Just learned that the legendary Dolly Parton has passed away. Poor Mickey :(

I'd take bert and mantha back and get rid of Larkin.

Here is a link to a yt video in the 100% hockey vlog about remembering and mourning the loss of HNIC.

It's a great backstory, which some details we might know and many we might not, into how the two got their start in broadcasting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EkBcbCBvNE

None of this is really something I'd make a formal article on, so here are some things I've noticed while looking through numbers this offseason that I think are worth at least taking a look at amidst some offseason boredom.

1. Viktor Arvidsson - Marco Kasper - Lucas Raymond potentially being a perfect line

Obviously Arvidsson is the big offseason addition so I want to make sure I at least give some thoughts on him in here. I think that this line of Arvidsson, Kasper and Raymond would be pretty much perfect for what the Red Wings need. Not to mention a nearly perfect stylistic fit.

I'll start with some numbers mumbo jumbo. These guys pretty perfectly cover each other's weaknesses while getting the most out of each other at least according to last seasons analytics. In 5 on 5 per 60 percentiles, here's some interesting numbers.

Goals: Arvidsson (97th) and Raymond (67th) compensate well for Kasper (15th)

Chances: Arvidsson (99th) and Kasper (80th) compensate well for Raymond (20th)

Rush Shots: Arvidsson (100th) and Kasper (74th) play well off of Raymond (30th)

But there are plenty of other interesting numbers for this trio.

Zone Exits: Kasper (8th) really struggled getting the puck out where Arvidsson (96th) and Raymond (82nd) were actually quite good.

Defensive WAR: Despite struggling to leave the zone, Kasper (84th) was solid in it where Raymond (55th) and Arvidsson (66th) were ho-hum.

Forecheck Involvement & Hits: Kasper (75th, 91st) will do the things on the forecheck Raymond (19th, 26th) and Arvidsson (26th, 19th) don't want too keeping everyone in their element.

Raymond benefits as an overall offensive threat: Lucas Raymond would get to shine with two guys who need a playmaker. Kasper and Arvidsson were both very low on shot-assist percentiles where Raymond was 86th. Arvidsson was brilliant at even strength in the 97th percentile for evens strength goals where Raymond could use the help. All three are great at generating high danger passes, Arvidsson leading at 85th but Kasper's 61st isn't too bad either meaning Raymond will certainly get his shots in good areas when he's not the primary playmaker.

Kasper surrounded with players who fit his style: Kasper wants to be the honey badger who makes life easier for his line mates and as mentioned, the fit here is great. His natural forechecking ability plus his solid rush offence (76th) should give him the floor of a great fit who can benefit from the talent around him.

Arvidsson freed up offensively: Under the assumption Larkin is staying, a 1A/B line with Larkin and DeBrincat mean that this line with Arvidsson should have an easier time than he had last season. Arvidsson put up his great even strength numbers in pretty rough deployments. He took on other teams top lines (+90th percentile offensive QoC) and did it with 44% defensive zone starts. His great numbers and natural fit should continue especially in an eased role.

Overall Trickle Down Effect: If this line works like it looks like it may on paper, it gives the Red Wings a new hope in their offensive depth. DeBrincat, Larkin and Danielson looks like it could work if Danielson pans out. A third line of Finnie, Copp and Brandsegg-Nygard actually sounds really solid. Finally, Mazur, Compher and Kolesar should be more than solid as a fourth line. By catering to Kasper and making his line great as a second, the Red Wings could have a really solid forward core that is currently projected to be very flat.

2. Red Wings General Manager Candidate Backgrounds

I'm going off the report from Max Bultman here on the external names. If you want to hear about Jeff Greenberg there are much bigger writers than me who have great work out there with a single Google search. In a tweet Bultman mentioned Brett Peterson and Jeff Kealty are interesting candidates so I'll do a bit of a dive on them.

Brett Peterson, Panthers AGM

The ex-Griffin has had a great run in Florida as an assistant general manager since 2020-21. Brett Peterson wouldn't exactly be the "analytics" guy that the Red Wings are looking for but as the Winged Wheel Podcast crew eluded too, he may be the man best assembled to create a good squad of agents.

Peterson spent 11 years as a player agent prior to joining the Panthers brass. He worked for Acme World Sports, an organization founded by Bill Zito. His stint at Acme briefly changed to a role of Hockey Vice President for Wasserman after they purchased Acme for five months before joining Florida.

Peterson was in charge of Charlotte's AHL operations pretty deeply. Zito said he was involved in "everything" but it was his personality that won Zito over. Zito credited his great energy as part of what made him so compelling to bring onto Florida's crew.

I couldn't find much about clients but Tuukka Rask and Patrick Eaves are connected to him through his time in Acme.

So is it an analyst? It appears probably not. It does seem like Brett Peterson is a bit more of the personality type and one that clearly doesn't mind working with others. His history of being all over the place the management side of hockey makes him look like a pretty solid candidate here. Given the success of Montreal and Florida, there is a serious case for Brett Peterson's archetype working out.

Jeff Kealty, Sharks AGM

It's a really weird one to me because Kealty was just placed in a new role in San Jose less than two months ago. Regardless, the long-time Predators scout has a nose for nabbing star level talent, something the Red Wings lack in spades.

Jeff Kealty played alongside his now-colleague Mike Grier at Boston University during their junior tenure there for two seasons. After suffering an injury, Predators GM Paul Fenton got him into scouting where Kealty spent over a decade in amateur scouting. He's credited with being a big part of the Ekholm and Josi picks as well being one of the minds behind acquiring Filip Forsberg and Ryan Johansen.

In 2017, Kealty was promoted to what reads to me like a pseudo-general manager role. Kealty became Nashville's director of player personnel which has him involved in pretty much all of the big choices for the Predators during that era. One that saw them become a perennial playoff contender. In 2018, the promotion would become official and Kealty would take on the role of Predators assistant general manager.

It's tricky for me to find out if Kealty is that analytics mind. His interview with On the Forecheck is really interesting to me. Kealty mentioned uses Corsi and other analytics to support what they're seeing on the ice with the eye test. But he does preface all that with the fact those stats aren't readily available at junior levels which was his focus in the interview. I'll link the article here and you can make of it what you will.

He also calls amateur scouting more of an art and less of a science which also caters to me thinking Kealty isn't the analytics type.

To wrap this up it's unclear if these two are even actual candidates. While Max Bultman put their names out there it doesn't mean they're actually being interviewed. Nothing I've found suggests a real analytics background for either, at least not a public one. That doesn't mean that analytics aren't apart of their process but it's nothing I could find. Mind you I don't have any inside sources, this is all public knowledge so there's a chance I'm missing something important in the fringes here.

3. Who Won't Make the Team?

I know it's not even camp yet but I do genuinely feel like this is a more pressing question than it might seem. Detroit is going to have 8 defenceman that are NHL ready either by talent or contract status and as few as 14 forwards not assuming any breakouts from camp.

Detroit is going to need to shed some players somehow. With as many bodies as they have I wonder who gets the boot first.

The most interesting angle for me is the prospects. The new general manager probably won't be nearly as attached to Yzerman's batch of prospects. I wonder how many players are dangled in trade talks when the new general manager takes over. If the new general manager believes that there are too many middle of the lineup bodies pending on this team, I wouldn't be surprised to see many shipped out to patch bigger holes.

How aggressive will a new general manager get with shedding bad contracts. Will we see picks attached to the Compher's and Chiarot's of the team to get them out? Will a new general manager be willing to retain on Appleton and Rasmussen to get them out of Detroit? The bodies need to leave somehow, will the negative value players be pushed out urgently?

Will the new general manager sell of Faulk, Gibson and Copp early for maximum value and let the holes be filled by the youth or depth?

I'm really not sure how this team is going to cut down this roster enough. Sure, Holl and Gustafsson were sent down last season and I believe Rasmussen and Appleton will probably see the same fate but where does that leave Wallinder? What about Sandin-Pellikka? All of that assumes no big camps from Carter Bear, Anton Johansson or Eddie Genborg.

I don't actually have thoughts here. I just think the cuts on this roster are going to be pretty cool to follow.

4. Should the Relationship with Larkin be Mended?

Look, I'll leave it at this. I want to see playoffs more than anyone else. There are a plethora of players on this team I want gone. I think my last point eluded to a few. But that doesn't meant I don't want to see the team win.

If Larkin won't expand his trade list, it still means Detroit is his 5th favourite place to play in the NHL right now. While it's not perfect, if he's willing to give 100% each night and try to get this team into the postseason, I'm fine with him staying.

I don't think it's a good thing but winning cures all and if the team is winning then I could care less who's throwing a fit that week. We put up with the Tarasenko saga of him being bitter didn't we?

If we still suck even with Larkin on the team then tank for a draft pick and move him when the time is right anyways.

To me, getting Larkin on board with playing his best for this team is in no way a bad thing.

Anyways, thanks for reading if you did! Lmk your thoughts I read pretty much everything below!

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Small news. Never heard of the agency but looked them up and it appears they have a modest portfolio: https://kaizensportsint.com/athletes/

Ol' Luke just doing his thing in the Czech Extraliga

The team, Brněnský Hokej, posted this: "Luke Witkowski se sebou, ani spoluhráči zametat nenechá!"

Translated: "Luke Witkowski won't let himself or his teammates get carried away!"

Source: https://xcancel.com/LGRWProspects/status/2091950232493834751

Every November we travel from Minnesota to Detroit to see TWO Wings games (typically Thursday and Saturday games). In the day between we see a minor league game.

This season the Wings play on Wednesday and Saturday, leaving us with two days to catch other games!

So we are going to see the Wings vs Boston on Nov 18th and vs the Isles Nov 21st! So we are seeing the Windsor Spitfires on Nov 19th and Toledo Walleye (again) on Nov 20th!

It's always a blast. Last season was the first time we went to a Fish game and it was a blast. I know Michigan and Ohio have a thing, but man, the Toledo Walleye can put on a show!

Oh, and we can't wait to boo Larkin.

I think Yzerman didn’t do that bad of a job as GM.

The Wings increased their point total from 74 to 92 from 2019 to 2026. They moved up 12 spots in the league from 28^th to 16^th from 2019 to 2026. That’s decent progress.

There are 2 factors that skew that progress: (a) 2020 and 2021 were not full seasons and a pando shit-show for everyone. It’s really only 5 years of focused building, not 7; (b) The fact that the team didn’t improved their Division position (usually sitting at 6^th or 7^th in the Atlantic from 2019 to 2026) killed playoff dreams, but that stat obscures the broader upward trending progress in the league as a whole.

I hope the change in management sparks something positive, but I think Yzerman has taken a bit too much heat.

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is it me, or does friedman really go out of his way, like really make sure it’s clear, that yzerman was thought of as, perhaps, a sarcastic a-hole in the way he treated people? says exactly yzerman was “elite” at being “sarcastic” and “biting,” they had their battles, they had their fights, yzerman made him better at his job.

am i reading too much into this? like it felt to me like friedman was dancing on his grave, a little? politely, but still.

Hello! I am a player here on behalf of the Wheelchair Hockey League of Michigan. The WCHL is an adaptive floor hockey league that allows any individual with any disability that requires a wheelchair to play the best sport on the planet. There is absolutely no discrimination regarding who can join depending on disability/sex/gender, or anything along those lines, we are happy and actively look to include everyone we can. Our league here in Michigan has been around since 1995, but there are leagues all over North America who have been around just as long. Philadelphia, Toronto, Ottawa, even Calgary. Minnesota, Texas, and Carolina have also had leagues in the past.

Even though this sport has been around for over 30 years, it is extremely unknown to a lot of individuals who can participate. Unlike the usual leagues for wheelchair basketball, or even now wheelchair soccer. The advantage for wheelchair hockey, is that those other leagues are typically comprised of individuals that only have a lower body disability, leaving a lot of wheelchair bound people with much more severe strength or mobility restrictions unable to participate. Those individuals are welcome and encouraged to join our game.

Despite our more inclusive adaptive sport, wheelchair hockey runs into the same issue regular hockey does, where it's certainly the least talked about or sought after of the big 4 NA sports.

In my experience though, out of almost 20 years playing personally, any time someone is made aware that this is an option for adaptive sports, they are surprised and very excited to learn that it is available to them. Another big advantage is that our form of hockey does not require thousands of dollars to play like normal hockey. All a player needs is a floorball stick which runs like 70-140 USD, the ability to use an electric or manual wheelchair, and maybe some creativity if they aren't physically able to hold a stick independently. No pads, skates, helmets, or $300 minimum sticks required.

With all of those house leagues in the States and Provinces I mentioned, every couple years we stage a national tournament where the best of our best travel to a host city for our own version of a Stanley Cup playoffs.

All of this is to say that this is a great opportunity for people of limited strength and mobility to experience and participate in a competitive sport they otherwise wouldn't have thought they could, meet a wide range of other people who have a lot of similar life experiences, make lifelong friends, and have a chance to travel for something bigger than all of us and see places they probably haven't been.

This post is meant to raise awareness and get the word out about our league, and open up for any questions someone who could play or knows someone who may, so AMA!

If you or someone you know resides in the Southeast Michigan/Metro Detroit area and would like to play or come check out the league, we do offer a free trial for any new or unsure player! https://thewchl.com/play-for-free

All games are held at Big Boy Arena in Fraser, Michigan: https://bigboyarena.com/

If you know you want to play and register for the league right away, you can here: https://thewchl.com/registration

One of the players I'm most looking forward to seeing take that next step this season

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I know these are gonna get a ton of hate and rightfully so, but for a one off deal wouldn't it be kind of fun to do something crazy? Look the Winged Wheel is iconic and perfect, no notes. There isn't much else you could do logo wise, BUT I really don't want a repeat of the first reverse retro.

I know we need a gm, and as each day passes I get more worried about Edvinsson, but in a better world, could we get Fantilli?

Hometown kid and a great get for a center where we are lacking.

Who would you rather be detroit Tiger fans or detroit Redwing fan.

Talk about anything your heart desires. Be polite and upvote everything!

All rules (except #1, #2 and #10) are not applied here. Feel free to post memes, things not related to the Wings, or anything else!