story or speculation from fans stalking players' social media accounts and spending too much time playing online detective?

If that is all that went down, and is what led to Yzerman needing to unload him with a second round pick, with no opportunity to make amends or work towards correcting his mistake in the eyes of his teammates or a soon to be fired head coach and underperforming GM... that to me, speaks volumes more to the poor leadership in the lockerroom and in management.
 
We sold the first year…

He missed most of it and then was our best player with Raymond for the end run.

He disappointed this year.

But we spent all of those seasons talking about how much the defense, goaltending, and forward depth sucked. I think those were a bigger factor than one of our best three players.

I think it is everyone’s fault and have been pretty clear on that.
Yet people are complaining that we weren't buyers at the trade deadline.
 
Kasper’s underlying numbers, eye test, like everything was good. Sophomores can have a slump, but he looks like a 60 plus point and very good defensive center at this point.

I think the goal would be to kick older Larkin out to the wing here eventually during the later part of his contract. Not with the trade him crowd. Until he asks it is really a moot point.
Agreed.
 
Wings were on a 2 game Florida swing and fighting tooth and nail for a playoff spot.

Walman posted a picture of the Florida beach with the caption ‘On Vacation’.

The players themselves took immediate offense and demanded he take it down because it reflected poorly on the team. He did, but he became an outsider.

He was healthy scratched for the first time soon after this. And eventually became a regular scratch.

This is the first time I heard that, not that I hear much but never saw it mentioned in any other thread or the endless pages of Walman, Yzerman, Red Wings BS on the main forums. I would think there would have to be more to it?
 
Wings were on a 2 game Florida swing and fighting tooth and nail for a playoff spot.

Walman posted a picture of the Florida beach with the caption ‘On Vacation’.

The players themselves took immediate offense and demanded he take it down because it reflected poorly on the team. He did, but he became an outsider.

He was healthy scratched for the first time soon after this. And eventually became a regular scratch.
This may be the extent of the public information/inference, but should not be held out as the full story
 
This is the first time I heard that, not that I hear much but never saw it mentioned in any other thread or the endless pages of Walman, Yzerman, Red Wings BS on the main forums. I would think there would have to be more to it?

Agreed. No GM is going to move a player and give up a 2nd round pick to do it because of a single instagram post about being at the beach. There's got to be more to it.
 
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Agreed. No GM is going to move a player and give up a 2nd round pick to do it because of a single instagram post about being at the beach. There's got to be more to it.
Then you get into the whole trainer injury element and other stuff. I have always kind of believed the story he told as the first big rift. But there were other issues from what I can gather and have heard. Again only so much is really known outside of the room. Yzerman wouldn't talk about it, I thought Larkin tried to do him a solid in training camp after Yzerman took a beating for it most of the summer. He said in this press conference he thought they would be the team to get in and said as much in training camp as well. They didn't get the job done.

People can talk about him crying during Bert's departure and have (by the way Brady Tkachuk balled his eyes out for Norris' departure) but he again defended those actions in the press conference and spoke of speaking with Yzerman and understanding. I think what we have here is I don't understand, we have locked in our core. I have taken the lumps, when is the goal gonna change to what we have been talking about in terms of playoffs after taking the tough medicine. We always make fun of these guys for hockey player talk, being boring etc. Then one tells the truth and everyone loses their minds.
 
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Then you get into the whole trainer injury element and other stuff. I have always kind of believed the story he told as the first big rift. But there were other issues from what I can gather and have heard. Again only so much is really known outside of the room. Yzerman wouldn't talk about it, I thought Larkin tried to do him a solid in training camp after Yzerman took a beating for it most of the summer. He said in this press conference he thought the would be the team to get in and said as much in training camp as well. They didn't get the job done.

People can talk about him crying during Bert's departure and have (by the way Brady Tkachuk balled his eyes out for Norris' departure) but he again defended those actions in the press conference and spoke of speaking with Yzerman and understanding. I think what we have here is I don't understand, we have locked in our core. I have taken the lumps, when is the goal gonna change to what we have been talking about in terms of playoffs after taking the tough medicine.

That's the most likely issue for me is something to do with how he was rehabbing his injury. Something about the team not liking his methods or not thinking he was working hard enough, I'm not sure. But I'd pretty much guarantee an instagram post about being on vacation was not the big reason.

And I have zero problem with Larkin crying when his friend got traded.
 
Is that the confirmed story or speculation from fans stalking players' social media accounts and spending too much time playing online detective?

If that is all that went down, and is what led to Yzerman needing to unload him with a second round pick, with no opportunity to make amends or work towards correcting his mistake in the eyes of his teammates or a soon to be fired head coach and underperforming GM... that to me, speaks volumes more to the poor leadership in the lockerroom and in management.
Agreed. And ‘On Vacation’ might be a tongue in cheek moment in an otherwise hectic schedule. The guy is human for crying out loud.
 

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