DANIELSON DEBUTS & DETROIT’S SCORING DROUGHT – – Winged Wheel Podcast – Nov. 9th, 2025
[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] We were looking at the Red Wings schedule just now and for a second we were kind of disappointed that there were no games between now recording right after the the loss of the Hawks and the next episode which is on Wednesday. We’re like, “Oh man, that’s it’s going to be tougher, you know, planning out the content, figuring things out.” But then we were like, “Yeah, you know what? Brad made a good point. If there’s a team that needs extra days of practice right now, it’s probably the Red Wings from what we’ve we’ve just witnessed. Not just practice, rest. Yeah. Like, believe me, I’m gonna be critical of them this episode, but they did just come back from a lengthy road trip, had a couple of games fairly short order afterwards. I think just getting a few days of like routine normaly recovery and again the way these games have been going I think just a mental reset is probably good for everybody involved especially Mlen because I think he’s going to blow an artery if this keeps up for too much longer he’s going to need to do some breathing exercises probably before and after the guys get bag skated if they get bag skated like you said they might need the rest but yeah this would be one of those moments where in that position I’d be I need to go take a walk. I need to go take a walk before I say anything else. I need to go take a walk. Well, we are recording this right after the Hawks game, which comes 2 days after the New York Rangers game. And both of them in different ways are probably equally as disappointing. And there’s some questions that the Red Wings are going to have to answer here soon if they want to make sure that their really strong start doesn’t fade away from them fast. On that note, welcome to the Winged Wheel Podcast. Here to talk to you about all things Detroit Red Wings hockey, 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 Wing Wheel Podcast is presented by Greenlight Lending. Redlights 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 Wing Wheel podcast, we’re going to be talking about the Rangers loss, the Blackhawks loss, Nate Danielson being called up in between, and then a bunch of things that have to do with what is ailing the Red Wings right now. Why can’t they score? Why have special teams turned around on them? All of that and more about the team, some notable prospects which are giving some good silver linings right now. Thank goodness for that. NHL news and whatever else we get into before overtime. Very quickly, Wing Wheel Podcast night, the LCA is coming up in just 6 days here, Saturday, November 15th. It’s the Detroit vers Buffalo Sabres game. wingpodcast.com/red Wings. If you want to get your tickets, we put out one final batch. I think there’s about 50 of them left. So, we we put out a little chunk for you. So, if you want them, get them. Once they’re gone, they’re gone. You get access not just to the Red Wings game at a discounted rate, but you also get access to the pregame live recording of the Wing Wheel podcast at Little Caesars Arena featuring not just us, the host, but Ken Daniels, lead announcer of the Detroit Red Wings, Rob Ray from the Sabres, other special guests. You also get a Detroit Red Wings and Winding Wheel Podcasted Centennial Themed blanket, and a lot of other perks. Every ticket purchased also represents a donation to the Jamie Daniels Foundation. So again, wingedwheelpodcast.com/red Wings. All right, let’s start with the Rangers game because we have to start somewhere. And I mean, it was exciting in a way leading up to it cuz you’re like, “All right, the Red Wings are back from the road trip.” You know, previous game was 3 days earlier. Patrick Kane finally returning to the lineup after being out for a long time. He skated in his first full practice the day before and then next morning, you know, said he was good to go. And you thought, okay, the Red Wings get a key piece of their offense, their creativity, their power play back. They are back on home ice. They had a little bit of rest there, some, you know, a day or so to recuperate. There’s always a a question mark after a long road trip. you mentioned at the top of the show, Brad, it’s it’s very normal for teams to have a bad game after a road trip, but I don’t know, like it was a successful road trip and the the signs were pointing in the Red Wings favor. And I got to tell you, that game could have been an email. My big criticism of the Red Wings in that game, in hindsight, feels like a lot of Red Wings games over the past few years where as we’re doing our prep and I’m racking my brain about what points do I want to talk about and take away from this game, I barely remember a thing that happened that game. Just an uneventful I don’t even want to call slotfest because it really wasn’t. No, the Rangers did that was a defensive masterclass. Yeah, it was just kind of a the Red Wings defense was for the most part fine outside of a couple blunders, one of which I’ll talk to when we get to that goal. But just yeah, it just felt like not a lot was going on in either direction and you know, the Rangers kind of got a few late or later in the game, but yeah, it was just uninspired, which you know, I’ll talk out of both sides of my mouth here. one, it’s the NHL. You get chartered flights, luxury hotels, like it it’s not like, you know, you’re you’re doing a tour when you’re coming back from playing a bunch of hockey games, but still, it affects your sleep schedule, your energy levels. It’s understandable to be a little off because they only had what, two days off, Wednesday, Thursday after the road trip and then they were right back at it. I I can get them maybe lacking a little bit of energy, but at the same time, it’s, you know, you’re a grown man getting paid millions of dollars to play hockey. Get over it. But it’s fine. I wasn’t super super concerned after that game. I was just bored, honestly. I mean, the Rangers, it’s so funny that their home road splits are the most egregious I’ve ever seen in the NHL in all my time watching hockey. But, you know, they are one of the best defensive teams in the league and they just, you know, clogged up the middle of the ice. They were hard on the Red Wings. They pressured them and it just looked like the Red Wings never were able to understand or counter that. Like their only offense came from a JT Confer goal, his third goal of the season. It was really good work down low from Cop and Appleton. And that’s after Will Coulie had already opened scoring on the power play. And that that Will [ __ ] goal though, I want to talk. Is that the is that the moment that got Rasmuson scratched again? Could be. Yeah, because that was bad. Yeah, that was like I just every I understand Rasmmanson was following the first Ranger into the zone, but I mean you guys are both defenseman. You guys know how easy it is to switch with a forward when you get to a certain point in the ice. Forward no longer covers that guy. You take him. Raspersonson follows the guy all the way to the crease and doesn’t even bother to shoulder check to see Will Culie walking right into the slot. Like that’s defensive coverage 101. You can’t let that happen. So, and you’re you’re right that it’s not even the first time we’ve seen this from Rasmusson this year. It’s like the lows are so much lower and yeah, like you can almost pinpoint the exact moments that have left him off the lineup for the following game. You know, my criticisms over the years of Rasmmanson have always mostly come in the offensive zone. Like he’s he doesn’t have great hockey IQ. He doesn’t have hands, can’t really score, but he always brought Oh, is that it? Just that, eh? But defensively, he was a plus player. He was good on the penalty kill. He he was, you know, good at utilizing his size, at least in terms of shutting things down in the Dzone and he wouldn’t blow coverages. There was even another moment in that game. It didn’t end up resulting in anything thankfully, but the Rangers had the puck behind the Red Wings net and they came out kind of like almost in a wraparound type play to a pass in the slot. Rasmmanson had his back to the puck. The puck went right past his foot. He had no idea it was there. And you know, say what you want about the man, but Mike Babcock at least knew defensive zone coverages, and I remember a rule he always had with any of his teams was never turn your back to the puck in the ozone. You can shoulder check, you can swivel, you can pivot, you can do whatever you need to do to get to your spot, but never turn your back to the puck for that exact reason. I think Finny or somebody got a stick on it to break up what would have been a good chance, but he looks lost right now and understandably got scratched today because of it. We were going over some stats before the the episode started, which I I know you’re going to bring up later, but it’s not like he’s the only problem in the six. Very decidedly not, but yeah, you’re it’s those moments where it’s like you should know better, dude. You you that’s all you really have to bring to the table at this point. And anyhow, the Rangers got goals from Noah Laba, who it was a little bit of a homecoming game for him. Arti Paneran, Alexi Lafernier, ends up being 4-1. Patrick Kane looked like he was going to score off a miscue, pulls a puck from a corner, has an open net, and then Jonathan Quick makes Jonathan Quick, who like turned back the clock, and was just absolutely unreal that game. He’s done this to the Red Wings multiple times now since getting to New York. I don’t know. Like I get it, the Red Wings aren’t a group of elite finishers, but they’ve had a habit lately of making pretty good goalies look like Vzna winners. He comes in and should it have been a hook on his stick? Maybe. Should Patrick Kane have finished that in front? May be like, yeah, good play to hook the stick, but yeah, you lean on your stick a little more, that probably still ends up in the net. I think he was as shocked as anyone else that that didn’t go in. And that’s when you knew it’s like that game was a 4-1 game and I think New York did a great job defensively of really stifling Detroit, but it’s not like they lacked chances. They had a few key opportunities. Confer almost had another one that game as well that Quick I think just got a bit of his glove on. And it was one of those games where it’s like you could have seen Detroit winning or making it closer even though they didn’t necessarily deserve it. But through and through, New York just came in, played their defensive system in game to a te, and it never got going for the Red Wings. Their offense was MIA. Yeah. Like the MMO was to for check the Red Wings hard, keep them to the outside, and don’t let them set up and establish their game. And the Rangers have talented enough players to be able to do that. I don’t think, we’ll talk about Chicago in a sec. I don’t think they do. And you could certainly see that. But that was the the game plan for New York. And with the Red Wings offense seemingly drying up, like those are going to be very very difficult games to win. And it it wasn’t particularly close. Like the Boobirds were coming out, the How many times have the Red Wings been booed at home? It’s got to be It’s got to be a record amount for a team with a winning record. It feels like it’s like 30% of the games they get booed at home. Well, we’re 10 years into this crap. I can’t say I blame anybody at this point. No, like that wasn’t f You don’t have Red Wings hockey in Detroit for that long and then that’s what you come back to. I wouldn’t be happy either if I paid that much for tickets. After the game, I said I was like, “Look, get Nate Danielson in Like I understand there’s there’s other factors that go into this, but this offense completely at this point is absolutely dried up. The bottom six certainly like is not offering any support. I was like, get Nate Danielson in here just to change the mix a little bit. This morning, few hours before the Blackhawks came to town to play the Red Wings at the LCA, it was announced Nate Danielson was called up and it was Rasm and Berrren who were sitting in the forward group. Bernard Docker continues to sit on defense and Nate Danielson takes one of those forward spots and comes into the lineup. Gets a third line center role with Casper and Appleton, which I actually really liked in terms of like, you know, what’s a favorable setup for him. And you know, the Red Wings tried to mix it up. It looks like Eisman and Mlullen are like, “Yeah, you need to do something else in here.” And Danielson’s had his run in Grand Rapids to shake off the rust and get fully healthy. And I we’re going to talk about more about what’s to come for for Danielson later on, but just very quickly here. It was only a matter of time and it was the right time. Yeah. If for no other reason to to send a message through that room, too many guys still are getting a free pass on this team. And you know, it’s it’s a tricky rope to walk for Mlullen because the Red Wings at points this year have given him a lot of reason to, you know, call them out publicly or peel the paint off the walls. And but you can only do that so much. every time things go wrong, you can’t just cure all by yelling or by screaming or any of that stuff because it grows old fast to the players and that’s how you lose a room. So, what’s another way to send a message when you’re not happy with the performance of a collective? Remind everybody their job is not safe. You know, Barren’s been in and out all the time. I don’t think when he gets scratched it sends much of a message. But Rasmuson’s a wellestablished vet on this team a long time and he’s getting scratched again after a bad performance. And they’re bringing in not Austin Watson who everybody knows what Austin Watson’s deal is. They’re bringing in a guy goes, “Hey, guess what? If he plays well, that’s one less spot available to you guys because he’s in there now and he’s going to be in there for the next 10 years.” Yep. That’s a that’s such a good point. like this isn’t a team responded accordingly. Hey, listen. Mlullen can only do so much. The guys on the ice have to actually, you know, hear the message at some point. So, a little bit of a spoiler in case you couldn’t sense Evan’s sarcasm. The Red Wings won 51 against the lowly Chicago Blackhawks. What’s that? You sensed even more. Yeah. No, the Red Wings lost 5-1. If I actually just let Evan say that and they said Detroit outshot them 46 to 20, you’d be like that score makes sense coming back from a bad performance, Danielson’s first NHL game, everyone’s fired up cuz a a highly touted rookie in the lineup. We’re ready to go. We’re going to home crowds fired up on a Sunday matinea game. All the alumni are in town for FanFest. Yeah, we’re going to have, you know, probably the most electric game of the year. Surely though, the Red Wings, knowing the Red Wings lost now, probably, you know, just got tired out late in the game. Like, it probably took Chicago a while to get anything going. Yeah. Well, it took them as long as it possibly could within the first minute of the game. It took 59 seconds of the first 60 for Connor Bedar to to show everyone. Mind you, no one was stopping that shot. No. No. But the circumstances leading up to it and the timing of it is what I think drives everyone crazy. Dylan Larkin matching Conor Bard’s ninth goal of the season with his own later on was cool and good, but it would have been cooler and goodter if it wasn’t him, you know, making it up to the team because he took a very avoidable penalty to put Detroit down early. And Chicago demonstrated to the LCA crowd that, hey, Detroit special teams are going to suffer today. I’ll tell you that much. That was one of three power play goals that Chicago scored right off the rip to go up one nothing. That is the type of power play goal though you’re okay with giving up. Yeah. One Bard, nobody’s top five shooter in the world at worst and it’s a shot from the perimeter. We’ve talked about this. The Red Wings MO on the PK is we’re going to give up shots on the perimeter because we expect our goalie to stop those unless it gets tipped or it’s Connor Badard shooting the puck. It’s you’re upset they’re down 59 seconds in the game. I’m more mad about the penalty than I am how the goal was actually scored. Yeah. Which is fine, but you have to know who’s on the other team, right? Like that especially a guy like Connor Bdard who’s on an absolute runhot right now. Like people are talking Canada Olympic roster type conversations about how he’s playing right now. Yeah. Before it was like who’s celebr. That’s my thing though. It’s like I’m I’m firmer on guys like, you know, Lurin and Edmonson who obviously offer so much to this team, but it’s like so many of their minor penalties. I’m like it part of it comes from the intensity of the game that they play. And I get that you take that with the whole meal, right? But some of it I’m like it’s just a little bit careless at times. And that’s what they need to clean up. If you want to be a team who wins winnable games and sometimes wins unwinable games or games that you have to claw your way out of, you have to minimize those mistakes. And maybe there hasn’t been enough attention on that over the years because so many games were completely unwinable for the Red Wings where it’s like what did it matter in the end anyways, but those are the ones where you don’t want to give the team a free opportunity to just suck the life out of the building. Really, especially when you’re at home like Chicago on the road, they come in and get a power play in the first minute. They’re feeling great. Conor Bernard scores. They are feel they feel like they got the game right where they want it. Now again, Detroit did tie it up a few minutes later, not even. And it was a really good sign because one, that breakout pass by Simon Edmonson where he just takes the extra beat, lets the play develop exactly how he wants to. He sees the future and then finds cross ice leading Lucas Raymond who who goes down, makes the play, gets a shot on net and Darkin crashes the net and scores. And I like that goal for so many reasons. One, gorgeous play from Simon Edmonson showing off the skill and, you know, ability that he can and does bring to this team. Two, Lucas Raymond did what the entire team talked about after the Rangers game, which is you just you have to shoot the puck and get it into a danger area. Like there is too much perimeter play lately. There’s too much, you know, just weak, high volume but low danger chances. Like you have to get the puck into areas where your team can do something and work hard and grind out the goals when they’re not coming to you easily. And three, Larkin crashed the net and buried the opportunity and tied the game and got back the the goal that was I mean more his fault than anyone else’s because of the minor penalty. And I was like good, that’s what you needed. Perfect. But then after that it was just the same Red Wings whereas like everything for the rest of the game was from the perimeter. Very few high danger chances squandered opportunities. They were 0 for five on the power play including a 4-minute double minor courtesy of Tyler Pertusi who I see hasn’t changed one bit at all. That dude’s hilarious. They let in three of three on their own penalty kill. And you know 46 shots on I’m sorry Soderblam. Yes. brother of Elmer Sodblum. He can have his days. He can be good. He was He’s not He’s not 46 shots and saving 45 of them good. No. Couple things to touch on here. I I think I don’t want to dismiss what the Red Wings did offensively too much. They had many 10bell chances. Finny had two point blank chances. Neither hit the net. De Brink had one from the slot in the third period. Didn’t hit the net. Soderblum had a partial break on his brother and tried a cheeky little move that didn’t work and Casper rang one off the post in the first period. They had they had their chances that twoon with Larkin where Soder Blum I mean great to get his leg back there but that’s got to be buried. It’s any other game. Guaranteed two to three of those are going in. Those players from those spots game. Not or the last. Yeah. Not so not this week or the previous one. But the Red Wings had the same problem against the Rangers and less so against Vegas. I don’t feel like they generated as much against Vegas. But, you know, we joked about it earlier in the year. This team has a finishing problem and all the puns that come with that. But they genuinely do. It feels like like Debrink had that ice cold streak forever and then he got out of it, but now he’s back in it again. But everyone’s in it. Exactly. And it was okay when it was just Debrink. But I mean, for the quality of chances the Red Wings had, too many of them, first of all, miss the net. Like, you got to get back to the basics. If you miss a net, there’s not even a rebound opportunity. If the goalie makes a save on you, as we saw with Raymond on the two-on-one and Lurin smashing in a rebound, you can still score. When you miss the net, that play is dead. And if you count Marco Casper’s post is missing the net, that’s five point blank gradea chances that did not have a chance of going in the net. And it is so simplistic to just, you know, boil it down. And that’s not their only problem to say, “Oh, hit the frigin net or got to convert your chances.” But really, hit the friaking net. Convert your chances. You know, it’s because one problem leads into another. Now, they’re not scoring. And you see this phrase in the NFL a lot with quarterbacks. They’re seeing ghosts. They’re seeing goalies covering parts of the net that they’re not covering, and they’re trying to get too cute with their shots. In fairness, Arvid Sodblum’s colossal. No, understandable. But it’s not just Yeah. Yeah. a onetime thing. And then you can see it zaps their confidence and it’s a snowball effect to where you get what we got for good stretches of the game today where they get too cute or they just shoot from a million miles away. And I know Evan was talking about a stat before. The Red Wings average shot distance today was 46 ft. Like pretty good. That’s not good. But does that change if those five chances hit the net, right? Like it’s Yeah, you’re right that it wasn’t it wasn’t as bad as everything made it look. It wasn’t good. They were the better team. Like they controlled the game. They they looked like the better team, but ultimately it’s about, you know, how you have to score more goals than the other team. And Chicago did that. Whether they feel like they played a good game or not, it doesn’t matter. Like the Chicago converted, the Red Wings didn’t. It’s It’s not so simple. You’re right, Brad. Like it it’s not so black and white as what I phrased it as initially with the the 46 shots. Like you they had their 10 bill opportunities, but it’s a combination of all those factors. like the the you had that much control in the offensive zone and we saw how the Red Wings dominated play for most of that game. But if you’re not able to convert that into whatever kind of of opportunity that you need, like if your shots from the perimeter just aren’t going in, you need to start getting to the dirty areas. Go into where you know you’re scrumming with Bertusi every time. Yeah, sure, great. But then go in there and score the way that Larkin scored. And you know if their snipers like Debrink aren’t finishing or Raymond and you know Finn’s not converting or Casper’s post shots aren’t going in like you just need to it felt like they were just settling in and waiting for the volume to take over when the big opportunities weren’t there and I there they were big saves by Soder Blum. Absolutely. He had himself a phenomenal game, but you know, you look at the trend of where the Red Wings are at, and that’s where I think Red Wings fans frustrations are coming in. Like, one goal today, one goal against the Rangers, shut out against Vegas, two goals against San Jose, obviously not counting the shootout winner, two goals against Anaheim. You have to go all the way back to the LA Kings only 30th where they scored more than two goals. I think the other thing is I’m sure we’re going to talk about special teams in a moment, but there’s a issue of execution right now, especially on the power play, the the passing isn’t as crisp as it needs to be. And I think if they tighten that up just fractionally, you know, one better pass that gets through the slot or like finds a seam, that could be a a high dangerous scoring chance. Like there’s lots of things that they can do before the puck’s on their stick ready to let a shot go and try and score. Well, it’s a snowball effect. The power play, you know, for no better phrasing of it. They’re not trying anything. They’re making 10-ft passes around the outside. Yeah, they get good possession, but they’re not getting any good scoring chances out of it. There’s nothing being funneled to the net. Nothing being funneled to the slot. It’s simple pass. Simple pass. They’re not trying to feed anything cross ice and maybe get a one-time. They’re not, you know, to bring it. How many times have we seen them come off the goal line and try and get something from in tight there and then everybody crashes the net? We’re not seeing it. And I think it’s just a lack of confidence thing. They’re like, well, nothing’s finishing. So, unless it’s the perfect shot, it’s not going to go in. And that’s just kind of their mindset right now. And that leads to what we’re seeing right now. And the problem is to transition it to the special teams. Now that we’re talking about the power play is when you can’t score and you can’t finish and you can’t generate enough goals, it leaves you zero margin for error anywhere else. Yep. The penalty kill sucks all of a sudden and they’re losing games because of it because they have no way to compensate when it goes off the rails. You play a lot looser when you got a couple goals on the board. Exactly. The Bard one goes in first penalty kill. Yeah, it happens. It’s going to happen. That’s fine. That second one, you can’t let a cross ice pass like that get through. You have to have those lanes locked down. And that third one, let’s just call a spade of spade. Gibson needs to have that 100 out of a 100 times. That’s an unacceptable goal for an NHL goalie to let in. Zero margin for error. Gibson makes one bad mistake. They blow one lane and it feels like they have no chance to win the game. Yeah. When that game was 3-1, you’re like, “That’s it. This is over.” based on how this offense has been, like there’s no way that they’re going to come back. And it wasn’t wrong. Never even felt like they got close to coming back. At what point in the third period did you feel like, well, that’s, oh, maybe that’s really the next, you know, layer to this is the lack of urgency, the lack of willingness to get yourselves back into the game. Like we talked about it. I think the Red Wings on paper were the better team this in this game, but you know when you’re down 3-1, like you got to be trying to force the puck into high danger areas. You got to be trying to get it into the middle of the ice in the offensive zone. It just feels like I don’t want to say cardio game, but it just feels like we’re just going through the motions out there from time to time. What What’s the definition of insanity? showing up to this podcast twice a week for 10 years. Exactly. Doing the exact same thing repeatedly and expecting a different outcome. That’s what the third period felt like to me. Yeah. It didn’t work all game. Why do you think it’s going to work now? The frustrating part was like I think it was Raymond was doing an interview and someone else said it too. He’s like they the team knows they’re like, “Yeah, we’re just too much of a perimeter team right now. Like we’re not getting to the hard areas and then do something about it.” Like I’d say Lucas Ray is one of the best players on the planet. like he has all this and I’m not saying this is all his problem but when you have that amount of talent like you should be able to manipulate a team like the Chicago Blackhawks and kind of impose your game. Now part of this too is like this is these conversations just to step out of it for a second these conversations are the reality of a team that is a fringy wildcard team. like you can play really good and then you’re all of a sudden you’re something gets shut down and then your team’s deficiencies which you have because you’re a fringy wild card team in general until you prove otherwise and not you know a Stanley Cup contender like Colorado beating up on the lowly Edmonton Oilers 9-1 and so those deficiencies get exposed and then you have games like these and they’ll find their form again and the what what’s most likely to happen is that the Red Wings best players will you know break out of hold spells and they’ll score a bit more, not a ton because they get absolutely no scoring depth and that those goals just don’t exist down the lineup right now. Like they just don’t have that amount of talent and that’s how they’ll win those games. Talbot will come in and save some games and maybe you get a a good performance here and there from Gibson, although that’s starting to look a bit concerning with how he’s playing to start the year. But in general, like just to acknowledge, there’s no invalidation of like fans frustration with how bad this offense has been. Not at all. But I think to a degree, this is also the reality of this caliber of lineup. You’re going to run into things like this throughout the season. Well, yeah, that leads me into the point I wanted to bring up. You want to know what the problem with this team is realistically? Like over the last two weeks, would you say outside of maybe the Anaheim game, the Red Wings defense as a whole has looked bad? Not terrible. No, they’re going to have some blunders from time to time. Like I hated who was it? Paneran goal uh against the Rangers where Hamick lost the battle and Johansson blew coverage. But that’s okay. That happens every once in a while. Nobody’s ever going to be perfect. But again, there’s zero margin for errors. So 16 games in three goals would be a 15goal pace over the course of the season. We talked about it before the episodes. You know the answer so I won’t play the game but two Red Wings bottom six forwards have three goals or more. Mason Appleton who was who I think two of those came in the top six. Yep. They came while he’s playing in the top six. JT Comfort has three in 16 games. So, of players who haven’t moonlighted in the top six of the bottom six players, that puts JT Comper firmly in first place. If Nate Danielson stays up in with the Red Wings the rest of you, you think he gets 15? Probably not. Why is Why is he playing in the top six? Yeah. Who’s he playing with? True. Then if we just want to filter this by bottom six forwards who have more than one goal this season, we can add Jonathan Barager to that list. That’s it. Michael Rasmmanson, one goal in 14 games, an empty neter. Andrew Cop has one goal in 16 games. I also just I need to issue a correction. All three of Appleton’s goals came in the top six. one against Toronto and two against Florida. Elmer Soderblum, one goal in 11 games. James Van Reamikeke one goal in 13 games. But what a goal that was. Yeah. You know, obviously don’t want to pick on the guy. Bran Signard, zero and nine. Like this is like when there’s arguments in in the replies about which player comes out or which player is the problem or which player needs to move to what line. It’s like that that meme of like look at these two, they’re having a mid off. Like none of these guys are seizing an opportunity. The talent just doesn’t exist in Detroit’s depth. And this isn’t brand new. Like been talking about this past offseason, talked about this the offseason before. And this is the risk if your top six goes cold for whatever reason. It would I don’t know what else you can do. Like you’ve had multiple systems, you’ve had multiple setups. You’ve had is it the centers? Like maybe Nate Danielson with some run down there will help shake things up. But all in all, I’m not surprised that we we’re looking at these stats right now. disappointed for sure. You’d like it to be a titch higher, but I’m not surprised. Like 15 goals for a third liner is not an unreasonable benchmark. No, but that’s good for a third liner. I’ll say good. But that’s the thing. It’s usually good teams will have one or two players in their bottom six vastly outperforming 15 goals. They’ll be a 20 25 goal guy. The Red Wings are struggling to get one bottom six guy to play at a 15 goal pace. Yeah. The rest of them are on pace for sub what? Eight. Like, how is that even remotely acceptable? And I understand you can only play the hand you’re dealt. So, this isn’t necessarily a Mloan thing. This is definitely not a Mlo thing. This is a very obviously Steve Eisman needs to get better players and continue to upgrade this because a lot of teams will have defensemen who score goals. Not counting empty netters. How many Red Wings defense have more than one goal? The answer is zero. The problem is playing right now when Lark and Finny, Raymond, and De Brinket aren’t scoring right now. Obviously, we’ll put Kane as an NA cuz he’s missed too many games to really factor into the stats here. This team doesn’t score. That’s four players on a roster of 18 skaters on a given night. And if three potatoes on a podcast can realize that, professional hockey teams are going to realize that, too. They’re going to know all we got to do is shut down this line and a half and then we’re going to go to work on the the the other half of this team, the other three quarters of this team. Well, even that second line right now isn’t Marco Casper doesn’t get off the hook here. He’s only got three goals and zero assists. He’s not he’s not been a good solution at second line center this year to put it plain. No, he got moved off the second line center position for this game. Confer took over and he got moved down to Danielson’s line. We talked about the sophomore slump generally being true it seems with the Red Wings and it’s hitting him hard. Yeah. So again, when Kane was out, it was four guys and one of them was a seventh round pick two years ago. Like I I don’t want to come off of this this episode like the sky is falling. No. Because they’re still they still got a winning record. The defense looks good. You know, they’re controlling the pace and play of the game far more than they have in previous years. Again, we’re all pissed off after the Chicago game, but they controlled 80% of that game. Even if it’s a lot of perimeter shots, generally when you control that much of a game, you’re going to win more than you lose. The the irritating part once again is it’s not just that there are problems, is that they’re so unbelievably predictable. They can’t get a goal from any of their depth players and they can’t get that key faking save when they need it. And we’re stuck in this infinite loop. And yes, the high end of this team has gotten better. You know, obviously I don’t want to gloss over the D and not give them their due. Edinson Cider, one of the best pairings in the league, maybe the best pairing in the league this year. Sherat and Sandy Pelica have been good. And outside of a few blunders, Johansson and whoever he’s been with mostly have been a passable to good bottom pair. Even Hamnick and his return, like I don’t know that I’m putting him in the lineup over JBD. Definitely not, but he’s been But it’s been way better than the first game that we saw. Yeah, his his first game was memew worthy bad and he hasn’t been great since then, but he’s been a lot better than that. Yeah. Yeah. I’m not going to hinge the Red Wings current streak on whether Travis Hamick is playing Norris caliber defense, but yeah, like the D there’s so many different things right now that are just ultimately leading to the the outcome that we’re witnessing. And the reason why for me and I think a lot of people it feels more problematic or devastating is because of how tight the Atlantic is right now. like you let your foot off the gas for three games, you could be at the bottom of this division and it then you’re looking at something completely different. Well, that’s the thing. It’s kind of the overarching theme of the Red Wings in everything they do right now. They have no margin for error anywhere on anything. So, a PK goes off for a night, they’re in trouble. Goalending goes off for a night, they’re in trouble. top line can’t score, they’re in trouble because they lose games, they get passed by four teams and they can’t get a sable, they can’t outscore their problems. Power play can’t score. Okay, well the PK can’t save him right now and it’s just there’s no margin for error and that’s it’s a very very tough life to live for 82 games when you can’t like you look at Tampa, their D or Vasilki could have an off night. Well, there’s a chance Coocher piles in four points that night and they still win the game. Yeah. And it’s just you can’t live this way forever. For me, the cherry on top is really the urgency to course correct. Like I just don’t, you know, the good teams when they need to win, they will do whatever it takes to try and make that a possibility. I just I just don’t get that vibe. I don’t see it. I don’t feel it with this team right now. I think it’s there, but it just the past few games, probably even the San Jose game up to the San Jose game, it just feels like we’re going through the motions. There’s guys who are just out there because they’re they’re they’ve got a contract and it’s just like very hoham type attitude. Like the best teams in the planet, the the true contenders. Do you think Nathan McKinnon would let Nathan McKinnon would go in there and fight every single teammate if that was the effort that was being put out there? The funny thing is it’s like, okay, if the Redskins were playing, you know, Skinner the past couple games rather than prime quick and then Sodor Blum maybe having one of the best games of his career. Yeah, sure, a few more of those goals would have gone in and you might have a point or two out of these past two games, if not more. But at the same time, you look at the Red Wings earlier on and they got points that they took off other teams as well that they maybe shouldn’t have. So, you can’t like these kinds of slumps are going to happen and this would be a different tone episode if a they got a a bounce or the posting in rather than posting out one time here or there the past couple nights. But like you’re saying, Evan, you got to create your own luck in hockey and in this league. And that’s what the Red Wings have to do. They have to work their way out of this. It’s got to be the I I’m a firm believer that the only way they’re going to get out this is yeah like you got to grind your way through it. You got to will yourself to win and you have to score a working man’s goal and just do that repeatedly until things come back into motion until everything is jelling again until the execution is there until you know the power play is oiled and working and Kane is is distributing and and making an impact there again until the bottom six hopefully reshuffled with Danielson putting in there is making some kind of change. But until that’s happening you can’t just go out there and go through the motions. Yeah. You got to force the the universe to give you your break. I’m not saying this in a positive light, but really obviously the Red Wings bottom six is not going to be able to quote unquote create goals. No, that’s they do not have the skill to pass it around. And and that’s fine. Most bottom six lines in the NHL can’t do that. There’s not, if there was that level of skill that deep on every NHL roster, we’d be talking about a very different sport. The Red Wings are probably at the point in the bottom six, they should be taking a goalie interference penalty every three or four games because they just crash the net so often. Yeah, you got to be more meat and potatoes down there. Mickey Redmond said something before Tyler Batuzi served them up a golden opportunity on a silver platter, which was the double miner. But Mickey Redmond said right before that, “This team needs a Donnie Brook right now just to get them going.” Like, they need something. What? Yeah. What? Redwing is going to Hamick. Hamick tried on. He got beat up by a by a teenager. That’s why I said tried. I could have done that. Five dead Redwing player out there. John Gibson will be skating for the the Zamboni door. No, but it’s again, but I agree with Mickey. Oh yeah. Yeah. I don’t mind p the odd penalty every game if the net positive of the penalties is worth it. The Florida is the perfect example. How many penalties do they get because they just create scrums out of nowhere? More than you would think given the memes. But it’s because they crash the net at a million miles an hour and obviously piss the other team off. And here’s the crazy part. Every once in a while they take a penalty doing that, but every once in a while they score a goal doing that. What happened today? The Dylan Larkin kind of got it in Sodor Blum’s face a little bit and Tyler Verusi just lost his mind. They took four minutes of penalties, which again, but we we should be seeing that across the lineup, not from only from the captain. Yeah. No, I know. You should be seeing it the least from him because he can create goals. He plays on a line where they might actually be able to toss a puck around and rip one from the slot. Andrew Cop, for example, just to pick on one guy right now, I don’t remember a single thing he’s done in the last month and a half. He’s just out there. That line at the start of the season, I thought we had found found found goals with Copcom for MBN. I was like, “This line looks great.” Like they for two games. Yeah. Like, and then it just evaporated. The the give a [ __ ] level between those guys like Comp and Comper, for what they’re making, how long they’ve been in the league, they should know how to dig themselves out of this. They should be at the forefront of I’m either putting this rebound in or I’m running Sodor Blum through his post. It’s not there. And again, that’s what I think drives a lot of people crazy. We stereotype this a little too much cuz it’s not quite that black and white. Yeah. But we don’t see any version of it. Okay. And I I don’t know how much longer and how many more games and how many more weeks we can belabor this point. Just for the love of God, somebody hit something. I don’t care if it’s a goalie at this point. We do need to take a quick break to hear from the sponsors of the Wing Wheel podcast. More after this. [Applause] [Music] Watching hockey isn’t always the easiest when the team’s on a West Coast road swing. So, most of us have had a cup of coffee in our hands to help us out. Let’s make sure it’s a good one. We’ve been on Coffee Cult for a while now, and right now their holiday blend is what’s in our mugs. It’s a dark roast with some medium dark notes made from 100% Arabica beans out of Ethiopia and Guatemala. You get this rich base of baker’s chocolate and brown sugar, then these subtle hints of apricot, blueberry, a little cherry. It’s warm, bold, and weirdly festive without being over the top. Basically, it tastes like what this time of year should. You can grab the holiday blend or any other coffee cult and get 15% off with code wpcult.com. And if your order is over $49, shipping’s free in the US. Plus, if you’re hunting for a gift that’s easy but still hits, grab the new Coffee Cult Loot Box. It comes with a branded mug and a 12- oz bag of mystery coffee. You won’t know what excellent coffee cult roast you’re getting until it shows up. It’s a fun way to introduce someone to Coffee Cult or just treat yourself with a little surprise. Again, that’s coffeeult.com, ko ft.com, code WWP, for 15% off. Stay caffeinated. Stay festive. [Music] [Applause] Welcome back. Everyone doing okay? No. Hey, Nate Danielson looked fine. Yeah, I didn’t notice him and that’s a complaint and a compliment. He had one like really nice seam pass over to Finny that got broken up. There was some good vision there. I’m not going to pin too much on Nate Danielson when you know the callup announced today and I’m sure it was a whirlwind weekend for him. like how much time did he actually have to get prepped for this? Like he had to to hustle to get into the Red Wings lineup. And so the evaluation will come more, you know, in the coming days. We’ll we’ll get to Danielson in a moment here. I just want to get to, you know, one or two other specific points at during the ad break. We kept talking about, you know, the the scoring and the depth issues. And just to a reminder like again like the sky isn’t falling. Brad said like you we can talk about this and it it is all valid frustration and these are real things that the Red Wings have to deal with, but certain things will come back. The top six will score a bit more. The execution will get better as Evan was talking about and you might get a save a little bit more than what they got from from Gibson today. We’ll talk about the goalies in a second, but first the special teams. The power play looks hless right now and the penalty kill looks rough, especially today, three goals against on three opportunities. Any long-term concerns with the special teams on either end or is this just kind of a hot and cold streak for you? The power play just looks like they have no confidence right now. Like I said, sometimes you just need to try some [ __ ] and they’re not trying anything. They are just passing it around the outside hoping something will open up is what it looks like. And the few times they do try to open it up, you can see their rhythm, their timings off. I’m not concerned about that. This looks like textbook cold streak. I have faith they’re going to snap it out. Even the penalty kill today, I’m not that upset. Again, we talked about it, but to reiterate the three Bard shot from distance. Fine. You can’t close off every area on the ice on a penalty kill. So, if all you’re giving up is shots from distance, fine. Every once in a while, one of those is going to go in because the guy’s got a wicked shot or it deflects in, so be it. The second one I didn’t like because you can’t let that lane open up cross ice. Yeah, it’s terravine in whatever. That’s one bad one. And that third one, if we’re talking about the penalty kill specifically, can’t blame them. That’s on Gibson. That’s a puck that needs to be stopped 100 out of a hundred times. If all the power play is trying to do is stuff one short side from the goal line, you’re not that worried. It should never go in. So, it’s not a good day, but I think on paper it looks worse than it actually was because there was really only one of the three that I genuinely hated from a penalty kill standpoint. Well, then let’s use that to transition into, you know, maybe the final point here on what’s going wrong for the Red Wings, which is like they only got beat one- nothing against Vegas. So, it’s not like the goalies losing them the game every single game, but there have been a few games now and and people, I think, are rightly looking at Gibson more than Talibit of, okay, sure, that game wasn’t going our way, but it could have been 2-1 with 5 minutes to play rather than 4-1 or 5-1 or whatever it is. And doesn’t look like they’re getting a lot of exceptional performances from Gibson to to put it lightly. Like, it doesn’t there are some warning bells there, even if they’re faint. Yeah. I just when you’re hoping you get a big save from Gibson right now, it’s not coming. And it feels like there’s a couple softies that go in, you know, maybe one every game, maybe one every other game kind of thing. Like he just hasn’t looked as sharp as I thought he would coming over from Anaheim. Yeah, it’s a little concerning. And I I just thank goodness Cam Talbot’s been as better than I expected him to be this year. But the hope was for John Gibson to come in and kind of be take the lion share of games and because we know Cam Talbot’s got only so much runway and so many games that he can string together before the tank is empty. Yeah, there’s there’s some big concern because the games are only going to become more meaningful as the season progresses. like a game against Montreal or Toronto in in March is going to be vastly more important than it a game is right now. And if Gibson doesn’t find that starter like form, we’re going to be running in some rough times. Like there’s no problem with getting wins from Talbot verse from Gibson early on except for the point that you just made, Evan. Like I think that’s exactly right. There is a natural kind of expiry date to when you can reasonably expect that from Talbot and that’s just because Father Time is undefeated and we’ve seen it from Talbot. Like yeah, sure you he might do better this year later in the season than he did last year, but he is the age that he is. Like he is on the the kind of I don’t want to call it the last phase of his career, but the the last phases of his career and he’s not going to be the guy you want to lean on for that many games in a season. Like if he’s playing half the games, I think that is about the max that you want to do. Yeah. Oh, yeah. And we haven’t seen enough from Gibson, I think, to say that that won’t be the case. Well, Talbett’s definitely been the better of the two, but I mean, he’s got an 890 one save percentage and Gibson’s got an 882. They’re not wildly different and I don’t think they’ve been it’s not like Talbet has been, you know, best in the league, but I do think there’s been there have been games where he has saved them in the game and kept them in it or won them the game and we I don’t know that we’ve gotten that from Gibson. Yeah. And it the theme and the complaint I have with the Red Wings goalending this year is again it’s almost an unfair standard to hold them to. But it just feels like when they need a save they don’t get it like that. I those saves I was like I don’t expect the goalie to save that one but every once in a while it would be nice to have that big save that bails him out in a bad situation or at a key time and they don’t get it. They never seem to get it. It feels like the Red Wings lose the goalending battle more than they win it. Today’s a perfect example. There’s only one goal John Gibson let in that I didn’t like one. Cuz obviously four went in, one was an empty netter. But how many did Sodlum save that probably should have went in? Three. Four. That’s the game. Again, with all the flaws in today’s game, if the Red Wings just get an even goalending battle there, they win the game. And I can’t pin the loss on Gibson cuz again three of the four he let in. Nobody was stopping. But man, that fourth one made a difference. Yeah. Especially when they did 2-1 in the third period. That game still feels very much in grasp. All of a sudden 3-1 and we talked about it earlier. You could just feel the air come out of the building. It’s like that’s it. They’re not overcoming this lead with the way their offense is going. All right. Well, let’s jump into the I mean the positive story from today. The only positive story we’ve talked about Nate Danielson being called up. What’s next for him now? Like he took a spot from Rasmusen and Bergrren in the lineup. What do you see upcoming for him as as the Red Wings brought him up for his NHL debut and now they have an opportunity with him? Like the the whole nine 10 game thing doesn’t apply. Like he you can’t sign his contract anymore. He has an opportunity to earn his role. I mean h how how well can the kid swim with an anchor behind him? I mean, if Marco Casper came in last year and centered the second line, I don’t know why Nate Danielson also can’t potentially seize that opportunity as well, but he didn’t start there last year with Casper. And I wouldn’t be surprised if Danielson’s there by the end of the year, but I expect some struggles to start and that’s fine. That’s not a shot at Danielson. He’s going to be playing in the bottom six, for lack of a better way to phrase it. Not with anybody good. So I don’t expect the counting stats to be great if he comes in and again today he didn’t look out of place. He wasn’t noticeable in any way which for first NHL game given who he’s playing with feels like a that’s okay. You know Casper has been struggling this year and Appleton’s been okay if that’s the line for a while. I expect them to have some good games. I expect them to have some bad games. I just want to see how Danielson adjusts to the pace because he’s one of the better skaters on this team already, even after one game. Yeah. Can he help boost the pace of this team? Can he keep up with the pace of the other teams defensively in transition, whatever it ends up being? Cuz that’s what MBN really struggled with. And that’s where Finny has actually thrived. We talked about Finny doesn’t have the skill that the rest of the guys in the top six have, but he sure as hell does not slow them down and he can keep up and he can play at that pace. So, that’s going to be kind of my benchmark for Danielson is can he also do the same thing even if he’s not scoring. Yeah, there’s not a lot of obstruction for him. Like at the time when he got injured, it was a lower back injury from that that incident with Dumba behind the net. It must have felt terrible. He must have been like, “Man, I finally had the great preseason when the opportunity was there for me. This team is good, but I played well enough to earn it, but there’s three other guys, two of them on forward, who also want these spots. Like, now, how am I going to come in and and make it stick?” And it it must have seemed I don’t want to say bleak, but it must have just been heartbreaking for him. Now he comes in, nothing’s changed. He has all the opportunity in the world. There aren’t any players in terms of veterans or guys who would be in his spot. Like Finny on the top line is not a factor for Danielson. MBN is no longer in the bottom six. He’s down in Grand Rapids. There’s not obstruction for him to seize and hold a roster spot. he can get a center position because certainly Rasmusson at center is just a horrific experiment that through necessity sometimes and just through I think you know frustration sometimes the Red Wings run and it just never works and Cop and Confer and Casper have not been doing anything at center really of of note. So he can make it stick at center if they want. They can flip him to wing. Danielson, who we’ve seen in Grand Rapids and through the Red Wings preseason in training camps, he has all the tools to come in here and make a difference. And like Brad said, he skates well. He he could add the jolt of just shaking things up in this bottom six that would have that knock-on effect and just help everything else. But that is with a big asterisk. Don’t expect that of the kid. He’s not the style to come in and just light it up and and solve their scoring problems and change the the needle for the Red Wings in a big appreciable way. Like you you have to just assign him his own scope and understand that the pace of this might be a slower burn. Anything else would be a cherry on top. You look at the center depth on this team, there’s one centerman I don’t think he could be better than at this season. Like he very well could outplay Coner for that second line center role. could very well outplay Marco Casper for that second line center role. You know, there’s so many different ways that Nate Danielson can stick in this lineup and find some success. I think it’s really all up to him and trying to find some chemistry with somebody on this team, whether it’s, you know, him and Marco Casper find some chemistry. Again, I don’t think you take Finny off the top line, but, you know, maybe there’s a a a youth movement line you could put together. Like I just think there’s lots of different ways that they can slot Nate Danielson into the lineup where he could have an easier time. To be too optimistic for a second, like let’s imagine Nate Danielson comes in and really like solidifies himself in the bottom six center role. Maybe that does help, you know, a little bit of the production. Not a ton, but you see guys like Bearrin or Soderblum or guys where you’re like there is more offense in their games and it’s just how much of this is they don’t play with a center who can really distribute with them or play center to the degree that they’re going to help facilitate the offense or extract the offense from the wingers around them. So, if Danielson finds his groove, then you get a bit more out of those depth guys where you no longer have eight guys fighting for the press box and maybe it’s just down to five or four or whatever it is. So again, I’m not setting that expectation, at least not immediately. But that’s the idea with Danielson is like you come in and you are just a bolt-on bottom six center for this team, which they are desperate need of. Well, theoretically, Appleton, Casper, and Danielson are the three most capable offensive players in the bottom six of this roster right now, and they’re playing together. So, if you’re ever going to get offense out of the bottom six, that’s probably the combination that will do it. But again, that’s theoretical because we haven’t seen it. Danielson’s played one game. Casper struggling and that comes at the cost of putting comfort on the second line, which I hate, but it almost feels like a necessity right now because, okay, de Brink and Kane can probably generate enough offense on their own if he can just not screw it up for them. So I understand the thinking and then the fourth eye can be whatever slappies happen to be playing the least bad at that given moment. So you know it is what it is. I I think even optimistically I don’t see Danielson setting the world on fire at least not for a couple months. I wouldn’t be shocked if he has a Casper like arc where first couple months statistically are very underwhelming, but then he strings together a couple good games, gets bumped up in the lineup and then things take off for him. I can see that. But just as we’ve talked about and we’re beating it to death, but the configuration of this bottom six, it’s going to be hard to find a combination that’s going to produce easy offense. And again, theoretically, this is the best option, but even at that, that’s with a guy who’s played one NHL game and a guy going hard through the sophomore slump right now. And, you know, like putting it like that very fairly is exactly why he’s going to go nuclear and just, you know, radio you because that’s that’s how these things go. Uh, hey, if this ends up being a reverse jinx, fantastic. Just needed to give Demov a head start. I’m either I’m either going to be right or happy, but not both. Certainly not both. Okay. Notes from the world of the Red Wings that are a bit more positive than this. Actually, speaking of Mason Appleton, congratulations to the Appletons. They welcomed the newest edition of the family, Teddy, the other day. So, Appleton was away for from practice for personal reasons, and it was what a wonderful personal reason that is. So, congratulations to the Appletons and the Red Wings prospect pipeline. Trey Augustine continues to be a guy of note. Shuts out Gavin McKenna and Penn State, which must have been so sweet for Spartans fans after, you know, Penn State, what was it? They dropped $750,000 to for NIL to get McKenna over there and then cuz it was between Penn State and Michigan State and then they went and shut out Penn State. Augustine is six and one, 141 goals against average and a 944 save percentage of strength. Seems that good. Seems pretty good. And that’s to be expected for one of the best goalies in the nation across the entire NCAA, you know, returning when some people, a lot of people including us thought he could have gone pro. But you still love to see it and that the goalending pipeline is still looking strong for the Red Wings. Elsewhere in the NCAA, Max Plant with Minnesota DUTH set the franchise or UMD record for the quickest players to the 50 career point mark, surpassing none other than Brett Hall, who held that record for what was it more than four decades. So, quickest player in UMD history to reach the 50 career point mark with a gamewinner. I’m more surprised that Brett Hall went to university, but that didn’t shine through with his St. Louis Stanley Cup celebrations. You know, the all the signs were there. That’s right. The one thing that celebration taught us is Hall was definitely in a frat. Wasn’t a communications major. It wasn’t even Greek letters. It was just the whole frat. So, Plant and Augustine continue to be, you know, forces in the NCAA, and man, I cannot wait to get those guys further up in the Red Wing system. All right, NHL notes. We should start with something a little bit more beefy with I I want to talk about Kyu, maybe, but did you guys see Jordan Bennington try to steal Alex Ovetkin’s 900 gold puck? I I love that there was an attempt. Like Bennington is a lunatic and like hated by most non-S Staint Louis Blues fans in the league for good reason. And that was such a little rat move to do, but I don’t know why that I just found it hilarious. I thought it was so funny. It’s It’s funny to watch and I got a good laugh out of it, but when you break it down, it’s He’s being a piss baby. Yes, that’s what it was. There’s no way to keep the puck. Like he wasn’t He didn’t give a [ __ ] about keeping the puck. He was mad before. Is this like the Chris Pronger where he like wouldn’t give the playoffs exactly what it was just because he’s just a jackass. Understandably, the He’s mad. The Blues are a dumpster fire this year. So, he has very justifiable reasons to kind of be on a hair trigger right now. But, he gave up a big goal and it was probably a goal he should have saved and he got all poopy pants about it and he’s like, I’m going to try and ruin the moment and stole the puck. He was just just being a piss baby. He was doing the only thing he could control in the moment because he couldn’t stop the puck from going in the net. He hasn’t been able to do that at all this year. No. No. Team Canada better hope that he turns into the the for nations goalie he did last year for the Olympics. Otherwise, they’re going to Team Canada has one of the top goalies in the league available to this year. And he’s probably not even going to be on the team unless something changes in the relationship between Logan Thompson and Yeah. Team Canada. Never let never let you know the merit of a player stop you from the bureaucracy and politics of Hockey Canada dictating the roster. Elsewhere in the NHL, I shouldn’t even say elsewhere. Still with St. Louis, Jordan Kyu was a healthy scratch the other night. Right now, whatever it takes. Pick whatever prospects you want to give up. Now, they are adamant. There’s there’s been reporting that it’s not because of a trade whatever but yeah guy of Kyu’s caliber getting healthy scratch and it was pointed out by I think Ellie Freeman pointed out that in the past when there’s been a send a message healthy scratch it seems to always be Kyu and Kyru was the guy who you know butttheads with coaching in the past and you know Craig Bubet very familiar with with that and like he’s he’s not even halfway through a big contract $8.125 million 27 years old. If St. Louis has to do any kind of reset here, does Kyroo go? Is this a pipe dream? Is this an opportunity? And and Detroit has a history of dealing with St. Louis. I look at this, I’m like, could this be the unlikely offensive injection for some team around the league. Fiveish years left on his contract. 8 point something million a year in the new rising cap. There’s a no tra there’s at least there’s trade protection in there. His underlying numbers defensively are solid numbers you wouldn’t expect to lead to healthy scratches. And we know what he can do offensively. I like if I’m the Red Wings, I’m willing to overpay comfortably on this one. Again, it’s five years of a proven top six score. I mean, with Casper falling off the way he has this year, like, man, they need to start solving some problems. And I am absolutely not on board with any kind of rental. But if you want to sell a bit of the farm to get a guy who can play in your top six and produce for 5 years, yes, please God, yes. Right now, front of the line, whatever it takes. Perennial 70point guy. He puts the puck in the net, you know, multiple 30 goal seasons. And I like you never really see these guys leave their teams. And again, it’s not a guarantee that he’s going to leave St. Louis. I don’t know that it would be smart for St. Louis to do it unless they had a full committed vision to how they would plan to rebuild and who to keep and who to let go. But 27 years old and would have a ton a ton of value. And like you said, Brad, the Red Wings have a ton of assets. It’s like they have a a deep farm system of prospects who’d be considered grade A by most teams and they have multiple those guys. Not all those guys can make the team and you have picks and you have, you know, roster players. It’s the kind of thing that like you never make the expectation that your favorite team’s GM is going to trade for one specific player because there’s 30 other GMs who are probably trying to do the same thing. But this one would check a lot of boxes for Eisen and the Red Wings. There’s a lot of things here. And again, preface this by saying it’s still way more likely to not happen than it is to actually come to fruition. But the Red Wings and Blues have dealt with each other a lot. They have a friendly relationship. They like dealing with each other. Eisermanman and Armstrong especially, some of this might end up being player driven because to the point you made, for some reason, it’s always Kyru with them. And at what point is he going to get sick of that and just be like, “I’m done. Get me out of here.” And the Blues, again, this is more philosophical and how they feel is the only thing that matters and how I feel doesn’t. But they have no long-term contender projection with how they are constructed and what their farm system looks like right now. Not saying that always means full rebuild, but it’s a team that could tinker. It’s a team that could stand to get some futures. And again, if the Blues have any interest in futures, I don’t know if there’s a team in the league right now who has the assets to outbid the Red Wings, and we’ve talked about it at length. The Red Wings have so many prospects that look like good bets to be NHLers, and they don’t have enough spots for them. This is how you can use some of them, you know. Yeah. Right now, if the Blues call you up and go, “We want your first round pick and you know your fourth best prospect.” You’re stupid if you say no. You know what I mean? Is that probably an overpay for a 70point score? Yeah, because one of those assets might turn into a 70 point score, but the Red Anay. I think it’s I I don’t think there’s a world where they do that. You don’t think St. Louis would do that? Well, which prospect pick a prospect in Who’s their fourth best? Do you do a first and max plant? Yeah, I do that. Yeah, I do that, too. I do that without even thinking. I don’t you probably got to add. Yeah, that’s I think St. Louis would want more and they would ask for way more. Like they’re they’re probably going to start unreasonably with like a Jack Eel kind of thing. Yeah, but it would have to come down from there. But yeah, your point stands though. The Red Wings need the certainty and the Red Wings again 8 point whatever Kyro makes. They don’t have to do any gymnastics to make that work. Yeah, we’ll take the full hit. No problem. And it doesn’t even affect with the cap increases. It doesn’t even affect Edinson or Casper because they got enough contracts coming off the books. Like there’s no money issues on this deal. There’s no asset issues on this deal. It’s just does St. Louis want to do it and is anybody going to really outbid the Red Wings? And would Kyu approve, you know, the the trade to whatever team depending on the he might be getting to that situation of just get me out of here if this keeps happening to him. All right. And last note here, some conversation that’s going to be coming up in the, you know, weeks and months ahead. There’s discussions on what changes are going to happen in in terms of a players development path to the NHL. I think there’s a discussion on what the USHL’s role and everything is going to be. You know, talks and rumors of potentially they join the CHL, which would be interesting because they seem like the hardest done by by the new agreements where, you know, players can join the NCAA. And you’re going to see a lot of CHL players head towards the NCAA, etc. And so things are shuffling around. And another thing, this was Elliot Friedman brought it up on headlines, mentioned that NHL GMs are discussing the possibility to send one 19year-old to the AHL as soon as next season. GMs want to know if there’s an opportunity or or flexibility to do more than one 19-year-old. Let’s say you have multiple first round picks who have, you know, the the need to go to the AHL. Oh, they’re first round picks and they’re 19 years old and they can play the physical game of the AHL and it’s better for their development. The reason I bring this up is one, it changes, you know, the development path. Like if you’re a first round pick and 19 years old, you no longer have to just pick between whether you’re overseas or the CHL and the NHL, but you now can play pro hockey in North America at a tier right below the NHL. And we’re all thinking about Michael Rasmusen and how much the the current rules hurt his development long term. So this would have been a great option for him. Especially this would have been made for Michael Rasmmanson. Yeah, I think it’s long overdue. Rasmmanson is the one we always talk about. There’s tons of example around the NHL on this one. And you know, Zayn Perk in Calgary right now is probably the poster child for it this year. You can see him getting exposed a lot in the NHL. His skill level is way too good for junior. he would be primed to go have a big year in the AHL, but he can’t. Yeah. And now he’s struggling because of it, and who knows what that’s going to do to his development. So, I don’t know. I I think it’s way overdue. I like the idea of the USHL combining with the CHL. Hell, didn’t Moskegan try it last year, and they a couple teams tried in the end, they got blocked. Hockey USA, you vetoed everything. Yeah. So, it would make a lot of sense. I don’t know how the logistics would work, but I it’s understandable that it sucks right now because when the new NCAA rules, eligibility rules were announced, everybody kind of like, wow, trickle down effect from this is going to be huge. And it’s all pretty much worked out like a lot of people predicted. A lot of the top CHL players are heading to the NCAA, but now the younger players aren’t going to the USAHL, they’re going to the CHL. So, the CHL is getting younger and more skilled because of it. And yeah, the bottom of the totem pole usually gets hit the hardest and that’s USAHL right now. So something’s got to be done. All right, we’re going to take another quick break and when we’re back, the final segment on this episode of the Winding Wheel podcast back after this. [Applause] [Music] Are you planning your next large group trip to the Canadian Rockies or want to find somewhere to go with your family or friends? 223 Otter Street in Ba, Alberta, is a historic 10-bedroom home that sleeps up to 23 people. Wing Wheel podcast listeners can comment in the booking notes on Airbnb or Verbbo to save 10% off before June 2026. Check out the listings on Airbnb or Verbbo in the links in the description to find out more about this incredible vacation property. [Music] We’re going to Overtime. Overtime is brought to you by our Patreon supporters. patreon.com/wainwheelpodcast. If you want to support the show, join the Dubdub Club, get access to benefits like our bonus overtime episodes which record right after these main ones. We let loose. We have fun. We address all the other questions from our patrons and talk about things hockey and non- hockey related. It’s a good time. It’s a little bit wild. Evan Evan goes a little bit buck wild in there. You also get access to our Patreon exclusive Discord and you’re automatically entered into all of our giveaways. For example, we give away two tickets to every Detroit Readings home game directly to our Patreon supporters. So again, patreon.com/winggillpodcast. if you want to support the show. Let’s take some questions from our patrons. Joseph Barry says, “Do you think we should give ASP a run on Power Play 1? Special teams has hit a wall. Time to make some changes.” Couldn’t hurt. Nothing is off the table. I am liking more and more of what I see of ASP’s confidence offensively. So, yeah, if you need to change something up, that’s one of the moves I’d look at for sure. Andrew Strad says, “It seems like netfront presence for Detroit has dropped off in both zones. Is that a coaching thing or a player decision-making thing in the moment?” Todd doesn’t strike me as the type of coach who wouldn’t want them going there. So, I’ll say it’s a player issue. Yeah. like execution across the board, not just in the areas that we talked about is what we’ve we’ve been looking at and and no doubt that those are the kinds of decisions where it’s just got to make coaches pull their hair out for the coaches who do have hair, which is a rare thing in this league apparently. Mr. Koozie says, “Why is this team such garbage for any matinea game? Is there a fix? Need monster as a sponsor or something?” Too many dads on the team. they don’t get their mid-after afternoon nap to make up for all the lack of sleep they got overnight. I I fully agree with that. How much are you surviving on mid-after afternoon naps right now? Uh I will say if it’s not a nap, it’s a another cup of coffee. Oh, so you’re up to like what? Two a day now? Two a day. If I settle down, man, you’re going to hurt yourself. Two is my minimum. Like two Sorry. Chew is also my like I stop myself at two coffees because I otherwise I would just drink it non-stop and I know that’s not good for me, but I can feel it in my body if I haven’t had two coffees by 9:00 a.m. I can certainly feel when I haven’t had any coffee. Yeah. Evans RBF says, “What’s the panic level after losing to the Rangers and the Blackhawks?” There’s a few questions like that of, you know, how much are you panicking? Is it time to sound the alarms? Prospect profiles coming. And, you know, we said it in the the bulk of the show and I’ll reiterate here. I really do believe that the issues that we talked about are real ones that are going to continue to come up if they’re not addressed internally and externally by the Red Wings and Eerman and Mlullen and the players more than anyone else. But I also think Brad’s point of the sky is not falling and what I was mentioning earlier of this is just kind of part of what it is to be a middling team is true. And I I don’t know that I’m hammering the big red stop button on the season yet. like this is still the same team that did all the things that we did before and those were ways that you can win hockey games that you can expect again. It’s not like you know you had JT Confer on a 40goal pace from the bottom six and that’s why you’re winning games that it was repeatable executable you know planned plays and decision-m and roster design that was winning the Red Wings the bulk of their games of their nine wins so far and they can and probably will get back to that. So yeah, I feel like Larkin and Raymond and Brinkit and Kane are going to start scoring more in the Red Wings nine wins. Rasmus and JVR Cop comp for the most part weren’t doing crap then either. So like them playing bad isn’t changing the dynamic of this team. It doesn’t help, but yeah, it’s it’s going to come from they might start getting a key save again and the big boys might start scoring again. Java says, “How long do you give Gibson before you give Kosa or Pastava a callup? Both have been playing well in Grand Rapids.” You know, I could definitely see Kosa, who I think got hurt today, so we’ll see how that one plays out. But absolutely, you can see Kosa getting a call up, but I don’t know that you’re doing that unless there’s injury. Things would have to be pretty rough to to call up a third goalie. You’re not certainly not waving anyone in terms of Talbot or Gibson. You know, Gibson could be having a less than ideal start to the season, but this is all within the confines of it’s not been catastrophic. It’s just not been great so far. So, we’re far from from that. I think I think by mid December if both goalies are operating around an 890 or lower. I think Kosa could be the Danielson in that situation of the time for a wakeup call. Here he comes. Let’s see how he does. Roster’s not full. So I guess he could do it. If for no other reason, just scare the [ __ ] out of Talbot and Gibson. Just be like, “Hey, you guys are old. He’s young. If you play worse than him, there’s no reason for you to be here, so you better get it together. What exactly is a distinct kicking motion? Do you think all of the recognition league and mediawide early in the season has made the Wings a bigger target? Would you consider this part of growing pains and becoming a playoff and eventual cup contender? How much of this has affected their current slump? I don’t think they’re playing terrible. I think just teams are taking them a bit more seriously now. Two mediocre teams just gave the Red Wings their backup goalie. No, I don’t think teams are taking the Red Wings more seriously just yet. I’m sorry. The New York Rangers are the best team on the road in the NHL and they should, which is, I think, a real stat or very close to it. They’re also the worst team at home in the NHL, which is Yeah, they just got the Rangers in the wrong arena that night. Uh, you guys stay there. We’ll come to Broadway. That’s right. We’ll come, you know, we want to grab a a slice of pizza or something or New York style rather than Detroit style. Sometimes you want to mix it up. Hotels are more expensive in Detroit. We’ll come to New York City, save you some some I’m not joking. That’s closer than than people might think. I wasn’t kidding. We could do two hours on hotel prices in Detroit. If you’re a hotel manager in Detroit, please reach out. The Yeah. And the Blackhawks have actually like they are the lowly Blackhawks. Yes. But they, you know, have done pretty nicely for themselves on a little road trip there. Don’t think that the Bedard point totals are coming without Chicago success. Anyhow, all right, we’re going to take more questions in the bonus overtime episode of the Wing Wheel podcast. For now, we’re going to wrap up this episode of the show. Thank you so much to our sponsors. Thank you so much to all of you who tune in and to our Patreon supporters. We could not do this show without you. patreon.com/wingwheelodcast if you want to help us out and support the show. And if you want to go above and beyond for us, but Patreon is not for you. You can still help us out a lot of different ways. Subscribe wherever you get your podcast, Apple, Spotify, YouTube, wherever you you’re tuning in. Hit the subscribe button, leave a rating, a review, the the thumbs up, the stars, whatever it might be. Tell a friend about the show. All of those are things that really help us out. Wingvillepodcast.com/redadwings if you want to get a ticket to Wingville podcast at the LCA, which is this upcoming Saturday. If you have bought a ticket, the person who bought the ticket should have received an email with more information details soon. We’ll talk about that more next episode as well, but you can feel free to shoot us an email if you didn’t receive that and you want to find out more. To our name level supporters on Patreon, we cannot thank you enough for doing what you do for the show. Arjun Shanker, Akur, Martin Norberg, THL Champ, Samuel Sodhome, icon Glenn Brabbom, Rain Doa ball hockey goalie, Sea Lion, Matthew M. Rice Darb EQ Bango Bango Hassam Alcasm Asher Killian Kalin Wood Alex Toger that’s what I appreciates about you Derek Nstam Matt McKay Andy Hardcore Sam Bankston Cizen High5 RA Aaron Hudson Admiral Matt S of the Cheeseburg Navy the Elcato Steven Ortly Jonathan Miller give blood fright probertt DJ Denton Carl Brutin Nolki Jay Gollum John Engel CB55 Connor Scoi Adam Zoza Adam Rose, a Miss Pew Suittor, Steve R, Hockeytown, Matt, Mr. Koozie, Chaotic Monkey, Craig Kibble, Eerplan, Stan, Clipclop, Na Nigh, Pgy713, Now I have to learn how to click on a Macintosh, Griffin, not from Grand Rapids, Marty Cozy, the OG13, Jeff Pridemore, Eric Hill, Butts, Carlton, Best James Bond, Beer League Legend, Alec, Mark Hernandez, Slim Smitty Cards, Grand Rapids, Girly, Anna Sleman, William Kip, Tira Jr., Mike Asher, Chris Black, August, Brian Mun, improved but flawed, Chris 99 Jones, Putting on the Moritz, General Andy Bohan of the Cheese Army, Quas, Lonnie Zone, Dylan Lark and Trade Sacrifice, eating plump hot dogs the French way, Matt Keeler, Linda Hall, I’m drunk and I can’t think of a name. Hope you all are doing well. Thanks, Aaron. Connor Leighton, as good as it gets, Jeremiah Adobo, Josh Yelton, Brad Simmons, Darren Fick, Beex, the Hodag, Baseball, Basketball, Wiener Dog, Short Short Sports, Commander Ben Baron, The Cheeseback, Space Force, Sandine, Pelic’s Pelican, Griffy Boy, JM Rapsidity, your second favorite patron, Frank Stanley, Rosie Posey, that other guy, Pucking Puck, Puck, Carl Tms, Nero, The Hat123, Steven A. Aon, Cory, Pria, all motor, no hands, Jean Sullivan, Roy Mudbutt, Big Cheese, James Pridemore, Eupernadian, Drop the Puck, Eric Nance, Anston, Jim, Bellingham, Massall, Wings, Fan and St. Louis, Scott, Johnny Paige, Lucas Raymond, Cops, Gump, Lip, Trent, Thorough, Grepsky, Evan Beckner, Return of Jambo, CE, Hayes, Finny to the Rafters, Jacob Marsh, Faulnes, Fight Night at the Joe, Axel, Sandy Pelican, The Octopi’s Ninth Leg, and your second favorite patron. Thank you all so very much. We’ll talk to you Wednesday. Thanks for tuning in to the Wingwheel 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 podcasts. You’ll also find ways to support the show like Patreon, official podcast merchandise, and more. And don’t forget to follow us on X at Wingwheel Pod, at Ryan Hannah WWP, at Brad Krisco, and at Hockeytown Evan, as well as Wing Wheel Podcast on Instagram. This message is brought to you by Greenlight Lending. Are you facing financial red lights on your home ownership journey? Don’t have money for a down payment or closing costs? Struggling with your current mortgage payment or other debt obligations? Or maybe you have a complicated situation like credit challenges or self-employment income. At Greenlight Lending, they turn those red lights green with creative mortgage solutions for purchase and refinance loans. Their team crafts personalized plans with flexible closing cost options, competitive brokered rates, and innovative loan programs tailored to your needs. Whether it’s finding the right loan or guiding you through the process, they’re here to help you score your home ownership goals. Let’s get you out of the penalty box and into the game. Head to go greenlightlanding.com to explore solutions or call Nick directly at 586-3211888 for your customized plan. All loans are subject to credit approval, terms and conditions. Rates and programs vary. Contact for details. Greenlight Lending, lighting the way to your financial future. NMLS 267-6683 and Equal Housing Opportunity Lender, proud sponsor of the Winged Wheel
WWP NIGHT w/ the DETROIT RED WINGS (Nov. 15th vs. BUF) TICKETS:
https://www.gofevo.com/event/WingedWheelPodcast11-15
WWP NIGHT w/ the GRAND RAPIDS GRIFFINS TICKETS ON SALE NOW: https://griffinshockey.com/wwp
Nate Danielson has made his NHL debut, but unfortunately the Detroit Red Wings are also going through a big scoring drought…
Tune in as we open by discussing the Red Wings’ 4-1 loss to Panarin and the New York Rangers, including Patrick Kane’s return, Jonathan Quick outplaying Cam Talbot, no offense from Dylan Larkin, Lucas Raymond, Alex DeBrincat, Marco Kasper, or the rest of Detroit’s top players, and more as McLellan’s squad had a disappointing return to Hockeytown.
Next, Nate Danielson being called up & how Todd McLellan & Steve Yzerman are sending a message to the likes of Michael Rasmussen and other bottom 6 players, before a breakdown of the loss to Connor Bedard & the Chicago Blackhawks: Larkin, Raymond, & Simon Edvinsson connecting for the only goal, terrible penalty kill and power play, & an overall lack of scoring. We then discuss the scoring drought overall and why the defense behind Seider & Edvinsson is good but the offense is struggling, and how the bottom 6 offer no support when the rest of the team goes cold.
After that, a look at what may be causing the special teams to struggle, and John Gibson’s tough start to his Detroit Red Wings career, before jumping into a look at what Nate Danielson being called up means for his career, what’s next, how he compares to Marco Kasper, and what this means for Yzerman’s roster choices.
Finally, positive Hockeytown news as Max Plante and Trey Augustine are dominating the NCAA, & NHL news including Binnington, Jordan Kyrou trade thoughts, & NHL pipeline changes before we take your questions and comments in our Overtime segment – enjoy!
Intro: 00:00
NYR Game Recap: 3:55
Danielson Called Up: 11:55
CHI Game Recap: 14:15
Scoring Woes: 23:25
Special Teams & John Gibson: 44:40
Danielson’s Next Steps: 52:25
Augustine & Plante: 1:00:15
NHL News: 1:02:25
Overtime: 1:13:30
Head over to wingedwheelpodcast.com to find all the ways to listen, how to support the show, and so much more!
Go to KoffeeKult.com and use code WWP for 15% off your order! #ad
This episode is brought to you by Green Light Lending: gogreenlightlending.com #ad
Banff Vacation Rental – AirBnB: https://www.airbnb.ca/rooms/1452965978844590141
VRBO: https://www.vrbo.com/en-ca/cottage-rental/p20166303
Support the Jamie Daniels Foundation through Wings Money on the Board: https://www.wingedwheelpodcast.com/wingsmotb
—–
Thank you for making us the biggest Detroit Red Wings podcast on the air! #RedWings #LGRW
Website: https://www.wingedwheelpodcast.com
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/wingedwheelpodcast
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/WingedWheelPod (Check out the bio to follow the hosts!)
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wingedwheelpodcast
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wingedwheelpodcast
Listen on…
Apple Podcasts: https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/winged-wheel-podcast/id969768868
Google Podcasts: https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cDovL2ZlZWRzLmZlZWRidXJuZXIuY29tL1dpbmdlZFdoZWVsUG9kY2FzdA%3D%3D
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6Wp4fEi1EO741UlxPMGtaS
SoundCloud: https://open.spotify.com/show/6Wp4fEi1EO741UlxPMGtaS
RSS Feed: http://wingedwheelpodcast.libsyn.com/rss
26 comments
I would have traded hin before he was EXPOSED
When you get goalied so often, maybe it's not actually getting goalied, and maybe our forwards just aren't converting effectively enough.
I also don't think it's a coincidence that the team started struggling when MBN got sent down. The lack of physicality becomes so much more noticeable when a guy like that isn't wearing down the opponent.
We could have had a superstsar but we are DONE
HERE MY WORDS WE ARE DONE. Everything I said they did the opposite
NOW NOW?!! I'v been saying they have to make a trade. MO 's value went way down… Are you guys INSANE!!!!
I've been saying this for YEARS!!!!!!
I would consider trying Berggren with Larks and Raymond. Danielson centering Kane and DeBrincat. Kasper with Appleton and Finnie as a hybrid line. Copp, Compher, and JVR or Ras. Trying to get some offense going. Kasper being cold isn’t helping. Finnie isn’t doing anything wrong, but maybe Berggren can play with the top line. Might get him going. Finnie might have some chemistry there with Kasper and Appleton and easier opponents. I think their play styles would be tough to play against. May get some offense going. JBD seemed to have a complimentary game with Johansson.
I think Danielson and Kasper could both be 2C material. I feel like Danielson might have more offensive upside and may be worth exploring there since Kasper has been cold.
This team continues to have a loser mentality even with the Todd father running the ship. Along with Yzerman's construction of this roster that nucleus inside that locker room has to change. This team is painful to watch especially watching the other teams who have been bad for so long too now lap this team in a shorter rebuild time and are lightyears better than this team even teams out west like the ducks…I hate it because I wish this team was as good as the ducks, the habs etc but noooo this team just keeps running back this trainwreck. Also pretty pathetic dive attempt on Larkins part with Bertuzzi..stick barely tapped side of his helmet. disgusting seeing that from the captain then in post game he's already back to sad sack captain mopey making the same excuses he and others always make after a loss. I've enjoyed their good start but reality is setting back in. they are still frauds and not good.
What do you expect when the GM refuses to do his job and sits on his ass and does nothing for 3 years.
In regards to the wings finishing, they need to focus on elevating their shots into the upper part of the net. They keep shooting low and they keep getting blocked.
Gibson has been an major dissapointment for us. Raymond since the injury is no better than Tarasenko. Yzerman has Cap and needs to make a big move before this gets out of control.
Maybe it is time to stop fetishising these draft picks who, everyone has been telling us for years, are amazing but turns out they are not.
Gibson is a typical Yzerman signing: cheap, safe but not very good.
Wings are in quicksand. Playoffs? They might beat the Griffins.
My soul hurts
If memory serves me right Kasper started going cold last year at the end of the year. I only see his fate as being traded regardless whether he catches fire for a little bit or not. I think we should allow the team to gel together the rest of the year. Get our big forward or number one draft pick defenseman and start doing some releasing and trading getting rid of some of that dead weight. JVR is pretty much retired.
Can we just stop the dump and chase hockey. We need solid entries in o zone.
ASP would benefit from that instead forcing him and other D’s just trying to find a stick on a forward that then tries to chase the puck. Lots of icings wasted
Raymond played way too much golf this summer. Starting to move to my shit list. Hope passes, wall play, nothing effort at times. Finnish your shots multimillionaire multimillionaire
The Gales of November came early this year.
Stop making excuses for raymond, we shouldve taken stutzle. Hes too soft. Whole team is scared of the slot.
Nobody is scared of the wings so these teams come in and tee the wings up using their super stars.
Wings don’t have a grind line, they don’t have a power forward that will knock the snot out of other teams so players like Bernard comes in and plays like a super stars.
When your GM signs Compher,Copp and Rasmussen to be your centers what do you expect.
Despite how bad the team has looked it is still possible that this stretch is just a bump on the road in a long season. Please red wings just give a consistent effort.
When are we gonna accept gibson isnt that good
My take, Danielson looks so, so good. I really think Danielson is an incredible player. I saw him make like three grade A chances happen out of nothing, but the real thing that stood out to me was his defensive awareness. The way he tracks players and covers ice on defense is phenomenal.
It’s times like this where you have to hope someone becomes a superstar because it’s clear that Detroit does not have enough right now. Buchelnikov, Lombardi, Plante seem like the only hope for high end offence in the pipeline right now.