What a torturous offseason it has been here in Red Wings land. Not sure what we fans did to deserve this!
Okay, now that I have that off my chest, let’s get caught up on what the hell is going on. Steve Yzerman’s replacement has still yet to be named. So that means that Yzerman is still in fact running the ship, albeit during one of the deadest parts of the offseason in terms of transactions. The Dylan Larkin trade request is still casting a shadow over the franchise, and with news of Jason Robertson signing a one-year, $12 million deal with Dallas, it seems like there may only be two ways out of this whole debacle. That is, if Larkin is in fact going to be traded. You either trade him for futures, or find a third team to bring in some more assets. So really, nothing has changed since a couple of months ago. Cool. For the record – I want Larkin traded. I don’t think you come back from what he has done. All that good will, washed away in just a couple of months. It’s sad.
And that’s not mentioning the potential fallout of Larkin being traded, or not being traded for that matter. What about Alex DeBrincat? Simon Edvinsson? Absolutely no sign of a replacement for Larkin? ….Bueller?
The next GM will be baptized by fire. They will immediately be handed a rocky situation with the team’s (soon to be former IMO) captain. The new GM will either need to roll out a carefully crafted plan to keep Larkin here while maintaining some sort of good will with fans (he turned his back on the team after all), or they will need to have the stones to trade him and be done with it. Either way, it’s going to be a fucked up regular season I’m afraid.
And who the hell will be the next GM? Will it be an internal candidate? Or an outsider? Will they clean out the pro scouting staff? My take is that if the Red Wings go internal, we’re going to get the status quo. That’s why I would really like for Ilitch to heavily consider outside options. There’s something…. I don’t know if this is the right word, but, rotten (?) with the culture of this franchise. From the locker room up to the front office. I really believe that a disruptive individual is needed to reset the nucleus of this team. Probably means a few more years of shitty hockey, but I have a hard time seeing any other way out of [gestures widely at everything].
I have a lot of half-baked thoughts about what the path to getting the Red Wings back to the respectable and magnificent hockey team they once were, but I’m going to save you and I the grief of reading that. Maybe another day. For now, I’m just sort of in a state of grief over my favorite hockey team.
I don’t really have much else to say at this point. Certainly don’t have any scintillating analysis that will make us all feel better. For now, we’re just… waiting. What is usually a dreadful part of the offseason is somehow even more dreadful here and now in 2026. How do you feel as a fan, though? Am I being overdramatic?
