My aunt has been particularly sick of late, so I’ve been away from the blog doing the caregiving thing. I do have some thoughts about what’s going on in the NHL (and the world of the Detroit Red Wings) right now:
- The Red Wings’ decision to leave Traverse City and Centre ICE Arena to hold their prospect tournament and training camp at Little Caesars Arena has to feel like a gut punch to the Traverse City community. Camp in Traverse City may cost the Wings a pretty penny to conduct, but fans from all around areas outside of Southeastern Michigan felt like it was a way to get closer to their team, and the atmosphere up there is incredible. It also brought in significant funds for Centre ICE and the greater Traverse City area, so I hope that the rink and community are able to rebound. I know that building the BELFOR Training Center made a training camp in Detroit inevitable, but it’s still hard to see the trip to TC go.
- At this point, we don’t even know whether the prospect tournament or training camp will be open to the public, however, so we’ll see how things go there.
- I know that there are many trades taking place as we work our way toward Friday and Saturday’s NHL Draft in Buffalo, and if you’re anything like me, you’ve got “the jitters” about Detroit’s inactivity…But Steve Yzerman and the Red Wings’ management team have no reason to accommodate Dylan Larkin’s desire to experience a prompt exit from Detroit, and while I’m not going to deny that the draft would be the optimal time to move him…There is no timeline for Detroit to move Larkin. When the “right deal” comes the Wings’ way, they’ll move him. That may take a couple of days, a couple of weeks, or even a couple of months. I think that it’s equally likely that we’ll see Larkin moved tomorrow and that we could see him holding out as the Wings begin training camp in Detroit this September. In other words, we’re going to see other teams improve themselves and swap high draft picks–get used to it, because Detroit’s not going to be rushed here.
- The Edmonton Oilers hired Mike Babcock as their head coach today. I have mixed feelings about the coach, because he did help the Wings win the Stanley Cup in 2008, but his methodology became increasingly acerbic (and sometimes downright cruel) over the course of his time with the Red Wings. I believe that the Oilers are going to get what they’re paying for from Babcock, both good, bad and indifferent, and they’re making a huge gamble in order to try and earn Connor McDavid a Stanley Cup before he bolts town for greener pastures.
- The Sebastian Cossa situation still baffles me. I know that he’s going to be 24 later this year, and no longer waiver-exempt, but goaltender development is wildly unpredictable, and having Cossa, Michal Postava and Trey Augustine all in the pipeline strikes me as a smarter way to manage assets than to drop Cossa from the equation…But the rumblings from Edmonton cannot be denied, and Cossa’s agent has gotten on the radio in Edmonton insisting that his client will be given a chance to play in the NHL next season, one way or another. My gut feeling is that he’ll be moved.
- And what about Patrick Kane? He’s always taken things year-to-year in Detroit, signing particularly close to the start of free agency most of the time, and he shares Larkin’s agent in Pat Brisson. I know that Kane isn’t the player that he was during his prime, but a 50-points-in-80-games Kane is still extremely useful during games, and his status as a “rink rat” who’s constantly looking to improve in practice and off the ice helps the entire team. Ultimately, it’s going to be up to Patrick Kane to be convinced both monetarily and philosophically that staying in Detroit’s the right choice for him.
- If I’m going to be completely honest, I still don’t believe that the Red Wings are going to “restart the rebuild” after trading Larkin. Moving Alex DeBrincat, losing Kane without an effort to re-sign him, dumping young players and forcing Moritz Seider (the team’s next captain(?)) and Lucas Raymond to endure another 2 to 4 years’ worth of “resetting” seems cruel and incredibly indifferent to a fan base that’s paid higher and higher prices over the course of the past 5 years without receiving any on-ice payoff.
- There’s pressure to get back into the playoff mix for sure, and after watching Montreal and Buffalo make the playoffs, and the Panthers load up for another run, it’s going to be even tougher for the Wings to battle their way through the Division of Death, but they have to at least make an effort to give the paying public something worth showing up for.
- Okay, the aunt’s intestinal pain is calling, and I need to double check on her to make sure that she’s taken her evening medications. I still hope to return to the blog on a much more consistent basis for the draft and free agency, and it will be difficult to balance with caring for my aunt as she’s in an acute state right now, but I’m going to try to make it work (with her blessing). Take care, and I’ll see you soon.
