Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman and Kyle Bukauskas discuss the Dylan Larkin situation on today’s episode of “32 Thoughts.”
At the 23:25 mark, Friedman and Bukauskas talk about Dylan Larkin’s evasive press conference, and Friedman says that his theory is that Larkin was really disappointed and upset that the trade request got out.
Friedman broke the rumor, and he knows that Larkin was really disappointed and upset that it got out, because Larkin got pounded by fans all summer, so Larkin was asking people to “not pour gas on the fire” because Larkin’s still here without the “C” and with an injury to boot.
Friedman actually argues that Larkin’s strategy is a good one as he’s going to have to play for Detroit, knowing that the Wings’ fans could boo him heavily, and as such, Larkin felt that it was time to suggest that things were bad, but shouldn’t be made worse.
According to Friedman, there is a list that the NHL requires teams to fill out as to whom is making their hockey decisions, and whether or not someone is listed as the decision-maker, it’s done…
And Friedman feels that the Wings’ organization had to name an interim GM to “have someone in charge” of decision-making, so that’s what happened with Shawn Horcoff and his “incredible opportunity” after Tigers GM Jeff Greenberg dropped out of contention for the job as the #1 contender.
Friedman also emphasizes that other candidates for Wings GM is that many of the younger executives are “siloed” in terms of their skill set being restricted to only a certain set of things, managerially speaking, which complicates their GM search.
Friedman states that Shawn Horcoff has the advantage of being “in the chair” and can show Chris Ilitch that he’s ready for the job by doing the job, even though he has a connection to the ousted Steve Yzerman.
According to Friedman, the Wings wanted to sign Simon Edvinsson to a bridge deal over the summer, so that contract should display whether Horcoff has the authority to give Edvinsson a long-term deal, whether the Red Wings can keep Alex DeBrincat for 7 years instead of 8 due to the new CBA…
And Friedman found it particularly interesting that Horcoff told the press that he’s not going to rebuild the team.
He says that the Wings were not willing to make a Larkin deal that wasn’t for immediate help, per scuttlebutt during the offseason, and Yzerman had warned the Red Wings that they would not “win the deal” in the short term, though they could still set up a long-term “win.”
So Friedman says that Horcoff has to “keep the chair” through displaying his managerial acumen.
Bukauskas and Friedman agree that the Red Wings should not go into a full rebuild with Seider and Raymond in the lineup, though the Atlantic Division is probably the deepest division in the NHL, and the segment peters out from there.
