Of brief Red Wings-related note this afternoon:
- I’d normally look at this quote and toss it, but Dylan Larkin said something about the Red Wings’ attempts to recruit Michiganders to the AP’s Stephen Whyno, and Whyno included the remark in an article about “new faces in new places“:
ALEX DeBRINCAT: Dylan Larkin was sour when the Detroit Red Wings were selling at the trade deadline, unsure the direction GM Steve Yzerman was going with the retooling process. That changed in July when Yzerman traded for two-time 41-goal scorer Alex DeBrincat and signed him to a long-term extension.
“We’ve had conversations in the past of getting some Michigan-grown talent back,” Larkin said of his discussions with Yzerman. “You never know how or if or who it could be, but there’s a lot of great players that have ties to the state of Michigan. Alex wanted to be here. It was just good timing.”
DeBrincat isn’t the only Michigan native joining the Red Wings. They also acquired defenseman Jeff Petry from Montreal after he was sent there in the Karlsson trade with the understanding the Canadiens wouldn’t keep him.
Kind of interesting to know that Larkin and Yzerman speak, even if it’s irregularly…
2. And you may take this from EP Rinkside’s Sean Shapiro as you wish to:
Connor Bedard is understandably one of the NHL’s biggest storylines this season. The phenom, the next “generational talent,” has done the nearly impossible – made preseason games somewhat interesting.
This past week, when the Chicago Blackhawks were coming to Detroit for a preseason game, more tickets actually sold after it was announced Bedard would be in the lineup.
Detroit Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde’s sons, who are teenagers, weren’t planning on going to the game. But they decided to go watch their dad at work once it was clear he’d be coaching against Bedard.
While there is already some Bedard fatigue from diehard fans, it’s important to recognize that he represents one of the best marketing opportunities the NHL have had since Wayne Gretzky played for the New York Rangers.
Chicago is the third largest market in North America, with all due respect to Edmonton and Pittsburgh, Bedard with the Blackhawks has a bigger opportunity for everyday sports relevance than Sidney Crosby with the Pittsburgh Penguins or Connor McDavid with the Edmonton Oilers.
It’s why the Blackhawks, even though they’ll be bad, are playing on national television on opening night.
Given the reaction to his preseason, empty-net goal against the Red Wings, and given the way that the Hawks’ announcer kept on saying “Foligno to BEDARD…To Perry, now Jones, to BEDARD…” I get that the hype is real. And I get that Connor Bedard is a hell of a player. But why did he end up with such a shitty organization as the Chickenhawks really are?
