Wings, Red

Here’s the abridged version of what has been happening with the Red Wings since last May. Dylan Larkin, frustrated by not making the playoffs, requested a trade out of Detroit. He listed three teams, the Wild, Panthers, and Golden Knights to be traded to. Then he opened up his list some more. It looked like Larkin was on his way out, but in a shocking twist, Stevie Y stepped down as GM. Larkin is practicing in Red Wings gear, he looks good on the ice, and there is still a vacant spot for GM in Detroit. 

So let’s start with Larkin. Oh Captain, my captain. If he does play for us come October, which is looking to be the case, he should never wear that captain’s C ever again for this organization. Look, I love Larkin. He was the shining glimmer of hope for Red Wings fans across years of mediocrity. He’s one of the fastest skaters I’ve ever seen. Regardless of our standings, or the heartbreak that came with the season, we had a guy. We have a future.

But as time went on, Larkin just turned into this mediocre ‘star’ who didn’t really do anything when it mattered most. During the period in which the Wings slipped out of their playoff spot this year, Larkin was invisible on the ice. Zero even strength points in March is ridiculous if you’re considered our ‘best player’ on offense. I understand the trade deadline didn’t shake out these past couple years, and Larkin has expressed his frustration with that, but at the end of the day this is your team. You wear that C on your jersey to let people know, I run this ship. So when that ship starts to sink every single March, you can’t rely on the GM to make magic with the deadline. We were #1 in the Atlantic for a stretch of weeks, we clearly have the talent to perform on this level, so really, a lot of blame falls on Larkin for this year. 

He clearly doesn’t want to be here, and if I’m being honest, I don’t really want him here. The captain of the Detroit Red Wings, one of the greatest sports franchises of all time, should be willing to die on the ice for his team. Larkin clearly is not willing to do so. Seider is. Make the switch and let Larkin know who holds the cards.

As for Stevie, his time as GM was… I don’t really have words to express it. Are we set up for the future? 100%. Are we a laughing stock in the NHL because of our inability to make the postseason? Also 100%. You tell me if he was a good GM. 

Whatever the case, I’m at least happy things are changing, for better or for worse. I’m sick and tired of being stuck in this purgatory of early season surge to disappointment down the stretch, and something needs to happen. We’re probably going to suck this year, but things are changing. Wouldn’t mind seeing Larks traded, but we’d probably be better with him than without him, as far as competitively. So it’s all up to the front office. Are we rebuilding? Or are we running it back? 

Something’s gotta give.

Los Lions

The biggest news this week for the Lions is the new jerseys that have just been announced. Part of the NFC North ‘rivalry’ collection, the Lions’ new jerseys look pretty much identical to the Carolina Panthers away jersey. It’s pretty dead on. I’m a fan personally but I can definitely see how I could be in the minority there, we’re not the best jersey in the new collection, and we’re not the worst one. 

Cade Mays got hurt a while ago and that was a pretty big blow to my confidence in this offense, but I still think we’re going to be fine. Juice Scruggs has been getting some pre-season reps in at center, and he’s not nearly as bad as I thought. We’ve got a few other players rotating in at center, but I think Scruggs is the best option currently.

And center is an extremely important position to have with this offensive lineup. Goff is one of the best pocket passers in the entire league right now, but only if his line can hold up. I know you can kind of say that about anyone, but with Goff you’ve seen it time and time again. He took a career high 38 sacks last year due to the fragile nature of our linemen’s health last year, and some of his other stats were down, but the blame really stems more from John Morton that it does from Goff.

Not to mention having at least a decent O-Line means more action for Gibbs, who is pound for pound the Lions’ best player coming into this year. With the absence of Monty in the offseason and Pacheco’s looming injury, Gibbs is going to get a lot of volume this year. I’m not concerned about the workload, since Dan is known to be on top of that. I am concerned about the fantasy football RB1 curse, which is when the top RB in fantasy gets hurt early on in the season, but there’s really nothing I can do about that.

Still not a ton of news in training camp, and still meaningless preseason football. Calm before the storm.

Motor City Kitties

Exactly 132 baseball games have passed since the last update on the Motor City Kitties, so I’m going to blow past a few facts we’ve learned throughout the season. Skubal has gone to LA in a trade that sent two of the Dodgers top prospects Zyhir Hope and River Ryan to Detroit, Kevin McGonigle is the most likely candidate to win AL Rookie of the Year, Troy Melton has looked super good, and we stink.

The AL is wide open this year, with that last wild card spot looking like it’s going to come down to the wire. There are seven teams (us included) that I could foresee taking that last spot. So do I give us a chance? Sure. We’re not mathematically eliminated. That’s the window of hope I have for us making the postseason. And it’s a shame given the fact that we are one of three wild card teams to have a positive run differential in the AL. The six other teams that I could see making the wild card slot all have a negative run differential. Way to go Tigs.

So, yeah. We’re not mathematically eliminated. But with this bullpen, we can’t be competitive. I’m sorry, but it’s true. We have the most blown saves in the league. That is largely due to Kyle Finnegan, just having another off year with his stuff not looking how its supposed to, and Kenley Jansen, the third all-time leader in saves. Kenley’s calling card was his one pitch – his cutter. It was dominant for 10+ years and it’s the reason why he’s the third all-time leader in saves. Now, his cutter sucks. And it’s the only thing he throws. He’s turned into this Tommy Kahnle type figure in the bullpen. He throws one pitch and it’s bad, and I’m never comfortable when he’s in the game. 

Vest, Flaherty, Olsen, and (surprise) Verlander are all currently injured, so we’re really lacking arms in general. Of course, pitching is only one half of the game, but considering how our pitching has been our “strength” in these past years, it’s easy to see why we’re performing so poorly down the stretch.

The offense disappeared against Tampa and KC. Dingler looks dead in the batters box. Riley Greene soils himself every time he has runners on base. The only saving grace the offense has is Spencer Torkelson. I don’t think that sentence has ever been uttered by anyone in the Detroit sports world, so you can understand how dire things are with the Tigers right now.

Still roughly 30 games remain in the season. Are we out of it? No. But don’t get your hopes up. The only thing that can cheer me up at this point is if we beat Skubal, and Kevin wins rookie of the year.

The ‘Stons

I can understand how the Duren situation has looked to the average fan, but I’m here to quell all concerns on the matter. 

It looked bleak for a while. Duren was great in the regular season, terrible in the playoffs, and now wants the max amount of money Detroit can give him. Obviously the playoff performance had left a bad taste in everyone’s mouth, so Detroit said no. Duren then went looking for other offers, and it looked like he had one foot out the door, but now the negotiations have reached a reported standstill.

The standstill probably looks something like this. Duren wanted the max amount of money, so he went looking for a contract. Detroit said they would match any offer. Nobody wanted to pay him the max, because he isn’t worth it (no offense to JD). So Duren came sulking back and it’s looking like we’re going to extend him pretty soon. All water under the bridge, but it’s been pretty weird the past few months.

But let’s take a look at the season as a whole. The Pistons have made very few roster moves, which I was a fan of. We got John Collins to replace Tobias Harris, picked up OKC sharpshooter Isaiah Joe, and sadly got rid of Beef Stew. But given how the eastern conference is looking as of late, I’m kind of glad we didn’t pull off a ‘win now’ move.

The East is significantly more competitive than it was last year. Giannis Antetokounmpo went to the Miami Heat, a controversial move, yes, but I can’t deny they’ll be better than last year. LeBron James and Jaylen Brown took their talents to Philly, to form a super team with Embiid and Maxey. Kawhi Leonard is looking to be headed to Toronto, James Harden is back in Cleveland, and Jayson Tatum is now fully healthy. Not to mention the Knicks, who just came off their first championship since the Jurassic period.

So given all the new additions in the East, I’d put us about middle of the pack. Not great compared to last year, but it’s exactly what the team needs. We were great in the regular season, not amazing in the playoffs. We have a young squad that needs experience. I’ve been vocal about us not being in the competing window for a few more years. Putting us in this gauntlet, full of extremely physical and competitive teams, will make us better. It will give us more playoff experience. We are going to come out of this with some scars, and championship teams need scars.

Our time is coming.