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There is a serious state of emergency going on in the place that's called hockey town. The booing at the home opener, the sell the team chance, the sparse crowd. This was a model franchise for literally a quarter of a century. And over the past 10 years, they've become a laughingtock. I'm pinning it on ownership and Chris Illich. During the offseason, was he too focused on trading Tariq for he had a hockey team to run? Like honestly, man, that's got to be awkward for L, right? like you're getting booed one second and then they're cheering for you the next second. When he scored, he was cognizant of the fact that he didn't want to celebrate because the fans don't like him.
Imagine Nick Lidstrom going through this. Could you imag It's unfathomable. The time has come for us to have a very honest and serious conversation about the state of hockey in Detroit. Welcome into Top Shelf presented by Enterprise. Players need good wheels and so do you. That's why we're here for hockey people with a great range of vehicles and a great team to help you find the right one. 10, 15 years ago, the Detroit Red Wings were legitimately the gold standard of success as a hockey franchise. Literally in sports. In sports, not just in hockey. Literally every team, again across the board, I like that you mentioned sports, wanted what they had. They had the Cubs from 98, 2002, 2008. They had the cornerstone
players who literally refused to play anywhere else. guys like Nick Lidstrom, Henrik Zederberg, Pavle Datsuk, Nick Cromwell, Jimmy Howard, even everything that organization touched seemingly turned to gold and they had the made the playoffs for 25 damn seasons in a row 1990 to 2016. They did not miss the playoffs. I don't think you can script a better stretch. You can't script a better organization. And you look at the state of this team now and somehow a team that seemed like it just couldn't break down and fall apart has become arguably the most pathetic franchise in hockey and it's teetering the line of being down there in sports. I know we have some bad franchise laughing stock right now.
This is an absolute laughing stock which is imagine telling someone 15 years ago that the Detroit Red Wings are going to turn into this franchise and they have. They haven't made the playoffs since that streak ended in 2016. And now on the flip side, have the longest active drought at 10 seasons, which is hilarious. 15 more to go. 15 more to go to tie that number. And above all else, nobody wants to play there. And that's evident by both their captain and longest tenure player in Dylan Lin wanting out and along with their budding, you know, potential
superstar defenseman and then sixth overall pick from 2021 and Simon Evansson refusing to play. There's so much to talk about here with the state of hockey in Detroit. Let's start with the Larkin stuff because we're recording this just a day after that first electric game back home against the Senators. Um, what do you guys think of the reception that he had? What do you guys think about the game that he had? Because it was a hell of a game for a guy who doesn't want to play hockey there. Uh, we'll start with you, Kyle, and everything that encapsulated that game last night. Yeah, what a weird situation for starters. Like, he missed the entire preseason in the first couple of games with an injury.
Yeah. Injur. But he did miss time and said he was going to play. So, he does come back. Um a and the response he got as a scratch at the home opener, just the insane booze, the quick walk down the tunnel, it did not look like it was going to go well. And then he's back in playing a week later at home as well, making that season debut. Like I thought that was a recipe for things to get really ugly. And then he goes out, puts up a goal, adds an assist, gets in a brawl, and he's the first star of the game. Like what a weird situation in terms of like the fan reception like the booing at the home opener, the sell the team chance, the sparse crowd. I think it's all incredibly deserved for the Red Wings.
You mentioned it off the top. This was a model franchise for literally a quarter of a century. And over the past 10 years, they've become a laughing stock for a bunch of different reasons that I think we're going to get into here. But the right now of the captain wanting out and then coming back and playing in the weird circumstances of yesterday, booze turning into cheers and then the first star being a mix of both. Um it's just a really messy weird situation right now. But I think the big thing is fans are incredibly deserved to have the response that they have. Yeah, man. That's got to be awkward for L, right? Like you're getting booed one second and then they're cheering for you the next second. It's like should I be
happy they're cheering me now or should I be like because he scored that when he scored he was cognizant of the fact that he didn't over celebrate because the fans don't like him is essentially the way he framed it which is such a crazy thing to say. He just scored for the team that he captained. Uh obviously not currently and his thought is like I don't want to sell you too hard cuz the fans don't like me very much. It's it's it's like I again I can't wrap my head around a guy captaining the Detroit Red Wings is having these feelings and experiencing these things. Formerly captain the Detroit Red Wings. Like I luckily grew up He's from Michigan.
He's from Michigan too. Went to Michigan. Yeah. Went to Michigan. This is this man is Detroit through and through. And like it's nice for us cuz we got to grow up with the prime Red Wings. So I could still kind of relate to that team that I was alluding to at the start. And it's just un imagine Nick Lidstrom going through this. Could you imag It's unfathomable. Um and obviously too like tip of the cap to Nick Cousins for the C off the That was a pretty good turn. I can't imag like those guys had to have had that so ready to go going into that game knowing if they get into it might be the highlight of Nick Cousins this season. Honestly and maybe Ridley Greg too. So um but yeah there
that game happened you know he had again the Gordio hatrick light which is so fitting. He had the goal assist in a scuffle. He didn't get the fighting major, but it's a scuffle. He did everything that like a Detroit Red Wings player should do. And of course, it comes off the heels of him wanting out. So, it's just still wanting. Like, I respect though that he you said doing everything you'd want a player to do. Like, even though he wants out, he's still standing up for his teammates, you know, to bring out after that hit from Greg. So, I sort of applaud him for that.
Well, the other thing he said postgame is like among the fan reaction and everything is that he's trying to face it like he's not hiding away from it. And you can, of course, we've talked about and compared it to the Connor Halibuck situation where he is not there. He's hiding. He is literally hiding. Lens and there's a level of respect that you have to have for it. It doesn't mean the fans have to respect it. Like the fans can be as vitriolic as they want. Um, but I think that at least there's like a base level of respect for, you know what, this guy's still showing up for the No one's happy in this situation, but he's still just going to go out and play.
Yeah. Which is nice to see. And it is true. Like Connor Halib hasn't said a peep. Dylan Lens out there playing not in Winnipeg. Yeah, he's like out there playing hockey. So, I think that's that's worthy of noting there. Let's look at the bigger picture here. Like we were talking about off the top. Obviously, that was one game, but there is a serious state of emergency going on in I don't know if I've mentioned this yet, the place that was that's called Hockey Town. That's what it's called. Uh and the Detroit Red Wings are an absolute mess. How did this fall from grace happen? That's like the biggest thing
that I want to pick your guys' brains on. How do you go from being so successful to not only being so bad, but being bad enough and just poor enough of a franchise that players don't want to suit up there anymore? Again, we talked about it. Lark and Edmonson, two of their best players. Both don't want to play there. We'll start with you, Jos. What do you think has gone wrong in Detroit for this fall from grace to happen? I think it starts with the job Steve Eiserman did as GM until he stepped down this past offseason. I mean, look, he inherited a huge mess from Ken Holland.
They had no prospects. The team was old. it wasn't very good. So, there was going to be a rebuilding process, but it just never really got over the hump, right? And I think you can blame him for some of the poor drafting, some of the asset management, like, hey, maybe keep a guy like Philip Peronic. Um, you know, just some of the lack of talent acquisition and then you go get some of these older guys and your team's just middling for a while. So, he deserves a lot of the blame. But I think more recently, like I'm pinning it on ownership and Chris Illich because the job they did this off season was just unacceptable. I mean, when you have an interim GM, like very a week, if not immediately,
and it took them the entire offseason to just be like, "Okay, Horov, you're going to be the interim GM, but we're still looking for a real GM." And then you missed the window to sign Ed Vincent to an 8-year deal. And I understand now why he wants out, seeing how this organization is being run. So, to me, it starts at the top. And Chris Illich deserves a lot of the blame. I know you mentioned there's been some sell the team chance. Those are completely justified. Yeah, it's a Yeah, I think the ownership thing is a great thing to shout out. Like fans aren't showing up. Like the fans that are showing up are $5.
Exactly. Well, when you've got items at Little Caesars that are more expensive than tickets, that's not a great sign for the Detroit Red Wings. Um, but when it comes to like everything there you mention, it's the combination of like they were so good for so long, which meant there was going to be a bad rebuild coming along. The rebuild didn't go great in terms of both lottery luck, but they also got some good players at the top. When you think about like I don't even blame the lottery luck because I remember looking back like after I didn't miss down the Yeah, the drafts where they didn't get pick. It's
like you get Lucas Raymond instead of Alex Laferner who's a better player. Yeah, that's a great point. Um, but in terms of like some of the drafting like Marco Casper and Michael Rasmusen and Nate Danielson as like high picks that both at the time weren't viewed as high upside guys, but also haven't necessarily become the contributors that you hoped. Casper probably the still the most intriguing of those guys. Exactly. There's still young There's some young players in there, of course. Um, but when it comes to like ownership, that's the big thing this summer, right?
Is like how do you not have Horov named as the interim that week? How do you go two months in the process? They still don't have a general manager technically speaking. Like they have an interim there. All indications are they're not going to internally promote somebody. So, it's not going to be Horov. They have the captain situation with Larkin. They have Edmonson. He was in camp. He was practicing with the team. He went back to Sweden because the end of the training camp came, the season arrived and he still didn't have a contract. And that's why he wants out now or prefers a trade, however you want to phrase it.
Um, like you [clears throat] can point to Eerman, you can point to the long-term success they had that was just going to naturally bleed into a kind of dead period. Um, but when you look at the mismanagement that they've had, the the poor ownership uh from this past year especially, like even this time last year, it was not this bad. Like this was a team that had some potential. Like they went out and acquired Justin Faulk at the deadline as their deadline push and it didn't play out well. Um, so you can look at like the fact they haven't got over the hump. They've been close. You can point to players like
Lurin who haven't performed down stretches to try and get them into the playoffs. I think there's a lot of blame to go around. But I think the most important one right now is that top dog and ownership because it's from the ownership down has not been good. And if you're not going to have good ownership, there's probably a lot of steps along the way that aren't going to be good either. 100%. It I it feels like it was inevitable to happen at the same time for them to take this turn given the state of Detroit sports I think in the last few years with how bad the Pistons were, how bad the Lions were.
The Tigers have been up and down. The Tigers is the interesting one to mention as well because same ownership. Exactly. And it's like Yeah. During the offseason, was he too focused on trading Tariq Scubble and forgot he had a hockey team to run? Like honestly, well, the other crazy thing is one of the Tigers executives was apparently in the mix to become the Red Wings general manager. He has a hockey background, so like fair enough. But it's like how do you not come to a resolution there? How is that not something that's quick if you figure out how do you not pivot somewhere else? Like it is just weird, messy, and it doesn't seem like it's ending anytime soon. Like do you feel like Larkin's getting traded soon? Probably not. I don't think so.
Does it look like Evansson signing anytime soon? Probably not. So then is he going to get traded? Are they going to name a general manager to make any of those moves? Is the guy is Horov even like does he feel like he can make those moves with the interim tag? Can he even make those moves at all? Like, does he have the authority to do that? I don't know. It's such a sad state of affairs. But it like while all those team It's funny the revolving doors where they're like, "Oh, our basketball team's good. Our football team's good." Like, let's just focus on those. You know, we had this that was
the only bright spot in Detroit sports for all this time. And for it to completely flip the other way where you've got these contending teams in other sports and the Red Wings of all teams being the laughing stock, it's it's it's again like it's just unfathomable to see. Looking back though at those teams from the 2000s is what I would like to do for our enterprise top pick here. Let's finish on a positive note. Let's talk on a positive note for a second, you know, with what they built and how many good players they had. Also like not drafted high at all. Like the way that team was constructed, especially like for that 20,
it was all part of Yeah, it was all part of what they had going on there. They just hit home run after home run literally they could not miss. And I want to start with our enterprise top pick question of the day is your favorite Redwing from 2000. I'm starting with mine. This is my favorite hockey player um ever, which again, how many people are saying that about the current state of the Red Wings? Probably not much. So, uh going back, it's Pavle Datsu, the Magic Man. How can you not? There wasn't like a bond I have with the player the way I did with him where I was such a Pavle Datsuk truther. I was on YouTube looking up like interview clips and stuff making sure people were speaking good of him. Like I
just he was so good and I still think so underappreciated. Like I was literally spreading the word on how good Pavlovatuk was to all my friends and people that knew me. Um because I don't know what it was. It was just the allure of how sick he was. He was quiet. He didn't have this big ego or anything. He was the epitome of a Detroit Redwing. Um and yeah, I need to shine some light on him here. So I'm glad that we're doing this segment. I can sing the Raptor. I've got him with a classic jersey. Probably has the sickest highlight reel maybe of any player all time. And then to put that along with being one of the best defensive forwards of his generation is just a combo that's so unmatched.
It was so awesome. And like the clips, I don't know if you guys have seen the clips of I think it's Chelios and some of the older guys they had in there when he was a rookie talking about him and just he was like this like mystic figure where they're like he didn't speak at all but he was sick out there playing with like um uh Bobby Hall or Brett Hall. Uh it's so good. Is it crazy to think he overlaps with that team as well? Like Yeah, seriously. So Datuk's my pick. Your pick.
Great pick. Dylan Lin. No, I'm kidding. Um, Nicholas Lichram for me and we're kind of focusing on in on like since 2000 21st century and he ripped off seven Norris trophies after the turn of the century in his 30s. Crazy. Like he was a great defenseman in the '9s for those 90s teams with like Vladimir Constantinov and all like the Russian five and that era of team and then he hit his 30s and was like why don't I just rip off seven Norris Trophies. Might as well. Why not? um just a I think the perfect defenseman like there's some that would prefer more of like the physical element or something like that but if you talk about a defenseman that works in any era on any team that would dominate anywhere
it is the possession dominance of Nicholas Lidstrom both offensively and just suffocating defensively just an absolute pleasure to watch in terms of like perfecting the defenseman position I just think how crazy it is with Lindstöm. Like he played a position where your mistakes are so magnified and it felt like he never made a single mistake in his entire career and just like so much grace to like not a physical guy but like oh you want to try and s a pass over a stick like no he's knocking it down every time. I can't imagine like my brain it doesn't let me process a clip of like Nick Lidstrom getting walked like that literally doesn't exist. Who do you got Josh?
All right. I wanted to go Sergey Federov so bad. Even though, you know, most of his time came in the '9s and when he had the white skates, the swaggy white skates that was in the '90s. He did play a bit in the 2000s, but so I'm just going to give Sergey Federov a little shout out, but I'm going Nicholas Cromwell cuz man, that guy was so fun to watch. Like, not the biggest defenseman, but man, was he so physical. And like those Cromwell hits where he's almost reversing and backing into his name became a verb. The Cron something. Yeah. Uh yeah. You talk about like the mixtape that like Pavl Datuk has. Yeah.
The mixtape of his that Cronwall has. And again, for a guy who was like 6 feet, 190 lbs, maybe even smaller, like he could lay out some big guys. He was not afraid of that. So for someone who played D growing up and was always kind of undersized, like I just have so much respect for Guan Wall. Such a fun. I love that. Yeah. You were trying to find a little Cromwell in your game out there playing. None to be found unfortunately though. No, the back reverse hit that he coined, man. all time. But like the list goes on with those teams like Zederberg. We still didn't mention some of the guys off the top like Holmstrom, Jimmy Howard, like
Johan Fron's in the mule. Fran's in the mule. Like there everything was a diamond in the rough. How about Chris Osgood? Some sneaky case there. Seriously. And I mean we haven't even I mean you mentioned Jimmy Howard who was there for Jimmy Howard was sick and that 2002 cup winning team like with when that's when you bring Hull, Chelio, Federov like Mad was there, Eerman Shanahan. Yeah, Madonna was later on, but yeah. Oh my god, man. One of like generally like the best what 11 allstars I think on that roster. It's just it's so fun to talk about the old Detroit Red Wings and I just get lost in doing that when we're
supposed to be here talking about the current state of affairs with the Detroit Red Wings. It's just so easy to not talk about. I think it was that the O2 team that won had the most Hall of Famers on it. That's what it was. 11 Hall of Famers I think is what it is in counting now, which is unprecedented. But yeah, it's it's it's Red Wings fans, we're did our best to kind of at least reminisce on the glory days a little bit with what's going on now. It's certainly unprecedented where this team has gone uh and just how they're going to fix it.
I think is the big question. I think the one silver lining you can maybe look to is before that golden age that they had for 25 years, they were called the dead wings and they got Steve Eiserman and it was bad for a while and even in the '9s until they finally worerman was known as a couldn't quite get it done. couldn't get over the hump and then they finally did and he became one of the greatest leaders of all time. That's maybe the silver lining to look at if you're going to look at history. They had that bad period in the 80s and then it blossomed in the '90s. Maybe that can come through at the later part of this decade.
Yeah. But I can't wait to see how that goes. Let us know in the comments obviously for the Enterprise Top Pick poll who your favorite right-wing was from the 2000s. So many to pick from. This has been Top Shelf presented by Enterprise. As always, don't forget to drop this video a like and hit subscribe. We're doing hockey content week in and week out here. We'll catch you guys in the next episode.
