Friedman: "I always wonder about Detroit whenever a top defender is available"
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The Great Weal
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I feel rather privileged to have such excellent insiders with some ground-breaking news.
eviohh26
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VoluntaryDom
Formerly DominicBoltsFan / Ⓐ / ✞
Honestly, under a certain age, Detroit should be in the market for pretty much everything.
A lot of good, not great prospects in the pipeline has the immediate to long term outlook of this team so grim (on top of the contracts and cap issues currently)
Detroit needs a star to build around and I dont think Larkin, Mantha, or Svehnikov are that for the red wings. They are nice pieces, but I feel if those are the guys you are building around, Detroit will be a bad to mediocre team for a long time
A lot of good, not great prospects in the pipeline has the immediate to long term outlook of this team so grim (on top of the contracts and cap issues currently)
Detroit needs a star to build around and I dont think Larkin, Mantha, or Svehnikov are that for the red wings. They are nice pieces, but I feel if those are the guys you are building around, Detroit will be a bad to mediocre team for a long time
Empoleon8771
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It's hard to tell what Detroit needs. I honestly think a path they should consider is trade literally anyone of value off the roster above age 23 for futures, tank and wait out the bad contracts on your team. That team is a mess right now.
WingsMJN2965
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thats what im saying, they need a tear down on all fronts. major holes at forward, defense, and goaltending and the worst part is none of them are core pieces or guys young enough to be in long term plans
but as a RW fan pointed out in another thread, they are in a precarious position with just building a massively expensive new arena and now they might not want to do a full tear down because they need to fill those seats and start paying off that arena
the other thing is Holland seems like he has no idea how to rebuild the team, too many stop gaps and half measures and wont commit to it.
also, didnt holland say a couple years ago that he wouldnt ever do a rebuild because they take too long and they take 10 years or something?
BB88
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Only Larkin is a player that has the value of him on that roster.
WingsMJN2965
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They're not in a precarious position at all. You tear it down now and rebuild over the next 3-5 years, or you keep pretending you're competitive and spend 7-10 years in the hockey hell where you're not good enough to make the playoffs but not bad enough to draft top tier talent.
its easy for us to say, precarious for the upper management as they look at attendance numbers, concessions, arena costs, taxes, etc
i would bet its not such an easy position to completely tear down a team, knowing the team following/attendance/merchandise sales are going to slip a bit when you are selling off half the team when you are the one paying the bills/managing the organizations bottom line
granted Detroit has never seemed like a cheap team, they havent also been in a position like this for three decades
also, if a FULL rebuild takes, lets say 5-7 years, im not convinced Holland wants to commit to that at 62, it would pretty much take him right into retirement. i bet he continues to try and navigate the waters on the fly and plug holes every year as opposed to having a five year plan
i mean lets not forget, you need complete sign off from ownership for a complete tear down with the premise that the bottom line will hurt the next few years. not all owners sign off on that and typically say "figure it out or you're fired and i'll find someone else who will. you arent wasting my money for the next 5 years"
WingsMJN2965
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There's not much to tear down at this point. The only guys with trade value are a guy we literally don't have the cap space to re-sign in Green, and two mediocre wingers, which is the only position we're somewhat healthy in.
Dan Kelly
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would a top defender make Detroit an instant winner considering what they'd have to give up to get one? nobody's going to take castoffs and the Wings 1st rounder and give up a top d-man. not going to happen. the Wings should continue to rebuild and see if they can sign a UFA like John Carlson for free should he make it to free agency.
WingsMJN2965
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They'd have to give up Larkin or Mantha minimum, and it'd likely be for a defender older than either of those two. There's literally no point, and it wouldn't really make this team any better. Just hurts their chances at getting a possibly generational defender in Dahlin.
It'd be an incredibly foolish move.
TheBradyBunch
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I always wonder about a team needing a top defensemen when top defensemen are available.
The media has built such a mystique around Detroit's management (for a period it was earned) that they somehow believe Holland can use jedi-mind tricks to somehow make a top defender appear despite them not having the assets to do it. Larkin may be a centerpiece but what you would have to add on top combined with losing Larkin creates a major hole where there is no immediate replacement means that a trade involving Larkin makes no sense.
WingsMJN2965
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Especially for a 30 year old...
Not to mention Detroit doesn't have the cap space to make it work.
Number1RedWingsFan52
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Yeah no way we'd deal Larkin for an injury riddled Letang. It'd would need to be Oliver Ekman-Larsson or something around Erik Karlsson with an agreed extension to make me possibly consider moving him.
WingsMJN2965
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Wouldn't even do that. Both would be of little help by the time Detroit is competitive again.
Detroit is absolutely bad enough to get top draft picks without even selling/tanking. They started the year 4-1 and have been worse than everyone not named the Sabres or Coyotes since. That roster is nowhere near good enough to even compete for the bubble, that is a high lottery odds teams unless they make multiple win now moves.
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Its a Trap
Yes I’m still here to piss you off
Why would Detroit trade for a top defenseman? I thought most of their fans were upset by all the winning going on and in favor of tearing it all down?
WingsMJN2965
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Not that it detracts from your point at all but Ottawa has arguably been worse too.
... Hopefully that changes though. Dahlin would be a hell of a start. Especially with Mantha and Larkin already on the team.
ManwithNoIdentity
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Have zero hope in getting Dahlin honestly. Knowing our teams luck lately we'll be okay to get in the wild card position and not bad enough to have a shot at Dahlin.
