Jeremy Laura: Wings place Kane on IR, call up Lagessson ahead of Bruins game

I can understand why Raymond sews golf gloves into the palm of his hockey gloves. I used to cut the palms of my gloves out. I knew a guy who used deer hide to re-palm gloves, and I'd always have him cut out the factory palms, replace them with deer hide, then I'd cut out all but the fingertips. The hole would get bigger as the season went on, so I'd usually get them re-done about mid-season. I always liked to feel the stick with my bare hand, but that was in the old wood/fiberglass days. I did that until I transitioned to beer league. My last few years of beer league before I hung up the skates, I actually used lacrosse gloves. Loved them.

It's time for Steve Yzerman to poop or get off the pot, as they say. Pick a direction, either you want to continue to rebuild or you want to compete.

The decision last year to "go for the wildcard" set this franchise back. We should have traded rentals away last year:

-Kane
-Gostisbehere
-Perron
-Fabbri

That's easily a couple more 2nd round picks, a couple 3rd or 4ths.

That ends the Kane experiment. Then this summer, you don't bring in an expensive, ageing vets like Tarasenko or Talbot. You look for guys who might form part of a core that can compete in 2 or 3 years. So you keep Walman. Thus no need for Gustafsson. You use draft capital to bring in a 27-year old goalie like Logan Thompson. You find a couple of good stop-gap vets on cheaper contracts. You enter the season with considerable cap space. So when a guy like Fabbro is available, you grab him. You grab Liljegren. You explore ideas like Jiricek. If guys like Kakko or Lindgren become available you explore that. Pinto or Norris out of Ottawa. You put yourself in position to take a flier on some of these younger assets.

Oh nevermind, that run for the playoffs was a key experience for the future...except we're only talking about 4 or 5 guys. Ten of those guys are already gone from last spring and several more will also follow in the next 1-2 years.

Hindsight is 20/20. Maybe it time to stop crying about the past and suggest a path for the future, whether it be the immediate future or long-range planning.
Come on you hockey geniuses, put your thoughts on more useful things and right the ship and sail towards hockey mecca!

Hindsight is 20/20. Maybe it time to stop crying about the past and suggest a path for the future, whether it be the immediate future or long-range planning.
Come on you hockey geniuses, put your thoughts on more useful things and right the ship and sail towards hockey mecca!
- HenryHockey

1) Hire a new GM
2) Fire the coaching staff
3) Invest in a proper pro and amateur scouting staff. Hold people accountable for stupidity.
4) Call all 31 GMs and explain you are open to listening on anything. And that we are specifically looking for anyone under 28. So before you waive Fabbro, call me. Before you trade Jiricek, give me a chance to beat your offer.
5) At the deadline, firesale on all pending UFAs - Kane, Lyon, Fischer, Motte, Petry. Will also retain on Tarasenko, Compher, Copp, Chiarot. So you hopefully can move 1 or 2 of them.
6) Prioritize high ceiling skill at the draft. We don't need another 200-foot player.
7) Enter next season with tons of cap space to weaponize it. Someone might need to Google what that actually means.
8) You are realistically 3 -4 years away from competing. By then Larkin will be a 32-year old UFA. Probably need to consider trading him. Extending Larkin during ages 32-37 won't help the franchise.

None of this is rocket science. All has been said before if you were paying any attention...

Oh FFS...better plan:

1. Fire the GM
2. Fire the coaches
3. Fire the hockey operations staff
4. Trade every player with value & cut those with none
5. Get to the cap floor
6. Sell LCA to the Pistons
7. Sell Red Wings trademark to the boot company
8. Pick a new team to root for
9. Marvel at all of the teams that routinely go from bottom of the barrel to Cup favorites in less than 6 years because every draft pick in every round is an all-star caliber player by the time they're 19.

The alternative would be to hire the contributors to this board to run the team. The downside is the Wings would become the Harlem Globetrotters of the NHL because fans would get bored with a team that goes 98-0 each year and wouldn't attend games for fear that the LCA roof might collapse because it's not rated for that many championship banners.

Oh FFS...better plan:

1. Fire the GM
2. Fire the coaches
3. Fire the hockey operations staff
4. Trade every player with value & cut those with none
5. Get to the cap floor
6. Sell LCA to the Pistons
7. Sell Red Wings trademark to the boot company
8. Pick a new team to root for
9. Marvel at all of the teams that routinely go from bottom of the barrel to Cup favorites in less than 6 years because every draft pick in every round is an all-star caliber player by the time they're 19.

The alternative would be to hire the contributors to this board to run the team. The downside is the Wings would become the Harlem Globetrotters of the NHL because fans would get bored with a team that goes 98-0 each year and wouldn't attend games for fear that the LCA roof might collapse because it's not rated for that many championship banners.
- bluelineenforcer

Oh FFS...better plan:

1. Fire the GM
2. Fire the coaches
3. Fire the hockey operations staff
4. Trade every player with value & cut those with none
5. Get to the cap floor
6. Sell LCA to the Pistons
7. Sell Red Wings trademark to the boot company
8. Pick a new team to root for
9. Marvel at all of the teams that routinely go from bottom of the barrel to Cup favorites in less than 6 years because every draft pick in every round is an all-star caliber player by the time they're 19.

The alternative would be to hire the contributors to this board to run the team. The downside is the Wings would become the Harlem Globetrotters of the NHL because fans would get bored with a team that goes 98-0 each year and wouldn't attend games for fear that the LCA roof might collapse because it's not rated for that many championship banners.
- bluelineenforcer

Of course we get the hyperbole. Not every rebuild has to take 10 years.

In 2018, NYR finished 8th last in the NHL. They even penned a letter to their fanbase about the need to rebuild. They had a couple of prime pieces – Zibanejad, Kreider – perhaps similar to us having Larkin and DeBrincat. But they had an ageing Lundvist, vets like Rick Nash, Zuccarello, Marc Staal. They quickly started to transform the roster. Using all avenues. They traded numerous players to stockpile picks. Some picks missed, but in the 2-3 years that followed they added Kakko, Cuylle, Lafreniere, Miller. In free agency, they added guys like Panarin and Trochek. Via trade, they added Fox, Trouba. The year after their rebuild they were worse, falling to 6th last. By 2020 they were a bubble team. And again in 2021. So after declaring a rebuild in 2018 they missed the playoffs in 2019, 2020, 2021. By 2022 they were a 110-point Cup contender. In 2023 a 107-point Cup contender. In 2024 they finished 1st overall. So an aggressive approach, using trading, drafting, and free agency turned things around quickly.

New Jersey made the playoffs in 2018. Then missed from 2019-2022. During those 4 years they revamped their whole roster, again, using trades, drafting, and smart free agency. Lottery luck with Jack Hughes helps. But after 4 years of missing the playoffs, New Jersey is now a top contender.

I could go on. Plenty of franchises go through a 3-4 year process to return to relevance. Along the way is typically impactful trades, good drafting, and rounding out the roster with smart free agency signings. Detroit has missed the playoffs 8 years in a row. This will be 9. Yzerman has led for 5 of these years, with this now being year 6. Most concerning is there is very little to show for it. We have Raymond, Seider, and a few other promising pieces. But rewind a few years and the promising pieces were Zadina, Veleno, Rasmussen, Cholowski. That didn’t work. So now the hope has shifted to Kasper, Danielson, ASP, MBN. This group is different of course...

Oh FFS...better plan:

1. Fire the GM
2. Fire the coaches
3. Fire the hockey operations staff
4. Trade every player with value & cut those with none
5. Get to the cap floor
6. Sell LCA to the Pistons
7. Sell Red Wings trademark to the boot company
8. Pick a new team to root for
9. Marvel at all of the teams that routinely go from bottom of the barrel to Cup favorites in less than 6 years because every draft pick in every round is an all-star caliber player by the time they're 19.

The alternative would be to hire the contributors to this board to run the team. The downside is the Wings would become the Harlem Globetrotters of the NHL because fans would get bored with a team that goes 98-0 each year and wouldn't attend games for fear that the LCA roof might collapse because it's not rated for that many championship banners.
- bluelineenforcer

they should hire you, GM Jackass.

- HenryHockey

i love that you are a clapping seal for his dumbass posts. very positive contributions by you and him. keep it up!

Of course we get the hyperbole. Not every rebuild has to take 10 years.

In 2018, NYR finished 8th last in the NHL. They even penned a letter to their fanbase about the need to rebuild. They had a couple of prime pieces – Zibanejad, Kreider – perhaps similar to us having Larkin and DeBrincat. But they had an ageing Lundvist, vets like Rick Nash, Zuccarello, Marc Staal. They quickly started to transform the roster. Using all avenues. They traded numerous players to stockpile picks. Some picks missed, but in the 2-3 years that followed they added Kakko, Cuylle, Lafreniere, Miller. In free agency, they added guys like Panarin and Trochek. Via trade, they added Fox, Trouba. The year after their rebuild they were worse, falling to 6th last. By 2020 they were a bubble team. And again in 2021. So after declaring a rebuild in 2018 they missed the playoffs in 2019, 2020, 2021. By 2022 they were a 110-point Cup contender. In 2023 a 107-point Cup contender. In 2024 they finished 1st overall. So an aggressive approach, using trading, drafting, and free agency turned things around quickly.

New Jersey made the playoffs in 2018. Then missed from 2019-2022. During those 4 years they revamped their whole roster, again, using trades, drafting, and smart free agency. Lottery luck with Jack Hughes helps. But after 4 years of missing the playoffs, New Jersey is now a top contender.

I could go on. Plenty of franchises go through a 3-4 year process to return to relevance. Along the way is typically impactful trades, good drafting, and rounding out the roster with smart free agency signings. Detroit has missed the playoffs 8 years in a row. This will be 9. Yzerman has led for 5 of these years, with this now being year 6. Most concerning is there is very little to show for it. We have Raymond, Seider, and a few other promising pieces. But rewind a few years and the promising pieces were Zadina, Veleno, Rasmussen, Cholowski. That didn’t work. So now the hope has shifted to Kasper, Danielson, ASP, MBN. This group is different of course...
- Cooleus

You are right on this team must make changes now. Lalonde must go. 2. Gustafson needs to be sent down to never be seen again. Draper needs to be toast and Yzerman needs to be let go unless he has the balls to do number 1.

i love that you are a clapping seal for his dumbass posts. very positive contributions by you and him. keep it up!
- wingz4life

Yes, I am positive that you are very negative. You must really be a hero on Reddit.