Holy shit, folks. Red Wings fans seem to have too much time on their hands, because there’s “much ado about nothing” going on both within and without the fan base, with the clickbait kings of the interweb benefiting the most from misplaced rage.
So Dylan Larkin, the Red Wings’ captain, did what captains do, and discussed his disappointment regarding the Red Wings’ relatively quiet trade deadline during his postseason press conference.
Good! A team captain fairly and understandably expressed criticism of the team’s management group, most probably expressing the feelings felt by the majority of his teammates through his statements. That’s good and healthy and normal for a leader to speak out for his charges; I was happy to hear that Larkin was comfortable enough in his role to offer some constructive criticism as his days in the media sun for the 2024-2025 season draw to a close.
As far as I’m concerned, Larkin utilized the proper medium by which to express his thoughts and feelings about his team’s direction, and he did so while also expressing a high level of personal responsibility for the team’s disappointing finish. All healthy and signs of strong leadership.
A few days later, Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman held an incredibly organized press conference, utilizing Wings coach Todd McLellan as his “wing man,” and Yzerman expressed a different opinion than Larkin’s, suggesting that the team’s best players should have provided a post-trade deadline “boost” after Yzerman was unable to swing a substantive deadline deal.
Moreover, Yzerman stated that he’d addressed the issue with Larkin over the course of the team’s exit meetings, and while GMSY chose not to make his comments to Larkin public, he encouraged Larkin to share them with the media if he wishes to do so.
Good! A GM’s job involves explaining his rationale for trades made or not made, and Yzerman did that. Just as importantly, Yzerman shared his side of the story in a meeting with the captain. That’s what you want to hear–that there are open and honest lines of communication between players and management.
As you might imagine, I was taken aback by the attempts made by the clickbait kings and sports talk radio hosts to play this stuff up as trade rumor-inducing fodder, or indications that the relationship between a traitorous captain and ineffective GM have been irreparably strained.
I call bullshit.
The Red Wings’ captain has every right to express criticism of the management group, and the Red Wings’ general manager has every right to respond with his own opinion.
That’s not the stuff of trade rumor gold or the “Spittin’ Chiclets” Twitter account, 97.1 the Ticket or the rest of the rumormongers suggesting that it’s WWE Wrestling-style conflict brewing in the Motor City.
It’s much ado about nothing. I’d be worried and/or concerned if Larkin spoke with the media while keeping his frustrations to himself, visibly holding back in terms of his commentary, and I’d be even more worried and/or concerned if GM Yzerman declined comment regarding his captain’s concerns.
Instead, we witnessed a healthy public exchange of opinions, indicating that the private exchanges thereof were blunt, honest, and constructive.
That’s not the team captain committing blasphemy, or the GM excusing himself from responsibility for his deadline moves, or the lack thereof.
Instead, we’re talking about signs that the Red Wings’ players have open doors with which to address the coaching staff and management with their concerns, and that, when disagreements arise, there may not be instances of mutual agreement, but there are at least instances in which conflicting thoughts and opinions yield meetings of minds to work things out.
It was quite honestly a relief for me to hear Larkin and Yzerman address the issue of the team’s relative inactivity at the trade deadline exactly as they did. Larkin committed no blasphemy in sharing his opinions publicly, and Yzerman didn’t return a stunning rebuke of his captain’s remarks.
I understand if you saw things differently, but I really, truly don’t believe in my head or my heart, as both a Red Wings partisan and as someone who tries to be as objective as possible when able, that that there is any “there it is!” there.
I believe that those who seek to generate clicks, website and Twitter views and stir-the-shit disputes and arguments are issuing sound and fury which signifies nothing this time around.
As Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff suggested, Dylan Larkin is not going to be traded for making the comments that he chose to publicly share. And the Red Wings’ GM did nothing to indicate that he did anything less than speak with his captain in a civil manner regarding any potential areas of disagreement.
Those are the signs of a healthy player-management relationship, not the signs of trouble in the henhouse.
Where there is internet and talk radio fire here, there’s not only no smoke, but there’s no real ignition source. The only smell of burning comes from the purveyors of lies, rumors and innuendo about any and every conflict from which these clickbait kings and queens can generate their own profit.
In blunter terms, y’all need to calm the eff down here, and pipe the eff down, too, while we’re at it. This isn’t Mutiny on the Bounty stuff.
This is, at worst, a through-the-media conversation between the captain and the GM, with every indication that the disagreements were ironed out in a frank and honest discussion.
There’s no insurrection, no furious retort, no simmering mutinous intentions from the team’s player personnel. Instead, we received insights into a healthy conversation, and that’s just the fact of the matter here.
Calm down, everybody. There’s just no need to freak out and explode into arguments or proclamations of discontent on social media.
We witnessed a healthy relationship in process, and the results will hopefully involve actions based upon constructive criticism suggesting that the organization needs some help–which Yzerman acknowledged during his end-of-season presser.
Is change coming to the Red Wings? Yes, hopefully. It’s just not going to involve any fissures between Dylan Larkin and Steve Yzerman.
Now let’s move on to the next thing.
