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"

[Grand Moff Larkin]

I decided to put the last Wings game on after getting back from a disappointing dinner out and the Panth is already up 1-0. I just want an MBN goal.

[Grand Moff Larkin]

Hamonic is in as the seventh D, Larkin is out

Would also like a Mazur goal

[Grand Moff Larkin]

Matthew Tkachuk healthy enough to play in this one now that Florida has retained their pick

[Grand Moff Larkin]

Kunin makes it 2-0 on a quick shot in front

Wings have been sleepy, I think they just want it to be over

[Grand Moff Larkin]

Compher goes for a hook on a forecheck because the Panth D fell down

If it goes to 3-0 I’m switching to the Tigers

[Grand Moff Larkin]

Noted fuckwit AJ Greer gets a wraparound goal

Go Tigers

[Grand Moff Larkin]

Mike Benning just got his first career goal to make it 4-0

Wings must be half packed for the plane home

[Grand Moff Larkin]

LOL Benning got another goal

[Grand Moff Larkin]

Faulk made it 5-1, good job

[Grand Moff Larkin]

I turned back to the Wings game after the Tigers won and within a minute, Florida gets a goal when a shot that’s going wide hits off a guy skating two feet to the other side

[Grand Moff Larkin]

8-1

Panthers get goals from Vinnie Hinostroza, Luke Kunin (x2), AJ Greer, Mike Benning (x2), Cole Schwindt, and Cole Reinhardt. A real murderer's row!

[Grand Moff Larkin]

At this point I'm not willing to grade anybody, but barring a major trade, my guess for next year:

Finnie / Larkin / Raymond
DeBrincat / Copp / Kane
MBN / Kasper / Danielson
Appleton / Compher / Rasmussen
Mazur

I don't think JVR or Perron return. I'd be happy if Appleton and/or Rasmussen didn't.

[Cacophony]

Happy for you and your mental health

[Grand Moff Larkin]

Forward grades

Alex DeBrincat: A
He had 41 goals and 84 points, even with some of the expected streakiness of a goal-scorer. He plays harder on defense than people give him credit for, and scores at big times. He was clearly the Wings’ best forward this year.

Lucas Raymond: B
It was obvious that Raymond was playing through an injury (either caused or exacerbated by a cheap shot from The Coward Ridly Grieg) for most of the season, but he tailed off a bit after the Olympics. Ideally when Larkin and Copp went out, Raymond would’ve put the team on his shoulders more, but maybe that’s unrealistic. In any case, he needs to shoot more, which is evident both in his total (20 fewer shots than last season)and in the eye test (stop forcing the pass, man!). He still ended up with close to 80 points, so it wasn’t a total bust, but I think he’s capable of 30 goals / 90 points.

Dylan Larkin: C+
A hard season to grade. He carried the team in October (17 points in 12 games), but tapered off by December, and heavily struggled to produce at even strength. He was great at the Olympics, but got hurt on essentially a non-contact play not long after that, and his absence was a huge factor in the Wings’ downfall. He probably came back too early from that injury and was a shell of himself for the first half-dozen games. All told, 67 points in 74 games isn’t too far off his usual production, but they need more from their captain and the engine of their offense. He can’t burn out by February and become injury-prone when it matters most.

Patrick Kane: B-
I was surprised that Kane had 57 points in 67 games, as it felt high. He was also a -1, an improvement from last year, despite the fact that his off-the-puck play is comically unengaged. (Credit to Andrew Copp and Alex DeBrincat for keeping that line afloat.) He had a couple of stretches, specifically surrounding his 500th goal and passing Mike Modano as the highest all-time US-born scorer, that he seemed especially burned out, but he’d get some juice back and score another big goal whenever I was ready to count him out. Does he come back? Do they want him back? My guess is yes to both, as no one else is available who’ll score 57 points. But I do wonder if having a guy who’s allowed to float on one side of the puck is a net positive.

Andrew Copp: B
At this point, you know what you’re getting with Copp: not a ton of scoring, but the defensive prowess to cover for Patrick Kane on what was often their de facto top line. I’m surprised he only missed three games with his late-season injury, which looked really bad when it happened. I wish he’d stayed as productive as he was in December and January (12 points in 15 games in both months, one goal after that) but he’s more valuable than the stat line.

James van Riemsdyk: B
He was brought in to add scoring to the bottom six, and with the most goals (15) on the team after DeBrincat, Larkin, Raymond, and Kane, he certainly did that. Getting 31 points from a low-cost, single-year UFA signing is nothing to scoff at, but there’s a reason why he’s bounced around so much. He doesn’t do much outside of that offense. He’s a slow skater who can make a good defensive play if he’s in position, but realistically, he’s not catching up to anyone. He doesn’t throw many hits (15). He was also streaky, with the bulk of his scoring coming in December and January, and only one goal after that. In January I would have said that they’d bring him back, but now I think you get younger legs and more energy, even if the goals aren’t there.

Emmitt Finnie: B+
He ended with 30 points despite hitting a wall in January and February (two points in 19 games), which is pretty solid for a late-round pick that was a surprise to make the team. A lot of his success comes down to skating, both in terms of top speed and his willingness to fly into the hard areas. Late in the year he got a stint at center, something he hadn’t done since junior, and he seemed more dangerous there than Kasper. It’s hard not to look at the two of them as very similar players, and wonder if Finnie’s passed Kasper in the pecking order.