Thee Official 2025-2026 Detroit Red Wings Thread: Everywhere I look it's a darkness

[Grand Moff Larkin]

I was surprised that OEL wasn’t moved

[Grand Moff Larkin]

Just saw an Instagram post relating a proposal from JFresh (who I do not like!) in which the Wings trade Larkin to the Devils for Hischier, and then extend Hischier 11.5 x 8, so almost three mill more than Larkin.

I don’t see how it helps Detroit. You pay more for a guy with at best the same ceiling? Plus Larkin is a Michigan Man and Hischier has fellow Swiss dude Timo Meier in NJ. The Wings either need to reset younger (under 24, not 27) or upgrade if they’re going to move Larkin.

[Grand Moff Larkin]

Cross-referencing HF Boards

If the Wings add one of Augustine or Cossa then sure.

MBN would be hot also.

Would much rather have Hischier resign which is 99% going to happen.

[kit fox]

When the Devils scored the go-ahead goal, I was busy telling my son the ways in which the Wings could make the playoffs (for the tenth time in the last week).

He just turned 11 and the only time the Wings made the playoffs in his life was when he was an infant.

damn this is depressing as hell, I turned 11 in 1997. he deserves better.


I had a dream the other night that they traded larkin, and tbh I have had a weird feeling about it since he went to the wh

[Grand Moff Larkin]

It's absolutely possible that they trade Larkin -- that would be the culture shift. Aside from the White House / Trump stuff (which suuuuucked but Hockey Players), he's a tough evaluation as the team's leader: when he's really clicking (which happens more consistently on the international / all-star stage), he looks like a legit 1C, but his play style leads to a few different things: first, he can absolutely get off his game / go on tilt when someone takes a cheap shot at him (Mathieu Joseph, for example), and while I can't blame him for wanting to have a working neck, he's too important for that and it derails the whole team. Second, he gets physically burned out by like February each year, and just doesn't have that top gear. Third, and related to the previous one, he tends to get hurt around that time. It's one thing for Jamie Fucking Benn to break his neck, but this year it was a weird non-contact knee injury. The Wings fall apart if he's not driving play.

I really don't know what they can do in the offseason to take a major step forward. It's hard to see a way in which they trade Larkin and get better. There are no impact free agents. Maybe MBN / Danielson come up and add fresh legs, but Appleton and Compher are still under contract. I don't especially want to think about it.

I also didn't watch last night's game against the BLOT as a form of self-care. Coming back from 3-1 down to lose in OT on a Kucherov goal seems like the most 2025-2026 Red Wings game possible.

[kit fox]

It's absolutely possible that they trade Larkin -- that would be the culture shift. Aside from the White House / Trump stuff (which suuuuucked but Hockey Players), he's a tough evaluation as the team's leader: when he's really clicking (which happens more consistently on the international / all-star stage), he looks like a legit 1C, but his play style leads to a few different things: first, he can absolutely get off his game / go on tilt when someone takes a cheap shot at him (Mathieu Joseph, for example), and while I can't blame him for wanting to have a working neck, he's too important for that and it derails the whole team. Second, he gets physically burned out by like February each year, and just doesn't have that top gear. Third, and related to the previous one, he tends to get hurt around that time. It's one thing for Jamie Fucking Benn to break his neck, but this year it was a weird non-contact knee injury. The Wings fall apart if he's not driving play.

I really don't know what they can do in the offseason to take a major step forward. It's hard to see a way in which they trade Larkin and get better. There are no impact free agents. Maybe MBN / Danielson come up and add fresh legs, but Appleton and Compher are still under contract. I don't especially want to think about it.

I also didn't watch last night's game against the BLOT as a form of self-care. Coming back from 3-1 down to lose in OT on a Kucherov goal seems like the most 2025-2026 Red Wings game possible.

Yeah, sadly hockey is the political environment it is so I wasn't as shocked about that aspect, the february burn out is what really kills me. Politics aside, it felt like he should *know* that because he struggles physically in the back half of the season, he should have been back for that first practice back to fulfill the psychological role as team leader and cement the remainder of the season's playoff push as the most important thing, even if he wasn't going to be able to physically keep up like he would want. idk I am not a leader of men, but that felt weak as hell for someone wearing a C.

I think the bolded part is why my subconscious is forcing it on me in dreams. I don't even remember what my in-dream trade got, even my subconscious brain hasn't picked up enough of the NHL trade market to put together anything realistic, it was just like "welp, ok, on to the next era"