RED WINGS WIN 5 STRAIGHT! LARKIN ON FIRE, FINNIE & ASP’s 1st GOALS – Winged Wheel Podcast – Oct. 19

RED WINGS WIN 5 STRAIGHT! LARKIN ON FIRE, FINNIE & ASP’s 1st GOALS – Winged Wheel Podcast – Oct. 19

[Music] Welcome to the Wing Wheel Podcast, the number one source for news, analysis, and discussion on the Detroit Red Wings, the NHL, and all things hockey. Here are your hosts, Ryan Hannah, Brad Krisco, and Evan Lopsinger. [Music] Again, whenever the Red Wings win, the content has less and less pressure. We could do nothing other than just crack open these three bottles in front of us and just sip on those all episode and that would be I think it would capture the vibes of this team right now. One of these days we will. It’ll be either because the Red Wings have made the playoffs or we’re starting prospect profiles in January. I I don’t want to hear prospect profiles right now. Five five straight wins vibes are unbelievable. Although there is one bad thing for you specifically right now, Evan, the lack of sleep I have in my life. Even worse than than the woes of brand new fatherhood as congratulations on bringing Sullivan home. By the way, I don’t know why people congratulate people for that sort of thing. I’m dying. I was like, it’s a momentous occasion and then I I’ve seen the pain in your eyes and yeah, maybe I should have. In any case, even worse for you than your lack of sleep for the next forever is 18 years. Yeah. Is that your title as Lobsteris is being challenged. Oh my god, this guy. It’s No, no, it’s not just me, though, because I made the unbelievable bang-on call of ASP’s first career goal, you know, if you’re going to call that out. But not just me. I got shown up even by Max. Max’s preseason prediction, right, was that the Red Wings would win five of their first six. That is incredible. You’re falling behind, pal. Well, my brain’s not really working right now, so it’s not my fault. Well, I guess it kind of is, but not totally. Half at least, I’ll tell you. Evan’s brain doesn’t even process the present right now. The future is absolutely on hold. Oh, yeah. Don’t worry. Max and I are are lifting that that trophy for you at the moment. Max doing a little bit heavier of a lift than me. Like I said, the vibes are through the roof. Let’s get right into it, folks. Welcome to the Wind Wheel podcast. Here to talk to you about all things Detroit Red Wings hockey, five straight wins, the world of the NHL, and lots more. I’m one of your hosts, Ryan Hannah. I’m Brad Krisco. And I’m Evan. This episode of the Winged Wheel podcast is presented by Greenlight Lending. Red lights are meant for lighting the lamp at the rink, not your home ownership goals. Head to go greenlightlanding.com today for creative mortgage solutions with flexible closing cost options. Licensed only in Michigan, NMLS 267-6683, an equal housing opportunity lender and proud sponsor of the Wing Wheel podcast. On this episode of the Wind Wheel Podcast, Detroit’s fourth and fifth straight wins are going to be covered. All the ins and outs from those extremely exciting games, injury updates for Lucas Raymond and Patrick Kane, trade rumors surrounding the Red Wings right now, incredible stats for some Red Wings rookies, things from around the league, and lots more before we jump into overtime. Very quickly, Wing Wheel podcast night at the LCA. If you are dying to jump into the action at the LCA and feel the excitement that all the fans are feeling in person, no better game to do that than Saturday, November 15th, Detroit against Buffalo. Wingville podcast.com/readwings to get your tickets. It’s not only tickets to the Red Wings game at a discounted rate. You also get a special co-branded Detroit Red Wings and Wing Podcast Centennial themed blanket. You also get access to our pregame live recording the Wing Wheel podcast at Little Caesars Arena featuring Ken Daniels, Rob Ray, and other special guests, meet and greet, merch, giveaways, all that and lots more. And every ticket bought represents a donation to the Jamie Daniels Foundation. So again, wingedpodcast.com/red Wings. Vibes are through the roof. And if you told me that the Red Wings went into the Tampa Bay game without Lucas Raymond and the Edmonton game without Patrick Kane, I would have told you I would have taken one win or even just a single point wouldn’t have been completely unexpected. And here we are two wins later, five straight, 5-1, top of the Atlantic. Let’s start with the Tampa Bay game. And that was an impressive showing for the first 40 minutes. an extremely extremely impressive showing. Thoughts overall on on that game before we jumped into the I mean the very exciting parts leading with ASP. Yeah, they I don’t want to say dominant over Tampa in the first two periods, but very much controlled the pace of play. Only allowed 11 shots. You know, it was clinical. It was what you want to see from a team on the rise where it’s like, can you take a good team like Tampa and not just show that you can hang cuz that feels like that’s been the bar forever and ever. Just can you hang with the good teams, now the bar’s kind of shifted to can you be better than the good teams for stretches and earn them honestly? Because there’s two ways you can be better than the good teams and the Red Wings experienced both that game. First two periods they were the better team. They were controlling the play. They were winning races, they were winning battles, they had, you know, a lot of puck possession. The third period, their goalie was better. One of those two things is sustainable. Yeah. The other is not. So, as much as it’s great, great great to see John Gibson have that third period that he had. And, you know, it was a great confidence boost for him. There’s probably something to be said about, hey, maybe it’s a good thing the Red Wings played that bad in the third period because it’s well worth it to give Gibson that boost of confidence this early in the season. But what they were doing in the first two periods felt more sustainable. That’s that looked like the formula to okay, you want to get in the playoffs and hang with the big boys and beat the big boys. That’s what every game has to look like or that’s what 95% of the games have to look like. It was a really good way of putting it, Brad, to say like it’s not just enough to hang with the good teams, it’s how you going to be better than them. And that wasn’t the first time we saw it this season, but this is the first time in a decade literally since we’ve been able to say, “Oh, the Red Wings are controlling this aspect of the game multiple times now over a a you know, several game stretch.” And was it a complete 60? No. But we’ll get into that. I’m not so bothered by the fact that they they kind of got hemmed in in the third. Like it’s still Tampa Bay. Dylan Lin said in the post game like they wish they didn’t get that hemmed in. But again, it’s Tampa Bay. They’re one of the best teams in the league. So, you have to expect it to some degree. You’re watching the Red Wings figure it out in real time in both Tampa Bay and Edmonton games, which obviously we’ll cover in a second here. They were I think they weren’t dominant. They were stifling. They used really quick feet. They used pressure plays. They they didn’t let the other team get established. And that was important. Tampa Bay was missing Cooerov, but they still have high-end elite players. And they did that against Conor McDavid and Leon Drytle and kept McDavid off the board completely. Like they controlled play and didn’t let them get anything going. They didn’t let them get a foothold. They didn’t let them get established on the road. And that’s crucial for Detroit to one defend their own barn and two hang with teams that might have more firepower. And it’s extremely impressive the overall team defensive game and and kind of control of the pace game that we saw from Detroit this this past weekend. Yeah, they’re not willing to play the type of game the other team wants. Like the Red Wings are forcing the issue. They’re getting teams to to play how Detroit wants them to and they’re finding success. has hasn’t been a perfect start to the season, but lately it’s, you know, they’re they’re figuring out how to win and it’s been really really fun to watch. The fun thing to watch that game as, as I mentioned in the the start of the show here, Axel Sand Pelica’s first career NHL goal in the first period from Larkin and Appleton. And one of those shots where he even said, “I wasn’t sure if it hit someone else, but oh my god, the sheer joy on his face and everyone around him was happier than even him.” Like that was Wings fans have been waiting for it. Santi and Pelic has been playing great. Finn has been playing great. Brand Niger has been playing great, but it’s taken a little while for their first to come. And now MBN’s the only one left. But it’s still like it wasn’t so much relief as just like electricity, excitement when he scored that goal. That was such a huge the entire crowd understood the significance of that and that was that was a cool moment to to watch play out. Well, yeah. I loved his little look back at Appleton kind of like it was like the initial celebration of the goal, the look at Appleton and then Appleton’s pointing at him, no man, that’s you. And then he turns around, finishes his Sally into the glass and everybody starts jumping. And I know it’s such a random thing to remember, but there was a like that goal actually did give me a really good indication just how maybe the culture finally is changing on this team because last year I I know a lot of people remember the goal, but not the after when Marco Casper scored his first goal. Everyone on the ice looked like they didn’t give a crap. That was the most muted first goal celebration I had seen in a while. And of course, the Red Wings had a horrible start to last season. and they were in the doldrums, etc., etc. So, just to see that everybody on the ice was so fired up when that puck went in, it was almost refreshing to just be like, “Yeah, that’s what that’s supposed to feel like. That’s what that’s supposed to look like.” Yeah. All the hype that exists in like Montreal over the last couple years or other markets where their young players are part of the the success of the team. That’s what Detroit is feeling right now. Fun to see. And again, Appleton was still in the top line that game. That’s because Lucas Raymond was out for his second game as his injury continued against Tampa Bay. He did return against Edmonton. So, like we said, Detroit controlled play first 40 minutes. I think Tampa Bay had 11 shots through two periods. So, Gibson, you know, he made all the saves that he needed to and there wasn’t much else that he could do. He wasn’t seeing a lot. And we were expecting a push in the third and boy did they get one. I think it was the 18th shot of the third period that went in for Tampa Bay. Not the 18th shot of the game, the 18th shot of the third period alone for Tampa Bay before they finally beat Gibson. They had 19 shots in the third in total. That was a remarkable onslaught by the team. Again, I’m not someone who’s like, “Oh, they didn’t play a full 60 and so I’m going to label this a bad effort and shame on them for giving up any ice or territory at all.” like game effect comes into play. The ice gets tilted. Guys naturally want to defend the lead. They’re a little bit more riskaverse. We did see too much contraction though from the Red Wings. And despite the win that they got against an Atlantic Division opponent, huge two points, they are fortunate that John Gibson was up to the task in the third because I think Tampa Bay played well enough in the third to completely undo what was only a one- nothing lead at that point. Oh yeah, that was felt like a stolen win just because what was the expected goals in the third period for Tampa? Wasn’t it north of three? I think yeah, I saw something various models, but one of them at least had it over three. That’s insane. So it wasn’t just that Tampa played Detroit like that was just a complete tilting of the ice. And again, good that Gibson gets that confidence and had that performance. And you know, first game of the season, the Red Wings had to play bad for McCullen to be able to say at the end of the game, are you tired of this yet? Well, the Red Wings have this history of going into a shell. So, old habits do die hard. Mhm. Again, if you’re going to have something like that happen, better to get it out of the way early in the season. And even better yet, to have your goalie bail it out so that that lesson doesn’t have to be taught in an L. again, like you don’t plan for it this way, but that silver lining of Gibson being the hero, that’s huge for Detroit. He needed that because that was his first game since being pulled in the home opener. And at that point, his save percentage was literally in the 600s. And not that that matters one game into the season, but just to illustrate how bad it was. And not only did he earn that win for the Red Wings, but also earned himself a start in the next game, which you know, we’re going to talk about very, very early results in the standings. If the Red Wings are going to continue to make noise in the standings, it has to be from two above average goalies. So the Red Wings head to overtime and Tampa Bay has an opportunity and as it always is in threeon-ree overtime, you don’t make your opportunity work and the puck goes the other way and there’s usually another scoring chance going the other way. Dylan Larkin in all alone makes no mistake and absolutely electric goal to win it for the Red Wings 2-1 in overtime. What a performance by the the captain to call game there. The randomness and flukiness of hockey. How different is the narrative of the Red Wing? Like it’ still be good, but how different is the narrative if that Tampa pass doesn’t miss the back door tap in by half an inch instead of Tampa winning that game and they were a half inch away from doing it. That directly leads to the Dylan Lurin breakaway. What? like that half inch and then Leon Dryidle this game not you know whiffing on the puck when he was in all alone and you’re talking about a difference of you know three points here that’s hockey though you the Red Wings historically have been the team to find ways to choke away games like that so to capitalize on like there’s mistakes and errors every game and there’s always going to be misses of those fraction of an inch but if you can capitalize on it when it happens or you can win that battle where you make less And these I don’t classify as mistakes, but let’s call them mistakes for the sake of this point. It goes a long way cuz again, they make the playoffs by one point. Okay, good. You only needed that one little break and that was a difference. So, it is funny. But yeah, it was great to see Lurin, man. He was at the end of his shift. I didn’t know if he was going to make it to the net. That’s one of those he was gassed. They he biologically had nothing in him to give him the energy, but the moment fueled him. The hockey gods were like, “No, you got to get down the ice for this one, pal. We got a good one in store for you.” The start of overtime, Evan, you and I were talking when we were pre-recording some of the bonus episode here. The start of overtime had a a really cool thing for the Red Wings, and that was Todd McClones starting with both ASP and Finny to start overtime. Threeon-ree overtime is is no joke. You can’t have liabilities out there, otherwise you’ll get burned. And so, it’s not a new story, but it’s the story for the Red Wings right now. And that is the kids aren’t just part of the excitement. They are a big reason for the success and the excitement for the Red Wings. They sent out the the youthful legs. You know, it’s they’ve certainly earned the opportunity to do that. Takes Todd Mlullen having confidence in them to do it as well. But nothing’s worse than when you’re playing in beer league and all of a sudden you see 20 year olds in your league and you’re like, “No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. It’s not fair. you guys have all the youth, all the energy. But hey, it’s great to see like previous coaching regimes for the Red Wings probably wouldn’t even have these players in the lineup, let alone starting overtime against the Tampa Bay Lightning, a team that, you know, a lot of people thought that they would win the Atlantic Division. And there’s still time for that. But that’s just the caliber of team that that they are. for them to send out two rookies in overtime is we’re in a good spot. The level of smuggness that is probably going around Red Wings fandom and media and everything without even realizing it of the 10 years of everybody just yelling at the Blast Hills and the Lones, we told you you could do it. and McCollins the proof of concept of yeah yeah the young the young guys might be bad but it turns out most of the time they’re not so you could have played them in fairness I think the most smug rightly smug crowd right now is the wait for the kids crowd because I don’t know that there’s been this many NHL ready kids all at one there have been years where you’re like yeah they they could have brought this guy up sooner or not but like that’s the real like how many times have we said it’s very rare for an NHL team to fire about three, four plus, you know, rookies or secondyear guys and and expect to be winning. And the Red Wings are like, that’s pretty much our only tack right now and we’re doing it and we’re going to win. We’ll take it. John Gibson finishes with 31 to 32 saves. I think over three goals saved above expected. Nine almost 970 save percentage in that game. So, nice little flipping of the script there. He just wants to make my preseason prediction come true. And I got to tell you, man, like you have to have a great game where you only score two goals, but Mickey Redmond ripping sniffing salts between the benches with the boys isn’t even the highlight of the night. The Red Wings earned it. What a be Mickey is, man. That was so good. What do you say? Oh, my sniffer. So, that was the that was the win against Tampa Bay. Another Atlantic Division win. That was four straight wins for Detroit. unfortunate storyline. Patrick Kane crashed into the boards into that game and was ruled out for Sunday against Edmonton pretty much right away. You don’t obviously you don’t want to see it, but you especially don’t want to see it with Lucas Raymond banged up. I dug into that one a little bit and I don’t know like there’s nothing definitive out there in terms of how long he’s going to be hurt, but I don’t know that this is going to be necessarily a day-to-day thing. It’s still very early, so I I caution against saying anything definitive, but I’m keeping an eye on how long Patrick Kane’s going to be out here. At his age and with the regular season, you know, being so early, you want to see them play it safe with him because you you want as many quality miles from him as you can get and the Red Wings, you know, hopefully make the playoffs. You want him ready for that, too. Although that’s putting the cart before the horse, but still hopefully it’s not too too long and that was a little bit of a wet blanket over it. So thankfully the Red Wings heading into the next game then had Lucas Raymond return to the lineup. He was questionable game time decision, took warm-ups, played the game, and I don’t think it’s unfair to say that he was still very obviously playing through injury. But even playing through injury and at one point leaving the bench completely, he did come back, he still had a casual two assists against the Oilers tonight. Well, when you have a seasoned veteran superstar line driver opposite you and EMTT Finny, it does take the stress off a little bit. So, I I think Lucas looked across the ice and went 75%’s enough tonight. Yeah, that’s fair enough. Well, a Warrior to do it. And obviously again like Brad said, the margins are always razor thin in hockey, but you can see like Detroit has had six games against tough opponents here. And though these wins have been impressive, you don’t want to to be too far behind and missing both Kane and Raymond would have been just extremely tough to have dealt with. So Raymond slots into the lineup and the Red Wings take to the ice with MBN in Patrick Kane’s second line spot. First period again a lot of what we saw against Tampa Bay controlled the play Larkin Finny Raymond stifling Conor McDavid and Co like really were using again their quick feet. They were they were forcing decisions. They were they were forcing pressure plays. They were not letting Edmonton get anything established. Edmonton’s not a team that really gets off to a hot start early in seasons. And it’s almost like they were exploiting that fact that they were a little bit in disarray and easy to throw off, which is saying something cuz they’re such a highc caliber team. But really liked what I saw for the first 20 minutes for Detroit. And then they were rewarded in the second period twice. First Ben Sherro with a filthy saucer pass to Dylan Larkin who won times at home. Like Ben’s had himself a nice few games here. He deserves calling out for that. And then after that, right after that, EMTT Finny with his first career NHL goal. Same as ASP. Just an electric moment for the LCA crowd. Well, if you’re going to do it, have the best player on the planet right there watching it. You know, Finn is going to be the guy when he’s 52 years old. I stole the puck from McDavid and ripped that bar down. Not a big deal. You know, you know how how good he’s feeling right now because when he went to go celebrate with the the team when the buzzer sounded and the game ended, he went and gave Mickey Redmond a wink and a fist bump. Like that guy’s just he’s got the juice right now, man. He’s he’s in the flow state. EMTT Finny and had himself another great game. the the stats aren’t always there and the underlyings and I’m not saying Finn’s been perfect start to end but you can see him build to be better and better and he works within the design of what Todd Mlullen wants that top line to be doing alongside Larkin and either Raymond or Appleton to this point better and better he like you said Brad I I know you’re kidding but at the same time went up against Conor McDavid the best player on the planet and did that not just shut him down but scored twice to kick off your NHL career quite literally can’t ask for more than that. And yeah, this was his first goal, but la the previous four or five games he had his chances. So, it’s not like this was just the fluke rebound that he banged in. And good for you. We’ll see in Grand Rapids in a week. He’s been buzzing. He’s had several A+ looks that, you know, are just missing the net or the goalies making a good save and you you could feel it coming. like you could just the chances are probably like like for example for NBA I can’t say the same thing he see feels like he’s struggling to get high quality scoring chances even though he’s playing well Finny wasn’t that Finn’s like okay this is going in soon he’s all over it I do wonder how much of that is Finn’s linemates oh it a lot it’s a lot of it certainly makes your life a little bit easier yeah but it’s not a bit like you yeah he’s it’s been there and you’ve seen enough in terms terms of just the pace and the yeah the excitement and the energy and the quality of play. He’s decent in one-on-one situations, too, which is where, you know, lineates aren’t don’t matter. Like, he had a great play against Conor McDavid one-on-one today and shut him down. You know, he’s really good on in on the for check getting in on defenders and on the board play. So, yeah, if he wasn’t producing, it’s like, okay, why you here? his defensive game and just his ability to get on pucks has been a huge boon to this team as well. Tom McClullen was asked after the Tampa Bay game, they were like, you know, just asking about the kids and he wasn’t frustrated, but he was almost like I don’t know how many other ways to tell you guys this like they’re playing well enough to be here. Like they are a big part of what we’re doing and they’re like, you know, they’re going out there and they’re getting better every game. They’re certainly they’re making mistakes, but they’re, you know, learning from them and they’re contributing a lot on the ice. Like they it it’s so matterof fact and it’s not to be dismissive, but it’s because it’s real. It’s not, you know, hamming up a fun story for a guy who’s going to end up, you know, back down in a couple games. Like by all rights, these guys have continued to go against the grain of what’s expected of them by reasonable takes and earn their spots and thrive in their spots which include second pair, ton of minutes, top line against the best players in the world. MBN asked to do a lot within the the depth of the team and even so that was you know Larkin then Finny the Reds were up two nothing. Edmonton made it 2-1 and then Detroit went up 3-1. Lurin’s second goal of the game. At first, it looked like it might have deflected off Finny. It didn’t, but Finny not just got the assist there, he also caused the disruption in front of the net that ultimately led to the deflection off of the Edmonton defender skate and in the net. I think it was Ekholm. Like he is all over the ice and that was Detroit up 3 to1. John Gibson secondary assist on that goal. Both Red Wings goenders have a point this year. Boy, I’m sure the internet is full of the jokes towards every Redwing who doesn’t have a point right now. Every NHL player who doesn’t have a point. Yeah. Who’s the most notable NHL player that both Red Wings goalies are outc scoring right now? I’m just saying what would you have? One Evan Buchard at zero points or Gibson and Cam Talbot for roughly the same price give or take? Oh my goodness. No less. That is definitely less. Yeah, you’re right. Less. 8.9 million. That is $1.6 million less than Evan Buchard. Detroit goes into the third period and Leon Dryidtle makes it 3 to2. At first I thought they were going to hold both Dry Settle and McDavid off the board. Dry settle makes it 3 to2 and then at the end of the game Dryidle has an opportunity. Puck in dry had it lost it. Emmit Finny picks it up. Many are saying this. And then the puck makes it up to Emma Finny along the the sideboards near center ice. And he grinds out, kind of has a rolling puck towards the net and scores the empty netter. What did you say? I need you to repeat what you said about Dry Cidle’s stick. Oh, I just said if it was a little bit longer, maybe he would have been able to corral that thing. Yeah, he just needed another millimeter of of stick blade. That’s already at like the theoretical maximum. Have you seen the the on Instagram? It’s the guy who gets the driver, the golf driver. that’s like 20 ft long and his swing is like 14 seconds in length. That’s what D settle looks like with a hockey stick. If you if you have that much blade and you’re still going to whiff on the puck, you’re going to whiff on the puck anyways. Yeah. Well, he’s got to upgrade from the kayak paddle to the canoe paddle. Is there is he at the maximum of what you can have at the NHL? If there is a legal limit, he is definitely at it. But you know who else used a blade almost exactly like that? Pavatuk. So, who are we to argue? Fair enough. Fair enough. The Red Wings win 4-2. Gibson gets himself another win and just the vibes are through the roof. Detroit is sitting at top the Atlantic right now. Number one in the division. They are second in the Eastern Conference. It’s six games. I know it’s just six games, but they’re number one without a tiebreaker. They are just straight up number one in points. 10 of 12 possible points to start the season after such an ugly home opener. the the turnaround that hasn’t just been like not that there’s been no good luck, but the turnaround that’s not just been, you know, fortunate, but a solid result based on their own actual play that they’re putting out there. This team looks like they’re playing different. They have new players contributing in new ways that you haven’t had before on the Red Wings. They’re they’re changing the way they play. Their PK has been perfect over the entire win streak. a perfect penalty kill over the win streak. I believe it’s 10 for 10 or something their their last 10 tries like this has been a yeah has there been some variance in what’s been deserved and not sure but they’ve earned these points and to get off to a hot start on a difficult schedule I know Max Baltman called it but genuinely it’s almost unbelievable. Well, he had that rated as a 9 out of 10 on the boldness scale. So, he’s a bold guy. Even he admitted not likely. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have been a nine out of 10. Dylan Larkin, two goals, two assists in that game. I think those are tied for a career-high in points and did that while shutting down Conor McDavid and EMTT Finny with two goals and an assist. Dylan Larkin is tied for third in NHL points before we started recording the podcast. And EMTT Finny was tied for the lead in NHL rookie point scoring. So, not bad. Casual 15. Yeah. a defenseman with two defenseman. Two defenseman. Okay. One of them is one of them is a very offensive defenseman. One of them might be one of the best defenseman to come out of the draft in a long, long time. Matthew Schaefer. What we’re saying is he’s alone in first place amongst rookie forwards. That’s right. That is what we’re saying. One spot away from Zeve, man. One spot away. Eisman was trying to My god. But Larkin casual 150 point pace. We were joking in the bonus episode. We think he we think he’ll fall off and and go to like 140, you know, keep it humble, but just everything has turned up for the Red Wings and and again, for good reason. You can’t have you can’t have asked for more of a start for for Detroit here. So, if it comes down to a a close vote, which narrative wins out for rookie of the year, two years removed from the seventh round or first overall defenseman? Uh, the NHL loves its poster boys, but you know, we’re going to be going to bat hard for the seventh round pick. Oh, we will. The I still remember the absolute war that went on in most Ciders rookie year with him, Ziggress, and Bunting for rookie of the year. And the Red Wings fans were unbelievably obnoxious, rightfully so. We almost had to fight the Steve Dangle podcast. Yes, I almost had to fight the Steve Dangle podcast. I did tell Steve that about how we still have to have the charity boxing match between you and Jesse. Oh god, I’m going to need a few months of sleep. You’re going to need stem cell injections in your knees. Yeah, half your edits are my knees cracking. Is it up to your knees now? It’s usually your ankles. Yeah, I know. It’s getting It’s not good. Oh god. Regardless, yeah, the the the way that narrative has shifted or the fact that the Red Wings fans will be ready to do it all over again. Oh, it’ll be worse in a good way. Rightfully so. Like a seventh round pick, if he’s even in the conversation for maybe kind of sort of you can make a case if you squint for like third in the Calder vote. This This will make presidential campaigns look like a hobby. The only thing going for Islanders mainstay podcast is that he’s Finny is not Swedish because if he was, that’s just a whole another layer. They have to fight off us and the Swedish mafia because we were talking to Steve about this and how their podcast made sweeping incorrect projections about some Swedish players and forgot about some Swedish players. They were feeling the heat from the mafia. And Steve made mention that one of the Swedish fans has sent something to his house and he’s never given his address out before. So be careful what you wish for, Islanders fans. I’ll tell you, you feel it, too, because they’re awake before you are. That’s true. They’re in the future. They’re one step ahead of us at all times. When I wake up in the morning, I see that I see the European comments. I’m like, that’s that that was what was so good for Cider and Raymond in that Calder race is like there was a it was a two-pronged attack. While you sleep, we grind. Some other takeaways from the Red Wings. As someone who I don’t know if you guys knew this about me, but I used to play defense, but I’ve been harping on the Red Wings defense for so long. This is the best I’ve felt. Like I It’s one of those things where you don’t want to move. Like right now, Evan, like when the baby is sleeping, I’m sure you don’t want to move. Like, let’s not make noise. Let’s just let him sleep. Well, he can’t move. His knees would wake him up. Yeah, that’s true. It’s like a gunshot in the middle of the night. But you don’t want to disturb anything cuz the Red Wings defense has looked as steady as it ever has right now. Not without flaws. I’m not saying they make no mistakes, but these pairs from Cider Sherat ASP Edmonson and and Johansson Bernard Docker. This is the best he’s looked in how long is Lidstrom retired? Probably actually maybe. Yeah. I I would actually say literally yes. It’s six games. I get it. But I don’t I can’t remember the last time I felt like this for six games. The only uneasy part about this is the drop off from the sixth to the seventh guy is the Grand Canyon. We are one injury away from five and one to prospect profiles at Christmas. It feels like and I I know that’s obviously over exaggerating, but we we saw it game one. Like I I think I’d be in the mindset if even if it’s Bernard Docker, with all due respect to Bernard Docker, the most insignificant of those six, if he gets hurt, immediately need to make a trade. Can’t let it go. Saw him and it today. Just the the type of player the Red Wings have found in spades through trade. Depth defenseman. Yeah. Hey, isn’t that how we got Jake Wman? I know what I said. Just don’t ask what happened after that. Yeah, I I’ve the only thing that brings me some solace is what’s coming in the ranks. Like you have Antonio Hansen coming into the system. You have Bouam and Will Linder who can slot in. Like I don’t I for obvious reason we don’t have confidence in Hamik, but there are other options that are coming in that will soon be hopefully not Hall Gustoson Hamick. Yeah, right now I’m like, “Oh my god, this is working.” At forward, you hope Raymond continues to heal up a bit here. He has a couple days off where the Red Wings are going to be traveling Wednesday and Thursday. They’re in Buffalo and Long Island, respectively. And so, you you hope that extra day off gives him some rest. Kane, I don’t know if he’ll be ready for Buffalo. It remains to be seen. But, you know, at at some point, obviously, Detroit’s going to lose again, but for now, they are they have a lot of really good things working for them, and if they can continue to scrap out points here, even on the road, that would be a massive bonus for them. The Red Wings and Mlullen have a history of sevename winning streaks. And listen, I understand the Rings beat a lot of good teams and you don’t want to overlook weaker teams on the schedule, but I’m not going to say likely, but there’s a real good chance. You have the opportunity. Yeah, you that’s probably the best way of phrasing it. You have the opportunity. Remains to be seen what happens. Plenty more to come about the Red Wings news, about what they’ve done, and then some trade rumors as well. But first, a word from our sponsors back after this. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Welcome back. Just had a fun little tidbit. Someone tweeted at us and I I sent it to Pashant to see if he could find out. Ricky Bobby shuffle says, “This isn’t a stat you can look up, but I have to imagine that this is one of, if not the quickest into the season that both goalies on a team recorded a point. Pashant figured it out in about 10 minutes.” He said with Gibson’s assist today, both Wings goalies have picked up a point this season. That’s the fastest two goalies have picked up a point in Wings franchise history, narrowly edging out 0708 when Hashik picked up a point in game seven and Aussie in game eight. 0708. How’d that year go? Not bad. Not bad, Brad. And they were a game better. So, we’re in the same conference. So, I don’t see how we beat Pittsburgh in five games in the cup finals, but we’ll figure out who takes their place. We’ll find a way. All right, more Red Wings notes here. Names are starting to come up in trade rumors, and these are both unsurprising, but I I also believe to be accurate to varying degrees. First and foremost, I think Elliot Freeman reported before anyone that Gusen’s name is out there. the Red Wings are looking to move defenseman and when that went out people were like what I think Pinñata said that and then Freriedman said it was it was Gusison and I do believe that that’s a situation where they’re going to look for a trade for him and it makes sense too right like Gustin didn’t make this roster but I think that he is there’s teams who’d be interested in him like he could play PP2 could get into a lineup like I don’t think he’s unplayable, but based on how the Red Wings decor shooken out this year, it the there’s just not a spot for him. So, yeah, I’m sure Steve Eisenman wants to do right by him, move on, and let everybody end this chapter. I It makes a lot of sense to me. Yeah, I’m sure if the Red Wings are shopping around, there are teams where they could use him. And he’s only making $2 million, which isn’t a lot. And if the Red Wings eat half of that, a million’s nothing to eat and a million’s nothing to pay if you’re just taking a flyer on a 67 guy from another team. Again, I don’t know everybody’s second power play. But if you’re a San Jose and it’s like, “All right, we don’t have anybody to play this role right now. Here’s a warm body that can do it for cheap.” And then if it doesn’t work out for them there again, they can bury his entire contract. I don’t think there’s going to be a return on him. you probably just giving him away. But I also know from the Red Wing standpoint, and I don’t know the details on it, but there’s been a lot of chatter about veteran minimum or maximum issues with Grand Rapids roster where guys are having to sit every night that obviously don’t and shouldn’t want to sit just because of those rules. And obviously having Gusto and a whole bunch of other vets unexpectedly there only makes it worse. Yeah. Yeah. So, that one I imagine I’m sure the Red Wings would love to move on from Hall as well. And I’m sure, you know, it sounds silly to say, but based on how the preseason shook out, they’re like, “Yeah, if someone wants to take Hamick at this point, like you you have Hall and Hamick are giving you the same thing right now, whether it’s I get that Hammock’s only played one game, but you can confidently say that it’s in that same tier. They if they can move them, they will, but it’s way less likely, I think, than than Gustoson. And the other name that’s been out there has been Barren. And I mean, Evan, we were chatting before the show. It does kind of feel, barring changes here that, you know, there’s guys on the fringes. And though they would be, you know, good additions to the depth of, you know, a good number of of rosters in the NHL, the Red Wings are are fixing to bring in Nate Danielson. The Red Wings are fixing to bring in Carter Mer. The Red Wings are fixing to bring in other guys who are going to start to push for this team, Carter Bear, in a little while here. And so if they have someone who can make use of of Baragrin or or someone else who they feel is on the fringes, I wouldn’t be surprised to see them start to make space. And I know everyone starts to point at the confers before the Bearrrens, but I’m I’m telling you the contracts make a big difference here to state the obvious protection and length and AAV. Barren would would go not for a lot, but he would go much sooner than a comfort would who they’ve been trying I think for a while. Yeah, he maybe get a mid round pick for him. And again, that could just be good for Barren, good for the player, get him in the lineup somewhere else more regularly. Like you said, the Red Wings are not short on younger options that in the case of injuries, they could bring guys in and you’re not worried about moving forwards out at this point because the Red Wings feel flush with forward prospects where like a year and a half, two years ago, that felt like a dire crisis going forward. USHL first and goal is Brent Solomon. And if you’re listening, you’re going who the hell is that? Yeah, Red Wings draft pick. fun. Max Plants averaging what, two points per game in the NCAA this year. B Chelnikov’s having another great year in the KHL. Obviously, they’re not all going to hit, but holy crap, feels like a strength of the system now. Like it that’s you’re not in a rush to ship any of these guys out, but you’re like, “Yeah, if if we don’t think that they’re going to survive another roster competition next off season, then if we can get something for them now, we have a flood of guys who are going to try to do the same thing that Finny and ASP and NBN are doing this season.” And this doesn’t mean to be a shot directly at Barren, although it’s going to sound like that. No, he’s just the the name that came up. He is a representative of like all of those. Rasmusen is going to need a lot of attention, too. This would have been the argument 3 years ago for Rasmusen is when you have all these prospects and you’re watching it and you’re going, “Yeah, this guy just really doesn’t fit with what we’re doing or he’s not as good as we thought we were and we have a lot of guys, etc., etc.” You sell them while they still have value, right? Like Rasmmanson you probably couldn’t give away at this point with that contract. Would have been nice to sell him two, three years ago when he was very highly regarded around the league. Barren again, not a huge reputation, but you probably get something. Mhm. So again, it’s just good asset management. And by no means am I saying you absolutely beyond a shadow of a doubt have to trade him because what are we going to do without that fifth round pick, but it’s just the writing is on the wall I think with some of these guys and you know you project this team one season out. you you look into October of 2026 and you look into October of 2027, it’s like these guys aren’t really fitting the bill in October 2025 and we know we’ve got another crop of rookies trying to do what happened this year. Like those guys are the the obvious choices to be taken out of the roster. And I we were talking we’ve talked about this before. Nate Danielson comes back and is healthy. You take him, put him in the lineup, and he plays fourth line center, plays third line center, this team is better. You put Carter Maer on this team and you take out anybody on the bottom fourth line, this team is better. Like, it’s the hard cold truth about the NHL. And like you both have made the point of, these are the kinds of problems you want to be having rather than guys just getting a free ride to the next year. they’re being challenged and you either make it or you don’t and it’s early. Lots can change. Maybe one of these guys, Bergrren, Sodblam, Rasmmanson, someone, they find a groove and they pick it up because they they want to stay in Detroit and this is where they want to be. And that’s the beauty of the natural filter of of you getting pushed out by younger, better players. You either put up or shut up and you’re going to start to become a journeyman if not. That’s that’s kind of the way it goes. Other Red Wings notes here. And I I should have said this when we talked about ASP’s first goal. October 17th, 1991. Nicholas Lstrom and Vladimir Constantino. First career NHL goals. October 17th, 2025. Axel Sandine Pelico, 34 years apart. How cool is that? Never say the distance and or the length of time like that ever again. Remember when we looked up before we started recording when Mantha scored his four goals in the home opener? Yes. Yeah. Six years ago. That felt worse than this. Yeah. Speaking of Nate Danielson earlier, it is believed that he could start to return as soon as next week in terms of skating and getting ready to go for for game play. So, he’s going to need to tune up in Grand Rapids more likely than not obviously here. But all eyes on him to see what he can do. I’m sure the Red Wings would love to add him if he goes out there and just thrives right away. Again, the Sabres and the Islanders coming up, both road games, Wednesday, Thursday. We’ll see how the Red Wings do. We’ll keep all eyes on Patrick Kane and Lucas Raymond, but other than that, the Red Wings currently sitting pretty at top the Atlantic. It’s a nice start. Let’s get into NHL news. Did you guys see Stallar’s Call of the Leafs? No. If this happened to the Red If this was the Red Wings this episode, I would have lost my my mind. I Steve did Steve Dangle lost his mind. And the one thing I do love about Steve is it’s it’s over the top, but he doesn’t tell a lie. Like the Leafs have an identity issue. And if there was ever a season the Red Wings are going to make the playoffs. The teams that I thought were going to be the locks for the divisional seeds are really struggling. Not as much as Ottawa, though, which gives me great joy. Didn’t someone predict Ottawa to be divisional seed? Yeah, we don’t have to look into all that. Why are you guys looking into all the details? But that would require me to go back and listen to an episode and there’s an off chance I’ll hear my voice and that’s just never going to happen. I can gaslight Evan into thinking it was him. I I believe with his new father brain I can do that. I definitely had them in the playoffs. Yeah, you did. I think we all did. Yeah, but one of us definitely had him higher than the other dude. Listen, there’s no coming back from putting up an eighth spot against Buffalo. There’s no coming back. That’s That’s You let you let these Buffalo Sabres do that. Mason Marchman did his his best Sam Bennett impression just went just shoulder to logo and nothing and Carlo just looked at him. He was standing right there. If there was any Leafs defenseman that you would think would do something about it, is it not Brandon Carlo? What? He’s huge. What did Steve call it? Confetti gloves. Yeah, legitimately. No, but again, that’s a big problem. Yeah. No, but again, legitimately, well, we use him as the example for everything, but they’re the back-to-back Stanley Cup champions, so of course they should be. If that happened to Sergey Babroski, is there a single Panther on the ice who’s not immediately just throwing punches at somebody? Anton Lindell would have dropkicked Mason Marchman. Paul Maurice would have gotten on the ice and tossed a few. You know, we we’ve Steve was the one who coined it and we’ve talked about it a lot. It’s a punk test. And Craig Bubet, I it just shocks me that Craig Burubet would have a team that lacks sort of that, you know, tough guy to we stick up for our players mentality cuz, you know, he was a mean guy and he’s I would be saying yes sir, no sir, if he was my coach. Like it just I it it’s just it’s just crazy to me. And then Stallers also, didn’t he call out directly, indirectly William Knander for the lazy back check on the overtime winner? Yeah, that was uh that was Yeah, that was a tough look tough coverage by Knander. Well, I know it was early, but some guys have been here a while. Like, how many times have we heard like words like that about the Leafs? Like, well, like to be fair, like when you have a noted goal scorer like Josh Mahura coming down like that, it’s tough to stop. I know he’s on a bit of a slump. I think that was his first goal in a 100 plus games, but he was due. So, what was Neander going to do there? Like, wasn’t his last goal against the Leafs or something? And before the game or something, he’s like, “Give me the puck. I’m I always score in this barn.” He said something like that. That is absolute fourthline plug. You know, guy who gets healthy twothirds of your nights energy right there. We’ve all been teammates with those guys. Like the funniest dude in the room. They’ll say that it was Merrick Malik moment there. Oh my god. You think he would have played for the Leafs having that kind of confidence. He must have said something like that because why else would he be on the ice in threeon-ree overtime? It’s just so crazy it might work. And it did. Oh my god, man. Like if you’re going your team got less talented. I understand everything that went into the Martner situation and my god, the only thing that was worse than watching that situation play out is the fact that it’s still being talked about. He’s gone. Shut up. He’s gone. You have worse things to worry about. It’s in Toronto. He’s got a new hot girlfriend. Like, he’s not thinking about you. He scored last night, too, didn’t he? Twice. Yeah. Couple tucks. His line has like 60 points in four games, dude. Michael and Stone combined for 28 points through six games is disgusting. Oh my god. Yeah. Like that team got worse. I’m not saying you have to get as, you know, tough and mean and full of like goon energy that you offset that. But yeah, when you are lacking an identity and you get less talented, you got to will away to to wins and you have to grind through what is a tough division in the Atlantic where like the fringy teams in the past like the Red Wings are all of a sudden winning five straight. Like you have to find something in that team. We saw it in person, Evan, twice now over two different seasons. It’s flat. It looks flat and it’s they haven’t started 0 and6 or anything, but you can the the no one knows the woes of the Leafs better than Leaf fans and they see the warning signs right now. They do. Leafs fans may be mentally unstable at the best of times. Rightfully so. They can they pass the sniff test all the time. They know when there’s something wrong. Yeah, they’re mostly insane. Yes, that is 100% true. But like I said, Steve wasn’t telling any lies in his last LFR. Man, the best way to describe Leaf fans is they’re out of line, but they’re right. I I do appreciate, too, the creative outlets that they find to call out the crap on. There’s a guy on Twitter right now who’s keeping This is the greatest tracker I’ve ever seen anybody have in hockey. Every time it happens, he posts a clip of if a scrum breaks out on the ice and Austin Matthews drifts into it but does nothing. He’s actively keeping track of that. The captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs that Just cuz you got a porn mustache doesn’t make you a sheriff. Like you got to get in there and go and try and beat somebody up. Well, I mean, your head’s massive. Just headbutt somebody. I have a big head. I know. No, his head’s His head’s not that big. It’s just the illusion of his hairline. I need to know on or off the ice. Have you ever headbutted someone in a fight? Yes. No way. That’s a on ice. Cage visor. Uh it was first year university inter murals finals. Oh my god. I thought for sure this is going to be junior. The trophy in the building. Oh yeah. You got tossed. No. Oh no. We won. So we were the underdog like first year team and the team that we were playing was like the fourth year like guys taking like seven years of university like had kids kind of thing and we smoked them and it like the bar that arena was packed. It was like all our buddies all their buddies and we already had some uh real beef between us and them. One guy on our team uh speared the convener who was on their team and uh the the inner mirror this is way off the rails. The inner mural league was completely free but you had like a a spirit fund. So you basically put in 500 bucks and it’s like you know if you do something stupid you lose the money or you lose like a portion of it. Yeah, we lost all 500 on that but I think it was worth it. We set the tone. Austin Matthews would never Austin Matthews could not hang with your first year in I headbutt this guy right at center ice. Was that worth any money or was all 500 for the spear? The last game of the year. It doesn’t matter. No, no, but how did they did they say Yeah, we took away 250 for the headbutt, 250 for the spear or Oh, the spear happened like game three of the year. Oh, okay. Right. Okay. So, you guys you guys were the Panthers by then? Oh, yeah. Yeah. There was hitting in this league. Inter mural hitting hockey. Yeah, we and we had some big boys on our team. Oh my god. Did I Oh my god. If I had never told this story, I had the one guy I played I played defense on this team. My DU partner was like 65 just monster played tier 2 hockey. Really good. And some like you know when like the little dog goes barking at the big dog and all of a sudden the big dog does one thing and the little dog gets like like poops its pants. Yeah. Abby and Ty are familiar. Yeah. So that was happening and my buddy basically grabbed this guy’s helmet and hucked it into the stands. But if you’ve gone to the University of G, you have to walk outside and go up the stairs to get back in the arena to get up to the stands. This game was at 11:00 p.m. at night. There was nobody there to toss his helmet down. So Buddy had to take his skates off. Oh. Go up there and get his helmet. the the amount of Evan lore we’re getting right now is this is the Patreon exclusive stuff you guys are missing that yeah that this is staying in this is your teaser this is what you get in Patreon exclusive episodes I haven’t felt this alive in like 5 days since first year apparently anyways what were we talking about headbutting well the the lack of headbutting getting back to to the NHL I mean yeah we’ll see how the leaf season plays out but right now the lack of identity They certainly don’t have stories like that. Tough times in Ontario. Yeah, no kidding. Because the Sens sends looked like they had a win and they they let it go late there. They are finding new and creative ways to not win hockey games. Late game blown leads, getting obliterated by the Buffalo Sabres. Listen, I I have grown out of my I enjoy starting fights on Twitter, so I haven’t partaken. But the amount of quote tweets I have seen from a Redwing fan quote tweeting a Sens fan that was shit-talking before season is at an unbelievable amount right now. I again I watch with with a smile but some trepidation. It’s six games. Yeah, we’ve seen thing there’s they’re only two and four. You know, things can turn around very easily. But it is funny. They’ve not actually played that bad. They just have some of the worst goalending performances in the league right now in a sense. That’s what I said in our preview. I was like, look, I I think Allark’s a really good goalie. I think that did a lot for them. Is he an every year top of the league goalie? I don’t know. And that’s just purely vibes based, but it’s on the wrong side of 30. Yeah, I throw that away for goalies. I don’t I know it’s it’s not as prevalent with goalies. Camtas more ripped than all of us. Yeah. Well, that’s because that’s a low bar. I know he’s I haven’t figured out if he’s a robot or an alien or an alien robot, but I’m convinced it’s one of the three. That the amount of Yeah, that guy’s in way too good of shape. Anyhow, one other NHL note I want to make. Did you guys see Paul Maurice’s face when the ref after review was like, after reviewing the play, the call on the guy stands, we have a good goal. Oh, no, wait, sorry. It’s no goal on the play. And then it just pans to Paul Maurice. He’s just like it’s just straight up making the most Evan face I’ve seen in my entire life. Just when he he thought the NHL refing couldn’t get any worse. We’re like six games in and he’s like never mind. I can’t I refed when I was younger. never at any level like that obviously, but it was hard enough to get the calls right. And I I always think, man, I can’t imagine in a high pressure moment having to then get on a mic if that’s just not what you do. And these things are bound to happen. I remember someone at a Red Wings game, I can’t remember which ref it was, but he turned on his mic and just essentially had a stroke. Like he just said a bunch of gibberish and I was like, “Poor guy.” But this dude just flat out said word for word the opposite of what the call was. does. He didn’t just get one word wrong. He’s like, “The column the ice stands. We have a good goal.” Oh, no. Wait. Oh, no. Sorry. Paul Maurice is just like, “Not today.” That was good. I wanted to point that out. Okay. I feel like we could talk even more about the Red Wings. But for now, let’s take another quick break here before the final segment on this episode of the Wing Real Podcast. Back after this. [Music] We’re going to overtime. Overtime is brought to you by our Patreon supporters. patreon.com/wingedwheelodcast if you want to support the show. You get access to benefits like our bonus overtime episodes. They record right after these main ones. We did pre-record a little bit today, but you still got you got Evan’s best overtime performance you’ll ever get. And then he did get also a teaser in the main show, which I’m happy for cuz that is a lot of the energy, our bonus overtimes, all of our other bonus content. You also get access to our Patreon exclusive Discord, which is a awesome awesome community. and you’re automatically entered into all of our giveaways and you have an opportunity to sign up for a giveaway where we send two tickets to every Detroit Red Wings home game directly to our Patreon supporters. So again, patreon.com/wingedwheelodcast. Let’s take some questions from our patrons. Zack Freeland, can’t wait to see a wing wheel podcast night, man. Says, “What do you guys think the chances are that the team will have six Red Wings draft picks on defense when they’re competing for a cup?” So Evan, you and I talked about this and it would like it’s not impossible, but it would have to be pretty remarkable. It feels like four right now is quite a bit and five would even be very doable, but it’s just that top four left shot defenseman right now where I’m like, who can you confidently say would would slot in there? Yeah. Do I see a world where the Red Wings could compete for a cup? Cider on the top pair, second pair, Edmonson ASP, and Johansson on the third. Yes, I can see that being the formula. You would need again cup contender. I would even argue Johansson probably can’t be the best defenseman on that pair cuz you really have to have two second pairs. Like if you look at cup champions historically, I think another Johansson would be good. I I think he’s got a chance, but there is nobody in the system who has a chance in hell at slotting in opposite cider right now. And you could say, well, just move Edmonson up and then puts, but then you’re losing that really good top two pairs, which is what you need. So, because I like the configuration with Edmonson as ASP is a second pair. I know Edmonson’s a first pair caliber D, and I know maybe even ASP would be But you have to have you have to be spoiled with that type of depth to be a cup contender. So I could see five as it stands right now. But borrowing a surprise. Yeah. Yeah. Hear me out. Buffalo once again goes in the down the tank. Dene says that’s it. I’m out of here. Well, he’s not a Red Wings draft pick. Well, I’m figuring out the the topline lefty so that, you know, we can make this all make sense. Red Wings put together a package. Bring in that solves your top pair left. Then you can put whoever the hell you want on the bottom pair. I think you can make a third line pairing out of what Detroit’s got in the system. You You could probably suffer that. Yeah. Never mind what you’d have to pay. Well, well, he’s like, I’m only going to Detroit. I want to play with my countrymen. That’s right. If if you have Dolene Cider, Edmonson, and ASP as your top four, you two could be the bottom pair cuz they’re never seeing the ice. They just like promise they crowdfund the bottom pair. It’s like a raffle every game. Yeah, it’s the raffle draw at first intermission. You get to suit up for the second period. It’s like the little kids who get to go for warm-ups. Look, for league minimum, I will I will dress and I will last the one shift it will take for someone to literally hit through my chest as my head stays still in the air. That’s the one game Austin Matthews is like, you know what? I am going to headbutt somebody. No, look, if I if I if they make me that charity case and I go out there where they’re like, hey, we’re going to kill a Joe Schmo on the ice just to show you how much worse these guys are and it’s Austin Matthews who does it to me, I’d rather it be Jack Hughes. I think if Awesome Matthews took a shot and it hit your shin pad, your leg would just explode. Yes. And also, would he do that to his fellow poor hairline having brother? No, he wouldn’t. If he headbutted you in the right spot, you two would combine for one full head of hair. Jesus. How am I supposed to finish this episode? the the high chances Awesome Matthews would just turn take a slapshot on me for having a full head of hair. Yes. Oh, we’re off the rails today. Brian Mun says, “Who do you think all the teams are scouting in Grand Rapids?” So, to note, there have been a lot of scouts at Grand Rapids games and yeah, I think they’re looking at the Gus Sins. Maybe the Halls, maybe, you know, Eisermanman’s looking on some other deals where he’s moving around a lot of pieces, but the the Halls are in general and the Gustoson, those are the guys where they’re like, could this guy be an ad to our system? Like Brad said earlier, there’s various needs throughout the NHL that aren’t, you know, premier slots. There are scouts often at Red Wings games lately, but a lot of that, if you look today, is is team Canada scouting for the Olympics. There is something to be said, and I can’t believe this is about to come out of my mouth. The Red Wings being 5- one will make most teams around the league think they have a good defense group. And by all accounts, they kind of do. So teams might be thinking, hey, if a guy’s not good enough to crack that roster, that’s not a giant red flag. Yeah. Yeah, like in previous years if you weren’t good enough to crack the Red Wings defense, you were a middle of the pack AHL player at that point. Yeah. So, might be something to that. Patrick L was salary retained asks monetized legs and moist golf balls. I get that Patrick L has a a role to play on the ice which is just offense and like sheltered, you know, offensive zone starts. I don’t see it being worth it to me at this point unless it’s coming remarkably cheap. And why would Montreal do that? I don’t know. If the Red Wings had a bad power play, I’d be all over it. Yeah. But they have a good power play, so I’m less worried about it. He’d be more a guy that if he hits free agency and teams aren’t tripping over themselves and you take a flyer on him for, you know, two, three, four years to play in that Thomas Vanic role, sheltered third line, put him with someone who can get him the puck and just let him tee off. Great. Awesome. I’d be all for it. But as it stands right now, that’s a tough sell for me. I don’t think this version of the Red Wings needs that anymore. And and I think like you had Daniel Sprong, you know, you don’t need another that didn’t go terribly for the Red Wings until the end to be fair, but it inevitably did in a way that we all expected. So I’m like, I see what’s working for the Red Wings and it’s the whole team game and I they still need their depth scoring to pick it up. H it would have to be a very cheap ordeal. Rasmmanson and Petri on a 2 and0 breakaway says maybe a bit early to ask but do you think the Red Wings will resign Sherro for a shorter cheaper contract with the rising cap he’s probably a $45 million player now like if the Red Wings have no other options. I hate to say it but I could absolutely see them bring I could absolutely see them bringing him back shortterm. And if the Red Wings do have other options on their top pair, but they want to bring him back for depth, I could see that. But it would have to be cheap. I could see Sherro getting paid elsewhere. Bernard Docker’s doing what basically Sherro would do on the bottom pair for a million dollars. Where I sit now is Sherrot’s coming back on the first pair or he’s not coming back because that’s the obvious need. And if you’re scouring the trade market, if you’re scouring for agency and everybody better than Ben Sherro’s telling you no, there are worse players you could play there. So you might have to just eat it for a couple more years and it is what it is. But if you can find that guy, then sounds harsh, but it basically renders Sherat moot because you’re not paying him $45 million to play on the bottom pair when you’re getting maybe not as good a player in Johansson and JBD, but comparable for a lot cheaper. Samuel Soderholm says, and this is going to be a two-parter because two people are asking about the Sabres, but Samuel Sodhome says, “Just read an article on the state of the Sabres, and they commented on how they are stocked on Lefty. Who out of Delen Powers and Byum could we realistically get and what would the cost be?” And Taz 98 says, “Assuming the Sabers are bad, causing Dalene and Tage to request trades, who would you prefer the Wings go after considering all factors, AAV, trade cost, etc.?” If this goes south for the Sabers, it doesn’t matter which one of them becomes available. You go all in. I prefer Dene. Of course, I prefer. I prefer one of the best defenseman. Yes. Yeah. No. So, if I don’t care what you have to pay like the Red Wings are at the point now futures are great to an extent. If you have to give up Carter Bear and a first round pick and Bellav and a Yes. and you don’t think twice, you basically give the Sabres a list of like seven players that are off limit and just say fill out whatever you think. It’s I’m I’m shocked that Kevin Adams has been given the runway he has. like in news coming out about how Stos really wore him down on the Norris deal and like barring the Sabres turning this around. I think what TJ has pointed out is like it’s not about whether or not they want to keep these players because if you’re the Sabres and you’re rebuilding, you do it around Dene, right? That’s the obvious thing you do. But he is one of the players who has indicated, yeah, I’m not staying for that. You turn this around or I’m out. And same with Tage. That solves a Hey, we all love EMTT Finny, but if I could have Tae Thompson there. Sure would love to have EMTT Finny in your depth, you know. Yeah. Yeah. MBN cop Finny third line. Fire me up with Dage Thompson with Dylan Lin and Lucas Raymond. Give them all the futures they want. I don’t care. It’s not going to be a McKenna year if you’re getting those guys. If they go full nuclear, just be like, “All right, half a decade of first round picks for Ta and Rasmus. Thank you.” And I’m not even being funny. I would do it. And on that note, Evan has to go because he now has a bedtime to do at home. I am the last remaining. Don’t Don’t let him fool you into thinking that has anything to do with his kid. This has always been his bedtime. That is true. Yeah. Yeah. We’re going to wrap up this episode of the Wing Wheel Podcast. Thank you all so very much for tuning in. Thank you to these sponsors of the show and to our Patreon supporters. patreon.com/wingwheelpodcast if you want to support the show. And if you want to help us out, but Patreon’s not for you, that’s totally cool. You’ll still get a lot of unfiltered Evan. You can help us out by subscribing wherever you get this podcast. Spotify, Apple Podcast, YouTube. Leave a rating, a review, the stars, a thumbs up, a like, tell a friend about the show. All of that really helps us out a ton. And also, don’t forget Wayne Podcast night at the LCA Saturday, November 15th as well. We hope to see you all there. Tickets are running out and once they’re gone, they’re gone. To our name level supporters on Patreon, we could not do this show without you. Arjun Shanker Afur Martin Norberg new name level supporter welcome to the dubdub club. 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Space Force Sandine Pelicas Pelican Griffy Boy JM Rapsidity Frank Stanley Rosie Posie Oilia that Other Guy Pucking Puck Puck Carl Tames the Hat 123 Steven Aon Cory Pria All Motor No Hands Jean Sullivan Roy Mudbutt big cheese James Pridemoreia Drop the Puck Eric Nance and Stannislowski Jim Bellingham acid balls our good friend Wings fan in St. Leis Scott, Johnny Paige, Lucas Raymond, Cops, Bubba Gump, Lip, Trent, Thorough, Greky, Evan Beckner, Return of Jambo, CE Hayes, Finny to the Rafters, Jacob Marsh, Faulniss 91 in the Rafters, and I’m Still Stranded in Arkansas, Fight Night at the Joe, Andrew Shaw, Axel, Sandy Pelican, and your second favorite patron. Thank you all so very much. The vibes are high. Let’s enjoy it. Thanks for tuning in to the Wing Wheel podcast. Be sure to visit wingwheelpodcast.com where you’ll find links to subscribe to the show on Apple Podcast, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcast. 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MAKE IT FIVE STRAIGHT IN HOCKEYTOWN!

Tune in as we open by discussing the Detroit Red Wings and their now 5 game win streak, starting with their win over Vasilevskiy and the Tampa Bay Lightning: Axel Sandin-Pellikka’s 1st goal, John Gibson’s redemption in net, Todd McLellan coaching the Red Wings to a dominant playstyle, and Dylan Larkin’s heroic overtime winner in Hockeytown.

Next, their win over Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and the Edmonton Oilers, Emmitt Finnie’s 1st career goal (& 2nd!), Dylan Larkin’s 2 goals & 4 point night, another John Gibson win, Lucas Raymond returning to the lineup as Patrick Kane was out with injury (Brandsegg-Nygard in his spot), & more. Also, a discussion on how solid the Detroit Red Wings defense currently looks under Trent Yawney (Moritz Seider and Ben Chiarot, Simon Edvinsson and Axel Sandin-Pellikka, and Albert Johansson and Jacob Bernard-Docker), the Red Wings leading the Atlantic Division, Larkin & Finnie among NHL leaders, & more.

After that, trade rumors in Detroit as Steve Yzerman may be looking to shed some roster jams via Erik Gustafsson, Justin Holl, or others (Berggren? Another depth forward?), as well as updates on Nate Danielson’s potential return as the team has him, Mazur, & so many others waiting in Grand Rapids.

Finally, NHL news & ridiculous stories before we take your questions and comments in our Overtime segment – enjoy!

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