So we’ve reached the point where Red Wings forward Dylan Larkin has chosen to withhold his services in the expectation that doing so will assist in facilitating a trade away from the team with which he’s reached irreconcilable differences.

In other words, Dylan’s holding out until he’s dealt out.

It’s sort of stupid, honestly, to go be your ex’s plus-one at a wedding that neither of you want to attend, and then refuse to show up at the reception because there are hard feelings, but that’s where we’re at.

I know that Shawn Horcoff has an impossible challenge on his hands in maximizing the value of a player who’s become a malcontent, but if I did have a voice in the front office, I’d tell him to keep a stiff upper lip amidst the articles, podcasts, TV hits and Tweets mocking him, the Red Wings, and the situation in which the team finds itself.

He’s the interim GM. He can handle the slings and arrows. His job is to wait until he finds a deal which maximizes Dylan Larkin’s trade value, and to explore and negotiate until and only until he and the Wings’ management team (and ownership) feel that they’ve found proper compensation for Larkin’s attributes.

Rushing the job because Larkin is unhappy will not facilitate a happier end for the organization, though it may spare Larkin’s feelings, and so it’s a “tough shit, Dylan” situation for the organization. They’ve got to persevere and deal with being made fun of for their indecisive summer and rush-job to patch up the front office in the fall, because they can only assuage for their mistakes by making a damn good hockey trade for Larkin, and managing the Simon Edvinsson situation to the point that there is some sort of reconciliation that doesn’t involve departure.

Trade Larkin, but take as much time as it takes to trade him. Find a way to reconcile with and re-sign Edvinsson, even if it goes beyond December 1st, and Edvinsson has to sit out the entire season in the NHL and go back to play for Frolunda in Sweden or something like that.

Be patient, be decisive, explore, discuss, reassess, and evaluate as necessary to ensure that you maximize the value of your assets.

That’s competent management, plain and simple, and that’s what the Red Wings desperately need. Competent management, circumstances be damned.

I went to my doctor’s office on Tuesday, and was told that I likely have a viral infection, so the doctor gave me a prescription sinus spray and asked me to “tough it out” for 7 to 10 more days before we do anything else health-wise. That was not the news I or Aunt Annie were hoping for, but it is what it is, so there’s that.

Otherwise…

–It appears that the Dylan Larkin situation is at least beginning to reach its conclusion, and all we really can do is hang on for the ride. Over-speculating and panicking about the inevitable break-up doesn’t help us manage our fears or anxieties; buying into the people who are posting click-bait stories about the situation doesn’t help, either. The few insiders who we should all really trust, and the Wings’ media corps, will tell us what we need to do, and, in the interim…We all wait.

–My thought about Simon Edvinsson needing to be signed before December 1st (any player who signs after December 1st is ineligible to play in the NHL without clearing waivers this season) isn’t gonna be popular, but here it is: if he cannot or will not re-sign with the Wings in a month, I’d tell him to go play for Frolunda for the rest of the season. I wouldn’t trade Edvinsson, period, no matter how appealing some trade situations might seem to be. As far as I’m concerned, Edvinsson would always be the best player in any trade, and if you’re giving up the best asset, you lose the trade every time you make it. He’s a truly special top-pair defenseman, and those players cannot be replaced by prospects and picks, so I’d manage the asset by writing off 2026-2027 and hoping that my team could work out a deal with Edvinsson for next year.

–I enjoyed the hell out of Michal Postava’s dominant start against the Oilers, but I tried very hard to take it with salt. Postava is clearly pretty NHL-ready, but one dominant performance, even against McDavid, Draisaitl, etc. doesn’t mean that it’s time to trade John Gibson or Daniil Tarasov just yet. The Wings will have more goaltending injuries, and as Trey Augustine is still getting his feet wet at the professional level, I’d keep Postava in the #3 spot until he fully unseats one of the Wings’ top goaltenders over the course of more than one game.

–I pretty much expected the Wings to start at the “new-age .500,” as Ken Daniels said the other night, so the Wings’ 5-4-and-3 record does not concern me after 11 games played. Given that they are missing a key driver of play in Marco Kasper and now Albert Johansson on defense, holding their own and earning some shootout wins are more important than dominating hockey games in October, especially given that Gibson is a notoriously slow starter, and that the new core is coming together now that Larkin’s been playing at 75-85% of his true potential since the start of the season. The penalty-kill has to improve dramatically, of course, and soon, but I’ve been relatively happy with the Wings’ overall efforts (for the most part) over the first 11 games, and “it’s a start” for a team with both personnel issues and a team floating within a sea of distractions is OK by me.

–Along those lines, yes, the Red Wings are going to “lose” the Larkin trade, because he’s probably the best player part of the trade, too, but it’s evident that the relationship between player and team cannot be salvaged. Edvinsson is a different player in a different stage in his career at only 23, and that’s why I’d play hardball with him until he capitulates and re-signs for a Brinks truck’s worth of money. Larkin’s like the ex with whom you parted on amicable terms (eventually), who’s still living in your apartment because you and he split the lease that expires in at the end of October, and you’re still in the same residence even though the romantic relationship is over.

–I know this sounds funny, but it’s going to be weird to see Patrick Kane in a Blackhawks sweater this evening. His three years with the Wings were so instructive in terms of both teaching the younger players that “rink rats” who are always trying to improve their game are the ones who last the longest in the NHL, and Kane also gave the Wings some “swagger” back, and those things were invaluable lessons for a young team that needed some positive reinforcement. I hope he doesn’t do well against Detroit tonight, of course, because I am no Blackhawks partisan, but I do wish him well overall.

–And one more thing: as soon as the Wings have 7 healthy defensemen again, I’d send Axel Sandin Pellikka to Grand Rapids for his own sake. He should be playing hockey regularly once Albert Johansson is healthy again, and if ASP is in the AHL, that’s okay. He’s getting to the point that sitting doesn’t benefit his development (yes, he can still develop into a star defenseman, but not if he’s sitting in the press box), so let’s see him play, please, Detroit management.

Okay, I’ll keep it short as there’s likely to be more news popping up soon. Take care, everybody. As soon as I can sit up and blog, I’m going to be back at work.

Hey gang,

I remain physically ill despite my best efforts to get better, and I’m seriously bummed out about the situation.

I have a primary care physician’s office visit scheduled shortly, and at that time I will determine the next steps necessary to get back to doing the job I love to do.

So I’ve been quite sick, the website is acting funky and customer support can’t solve whatever issues are causing the shenanigans, and the Red Wings are 1-3-and-2, though the team did sign Alex DeBrincat to a 7-year, $91 million contract this morning.

Some simple thoughts here:

1. I’m not patting Chris Ilitch on the back for ponying up the dollars to sign DeBrincat to an appropriately-large long-term contract (remember when the salary cap was $39 million in 2005-2006, and Robert Lang was overpaid at $4 million?)–that’s the job of a proactive, progressive ownership group, to put up the big Pizza Pizza money when necessary–but I am glad to see that Shawn Horcoff can exceed the Moritz Seider/Dylan Larkin cap in order to retain talent…
2. And it’s equally great that DeBrincat chose to remain in Detroit. More than a few people on the hockey podcasts/YouTube shows are asking why the hell DeBrincat would choose to sign with the Red Wings long-term because the move makes no sense, and I’d kindly extend my middle finger for a “Detroit Salute” at those who cannot comprehend that some people are perfectly happy to remain with their hometown teams, and that not everyone thinks that the Red Wings are going to suck for the next ten years.
3. I’m also very enthused by Shawn Horcoff’s comments today suggesting that neither he nor the team have any intentions of trading Simon Edvinsson. I hesitate to use the word “stupid” to describe people or things, but any trade in which Simon Edvinsson is involved is a trade in which the Red Wings’ #1B defenseman is the best player in the trade, and it would be stupid to trade a top-pair defenseman for anything less than a top-pair defenseman in return. Really, really stupid. The trade suggestions that the Red Wings should trade Edvinsson for forwards and/or futures are even dumber. You don’t trade a sure thing for a bunch of lottery tickets, and you don’t blow a hole in your defensive depth chart for the sake of addressing a completely different need. Edvinsson needs to be signed, and signed by December 1st. I’m glad that he’s back in North America (Kudos to Ryan Hana of the Winged Wheel Podcast for snagging that one) and I hope that, at some point, Edvinsson and the Wings come to an amenable contract agreement. It may take a while for Edvinsson to cool down in terms of the heated desire for a trade, but it’s going to be in his best interests to stay here, and vice versa.
4. As far as Dylan Larkin is concerned, I know that he’s just getting his “sea legs” under him, but my impression of him thus far is that he’s playing at 75% to 85% of his performance envelope thus far. I understand that the situation with Larkin is complicated–it’s like you’re stuck living with your ex-partner because both of you have your names on an apartment lease until spring, and you don’t want to break favorable terms on the lease just because you’ve broken up…But you know that, at some point, you’re going to move out and he’s going to move out, and you’re going to go your separate ways. That sense of an inevitability of break-up seems to have colored Larkin’s game thus far, and while I know he missed a chunk of training camp, some of his heart doesn’t seem to be in it right now. For now, the best thing he can do for both himself and the Red Wings is to give Detroit his “A Game” instead of his “B Game,” but that’s got to be difficult to manifest on a daily basis. He will be traded at some point, I believe, and I think that he’s very relieved to no longer be wearing the heavy “C” on his jersey.
5. John Gibson is starting very slowly (again), and that’s discouraging. Lucas Raymond is starting very slowly (this is new), and that’s disconcerting. The penalty-kill sucks (again). Players like Nate Danielson, Carter Mazur (even if it takes waiving him) and Axel Sandin Pellikka all look like they need more seasoning in Grand Rapids…
6. But Emmitt Finnie is fulfilling his entire potential as an NHL sophomore, which some of us believed he could but may not be able to achieve over the course of 3-5 years of development, Viktor Arvidsson’s motor goes up to 33 on a scale of 1 to 10, Ben Chiarot of all people looks good with Mo Seider again, Anton Johansson has moments of greatness and moments of learning by making mistakes, both William Wallinder and Andreas Englund are solidly quiet, Daniil Tarasov was superb in the Wings’ encouraging shootout loss to Montreal, and Sheldon Dries got called up from Grand Rapids to push “the kids” and show them how to play physically and simply solid hockey. Michael Brandsegg-Nygard is also showing flashes of power forward potential, Keegan Kolesar is finding his way, Justin Faulk’s offensive game is excellent, though he’s an adventure in his own zone thus far, and when he’s up with Seider, Albert Johansson looks great.
7. I’d love to see Detroit’s special teams play better. I’d love to see more offense from the non-DeBrincat-Finnie-“Taxi” Brandsegg-Nygard line, and I’d love to see every player try 5% harder to not cheat toward offense for the sake of playing better defense as the Wings utilize that awful 1-3-1 trap in the neutral zone, because sharper, simpler and more consistent hockey in all three zones is a recipe for success. But I’m very happy with coach Todd McLellan and the rest of the coaching staff and video crew–they’ve been sharp, reacted well, and McLellan’s lieutenants seem to have the pulse of the team down pat–and if the players would just listen to their coach more regularly, they’d win more often.
8. It definitely sucks that the Wings are blowing their home-ice opening slate, but the Wings will have 4 road games with which to bond away from the rink and play beatable teams in Seattle, Vancouver, Calgary and then step up for the final road game in Edmonton over the course of the next week-and-a-half, and perhaps some time away from “home” will give the team the cohesion they usually build over the course of training camp in Traverse City or a longer preseason.
9. The Grand Rapids Griffins are also playing well (and no, I am not worried about Trey Augustine’s early struggles, he’s young and raw at the pro level), from Michal Postava on out, and players skating elsewhere, like Eddie Genborg, Myles Brosnan and others, are showing flashes of becoming special players.
10. Overall, the Red Wings’ early-season record is not ideal by any stretch of the imagination, but the “interim” management team seems to be on the right track, Gibson and Raymond’s slow starts are salvageable, Larkin can offer a bit better of a “B Game,” there are good performances from many individual players, and the upcoming road trip should be a great time to reset if the rest of the home stand continues to show the Wings’ sometimes shaky foundations.
11. Long story long, there’s no real reason to panic about the coaches, players or prospects, DeBrincat chose to stay, Edvinsson will eventually choose to sign (I hope!), and it’s a matter of starting to play balls-to-the-wall, blue-collar hockey in order to start winning games. I do not have any idea whether this is going to be a rebuilding season or a season of steps taken forward, but I do believe that it’s too early to freak the hell out about anything that’s within the team’s control.

Things could be a lot better for sure, but this is a team in progress, the latest flashes of potential in the shootout loss to Montreal and the OT loss to New Jersey were extremely positive in my opinion, and if everybody can get their shit together and find the same page of coach McLellan’s playbook, this team will take some real steps forward. I’m as tired of waiting around to see it fulfill its potential as you are, but I am hopeful about the season to come.

The headline’s blunt, and I’m going to be equally blunt here.

I’m still battling against this flu/viral illness some 10 days after I had to pull the chute on the blog.

I’m very pissed off because I am still ill and feel absolutely terrible, with the usual fever/chills, body aches and pains and extreme fatigue.

It appears that this is going to take at least 10-14 days to clear up; I was very enthused when I was able to cover the Wings-Habs game on Twitter, but I then needed to take all of Sunday off to recover energy-wise, so I’m making only incremental progress.

As soon as I am able to sit up and work on the blog without requiring massive amounts of recovery time, I’m back, even if it’s at 50%.

I want to do this damn job and I want to do it well for you, so I am incredibly frustrated with the persistence of illness at this time.

I had a really shitty setback today, illness-wise, so I wasn’t able to come back for tonight’s game vs. the Senators, as initially planned.

Nonetheless, as I continue to recover from this viral illness/flu bug, I have some thoughts regarding what’s going on with the Red Wings.

1. As I said on Twitter, I understand that Simon Edvinsson is pissed off at the Red Wings right now. He came over to training camp on his own dime and his own insurance premium, and the Wings were unable or unwilling to offer him a contract worth sticking around for…But Edvinsson is going to be the best player in any deal involving him, so the Red Wings have a) neither the obligation to trade him, b) nor the inclination to accommodate his request. If I’m Detroit, I get someone over to Gothenburg, Sweden right fricking now with a Brinks truck full of money–I don’t care whether he costs $10+ million to sign to a long-term contract–and I get the deal done.
2. I also said on Twitter that, if Mike Ilitch where still alive, he would have flown to Gothenburg on the corporate jet himself to sort out the situation. I really do believe that…
3. And as such, I felt that Chris Ilitch’s LinkedIn post was, at the same time, both well-intended and incredibly tone-deaf. It read like a press release, and it read like someone else could have written it for him. I wanted to read something that was actually written by a human being, and instead, it was corporate double-speak, not acknowledging the issues which have the fans frustrated. Did it make things worse? No, but it sure as hell didn’t make things better.
4. As far as Dylan Larkin’s play is concerned, to me, he’s a warm body that can post a point per game or nearly so for the Red Wings for as long as he’s employed by the Red Wings. He’s eventually going to be traded out of Detroit, regardless of the timeline thereof, but for now, our unpleasant feelings toward Larkin for asking for a trade are somewhat irrelevant once his skates hit the ice in Red Wings colors. To some extent, we have to disassociate the man from the player, and cheer for the assets he can provide for the team we’re rooting for for as long as he’s here. He’s an employee of the Detroit Red Wings, and whatever positives he can bring on the ice, that’s all that matters right now.
5. As I write this, the Red Wings are in the 2nd intermission of a hard-fought game against the Ottawa Senators, and Detroit has a tough set of back-to-backs against Seattle and then in Montreal this weekend, all down Marco Kasper, Mason Appleton and J.T. Compher, which yields handicapped, thin set of forwards. As such, coach McLellan going 11 forwards and 7 defensemen makes sense, and it’s been great to see Albert Johansson step up as Moritz Seider’s D partner, and it’s been really enthusing to see the team slowly but surely build that McLellan identity as harder to play against and a little harsher upon their opponents. I know that the first two games were disappointing, but it’s early yet, and there’s still time for the team to evolve into a harder, faster and better collection of individuals who are coming together to play for both each other and the fans who they represent.
6. In other words, there’s hope yet. The Wings just have to embody it.
7. Finally, I was very happy to read that the Wings are revamping their scouting department to some extent, with Kris Draper becoming the head of the pro scouting department, Jesse Wallin taking over amateur scouting, and Mark Leach returning from Toronto (and Dallas before that) as a head scout.
8. All of that is good for the organization, and it was equally encouraging to hear Nicklas Lidstrom tell Expressen’s Gunnar Nordstrom last week that he would remain the VP of hockey operations. I know that some of this reads like shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic, but the Wings’ listing ship can still be turned back in a prosperous direction if managed well by Shawn Horcoff and the management team.

I’m sorry about the interruption in service over the past couple of days. Missing the first two games is not ideal. I have been tremendously sick with my “flu bug”/viral illness, and I’ve barely been able to take care of my aunt or myself due to extreme fatigue, fever, sweats and chills, a cough and plain old pain over the course of the past three days.

I’ll be back as soon as I can sit up. I can and will blog while battling through illness, but over the course of the last couple of days, all I’ve been able to do is be on my back, tossing and turning as I slept.

Shit happens. I actually despise being sick, and I’ll have to make up for it.

The Detroit Red Wings open their 2026-2027 campaign against the New York Rangers tonight at LCA (6:30 PM EDT start on TNT/97.1 FM). Detroit held their morning skate at 9:30 AM due to the early start, and it appears that John Gibson will start in goal vs. Dylan Garand and the 1-and-1 Rangers, who defeated Tampa Bay 5-1 last night; Anton Johansson will make his NHL debut.

The Red Wings just posted a video of Anton Johansson, Justin Faulk and coach Todd McLellan speaking with the media:

Todd McLellan: "We're the Detroit Red Wings, and that means something. We have a lot of stuff going on around us, but we're still the Detroit Red Wings. And if it doesn't mean anything to me, or to the players in the locker room, or the trainers, or anyone else in the…

— Michael Whitaker (@mwhitaker_89) October 2, 2026

From PWHL Detroit:

You kept asking where is the schedule, so naturally, we did some digging🕵️

Examine the evidence: https://t.co/YNoqCCWYHu pic.twitter.com/L6MWDRcYqj

— PWHL Detroit (@pwhl__detroit) October 2, 2026

Consider your calendar booked because HOCKEY IS BACK!🗓️

Your 2026-2027 full season schedule is here!

🔗 Full schedule: https://t.co/lQn3wxJEEa
📰 Read More: https://t.co/GXcFtH8Rdi pic.twitter.com/nWUrapQyTN

— PWHL Detroit (@pwhl__detroit) October 2, 2026

The Athletic’s Sean McIndoe posted an “all-intrigue” team as the 2026-2027 season begins, and McIndoe suggests that the situation surrounding Alex DeBrincat is worth monitoring:

Alex DeBrincat, Detroit Red Wings

Dylan Larkin is the easy pick here, and yeah, I can’t wait to see what kind of reaction he gets if and when he actually suits up. But we know that trade is coming soon. What do they do with DeBrincat, coming off a 41-goal season and set for a windfall when he hits the UFA market next summer? If you’re the Wings, do you extend him on a long-term deal that would take him to his mid-30s? Trade him? Let it play out? And maybe the most important question: Are the Wings even capable of making that kind of decision these days? I’m not sure they are, but every DeBrincat goal is only going to ramp up the pressure.

Continued (paywall)