Dylan Larkin, Alex DeBrincat, Todd McLellan Post Game @ PIT | Jan. 1, 2026

11 comments

1. Little baby aziz is fast asleep too bad he gonna be late

2. Still way too reliant on the PowerPlay for offense. 5 on 5 scoring is still a chore for this team. Didn't think Talbot was bad…was screened on the first. Crosby in prime shooting area for the second. Ed deflects a shot in that was going wide and again Letang unchallenged in the slot in OT. Felt like a very dis-jointed game tbh. But 8 freakin' PowerPlays? Didn't like seeing Larkin coast in OT trying to cherry pick ….yes that happened! But a point is alright on the back end of a back-to-back game. The Atlantic and the East in general is so open this season.

3. Patrick Kane, the most clutch player of all time, one of the most dangerous 3on3 players in the league, who is the 90% of his duo with Alex Debrincat, gets benched in overtime so the untalented scrub Emmit Finnie can get his charity ice time. Todd made a conscious decision to lose this game by putting FINNIE out with Debrincat. Cat and Kane are literally the best OT duo in the league. This is like the third or 4th time this year that he has done this, separated Kane and Cat in OT, and they lose. But hey, I bet lil emmit thought it was really cool to be on the ice in an NHL overtime with Sidney Crosby. I mean what an experience that was for him. Who cares that he lost his man and cost them the game!

4. The way Todd coaches this team is a disgrace against the hockey gods. His otherworldly favouritism for Finnie is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. It’s one thing to try and prop a guy up. Raymond for example. The wings try propping him up to make him look like he’s better than Kane. Whatever. But to screw with multiple guys careers, torture Larkin and Raymond, and straight up cost the team games for a scrub like Emmit Finnie is just insane. Finnie should not be in the NHL, let alone on a first line and powerplay unit. He is WORSE than the WORST PWHL player. I mean that. He couldn’t compete in the PWHL. So why is he here? Do his parents know Todd McLellan? Does it go deeper? Is he related to Gary Bettman?

5. What’s up with Raymond’s Shooting as of late?

6. Larks needs some PR classes

7. Talbot has got to fucking go. He sucks. Call up cossa. What more do you have to look at. Look at talbots stats and the constant shit goals he gives up. He needs to retire. He gives up 3 to 4 a game with 2 bad goals almost every game. Hes old hes slow. He has a gapinh five hole. Call up your best goalie. We need cossa here.

8. I’m hoping the game tape tells a different story than the post-game scrum, because that was a pretty mid effort against the Penguins. Being happy with a single point felt strange, especially when, after the tying goal, it looked like even Pittsburgh thought they were in trouble. Wings need to have that killer mentality and put away these games if they are to be considered serious playoff bound type teams.

9. One goal in the last 14 games for Lucas Raymond, finally scores and it's offside.. He needs to stop going on major slumps , it's no longer called a sophomore slump for him. At some point you are what you are

10. the reason the coaching change last year made such a drastic difference is because this team is starving for leadership.  Larkin is not a leader or captain material at all

11. Emmitt Finnie is awful and playing him ahead of Kane in 3v3 OT, with DeBrincat, is indefensible. It is ridiculous. Letang and Crosby had to be laughing to themselves seeing that WHL kid climb over the boards to join DeBrincat, instead of Kane. They made short work of Finnie on the OT winner, which Finnie with his sense of entitlement bc he knows the coach favors him and he gets constant favoritism despite being awful, made zero effort to defend. Go watch that losing play and then tell me why that kid is on the ice in OT at all, let alone ahead of Kane. He as 3 5v5 points in his last 33 games. His line is getting outscored by a ton at 5v5 the last huge chunk of the season. Yet he's on the power play always and is absurdly going out in OT ahead of Kane.

    Todd McLellan with Finnie has created a monster of entitlement. He smugly feels entitled to everything, bc McLellan treats him like he's entitled to it all and like he's special – everyone else has to earn their spot everywhere all the time except for Finnie, and to some degree Larkin and Raymond – but even Larkin and Raymond can sometimes find themselves put on split power plays if the power play doesn't perform. Only Finnie never is punished. And this favoritism has created a kid who doesn't try or feel he has to try. He got put out there absurdly in Kane's spot in OT and he no-efforted and they lost the game bc of him. Bc he lazily didn't even try to cover Letang, who casually lost him and scored the game winner after lazy awful Finnie tried too late to catch back up. This is a kid who has 1 goal and 3 points at 5v5 in his last 33 games! A kid who has literally cost the Red Wings 2 5v5 goals with offsides in that time, while only scoring 1 5v5 goal himself. A kid who is now a minus on the year and a huge minus at 5v5 over the past 2 months. Who has destroyed Larkin and Raymond – at 5v5, and now even on the power play. Yet he feels no pressure to perform. McLellan gives him everything all the time no matter what. Why would he feel pressure? He is never demoted. Not for long anyway.

    With Kane on the ice the Wings are winning 21-3 over Kane's last 11 games. 13-2 at 5v5 over Kane's last 10 games. He is by the numbers the team's most effective 3v3 forward since arriving here. He is a superweapon in OT. Most clutch guy ever. Most skilled guy ever. Most poised guy ever. Great vision. Can do breakout passes the length of the ice. Can do 2 on 1s with Cat or Larkin better than anyone. He is famously good with DeBrincat in OT. He's also been on with Larkin for multiple OT winners here.

    This coach seems to be doing this just to spite Kane and prevent him from getting hero moments. It has cost the team perhaps as many as 3 points in the last 17 games (at Boston, at Columbus, today). It cost the team dearly late last year.

    Unacceptable coaching. Finnie needs off top line immediately. He needs to not play in OT ever, and certainly never ahead of Kane. Certainly never with DeBrincat. This is a joke that this is still going on even half a season in when we now have definitive ample proof of what this kid is and isn't. No excuse. That locker room must be livid when they see that kid going out there in that spot and then he does THAT? He barely tries, and gives up the losing goal immediately? Are you kidding me? The theories that Todd is this kid's actual father have yet to be disproven.