In Red Wings Land

Empty seats at Pistons and Wings games draw questions
If you’ve watched early season games at Little Caesars Arena, you might have noticed that there have been many empty seats.

This article by Greg Kruppa attempts to take a closer look at the issue. Among the potential reasons:

Both teams say spectators are on the concourse, where food and drink are available on the equivalent of a public square, and large screens display the games.

And throughout large blocks of seats in the lower bowl, straddling either center ice or center court, fans have easy access to clubs directly under the stands.

There, the spreads are lavish, the bars well-stocked and the games shown on big screens.

Regardless of the reasons, it’s not a great look.

Around the NHL

Down Goes Brown Weekend Wrap: Will Senators regret blockbuster deal? - Sportsnet.ca

Sean McIndoe takes a look at the major three way trade from Sunday night. In my QH article from yesterday, I said that Ottawa spent a lot for what is not a huge upgrade from Kyle Turris. McIndoe quotes a tweet from Jonathan Willis that makes that case:

2014 to present:

– Duchene: 248 GP, 165 PTS (0.67 PPG)

– Turris: 228 GP, 158 PTS (0.69 PPG)

Age isn't all that different, either.

— Jonathan Willis (@JonathanWillis) November 6, 2017

He also points out another reason I think that Ottawa didn’t do nearly as well as some people seem to think:

The other factor here is financial. The Senators apparently didn’t like their odds of getting a deal done with Turris, for whatever reason. But Duchene will be in the same situation a year from now, and if he really is a better player then he should cost them even more. An extra year of team control is certainly worth something, especially to a budget team like Ottawa. But you wonder if they won’t be right back here this time next year, looking to move a guy they don’t want to pay.

Hindsight, as always, will tell the tale, but it appears that Ottawa came out third-best in this three-way trade.