Yesterday was an exciting moment as I had the chance to interview University of St. Thomas NCAA DIV I hockey coach Rico Blasi. Take a minute if you can and watch the interview. If you haven’t yet, please “like” and subscribe to the new channel “Sticks’npucks”. This allows me to stay in touch with any of you in case there’s a hiccup on the blog. With massive changes on the horizon in hockey, this has been a labor of love but I truly need your help and support to get things moving.
Back into rumor territory, I had more than a few people touch base about Daniel Sprong. He went on waivers again and again 31 teams didn’t take the winger who has an incredibly low cap hit. Something isn’t stirring the kool-aid on this one. I understood teams not wanting to pay 3m x 3 over the summer, but sub 1m for an in season 2nd power play option? Chime in if you have any idea at all on what’s going on.
Then came the “not likely to happen” rumor that Detroit is kicking the tires on Dylan Cozens. I love the player, but Buffalo still wants to step up and get something done. Moving Cozens would/should cost a buffet while the Red Wings aren’t in that position. Bowen Byram was thought to be the target until this rumor came out.
Would I take Cozens? In less than a second. Buffalo has high draft picks on the blue line and Eichel left town. Unless the team and player are at an impasse and some combination of Kasper/Danielson/Lombardi plus picks is intriguing then this just feels like it’s coming out of nowhere. Sandin-Pellikka isn’t likely on the block and wouldn’t cure the issue at center. Past Larkin, there aren’t a lot off options down the middle that could step in right now for Buffalo.
Add to that the “bickering” in Vancouver regarding Pettersson and Miller. One pundit feels that Pettersson can’t function with Miller and saw a jump in his numbers this year when Miller was out. There are 11 million reasons this trade would be incredibly difficult. All I can hear that would even come close would be teams asking for:
Axel Sandin-Pellikka
Seider (not likely)
Raymond (not likely)
Larkin (doesn’t feel likely)
Danielson (?)
Kasper (?)
Augustine? - still in school, would have to agree to sign ELC and not someone I’d want to see head out of the organization.
So where are these “rumors” coming from? One intriguing thought has been Debrincat. The cat is scoring and playing better (as the team has risen to the changes). Still, it doesn’t make a ton of sense to hear names being tossed around with Detroit not likely wanting to part with their first round pick or the highest value pieces.
Please, make sense of the mess. Detroit will look for a 6th straight win against Chicago. The team has been a lot more fun to watch. The rumor mill sounds like a field full of rabbit holes for deep dives. In reality it feels like an obstacle course for proctologists. There’s not a mad hatter tea party waiting, but rather that river from “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate factory”.
At the very least, the team still has some momentum but Lyon is now injured and we’ll see how things look tonight. Talbot stepped in and got the job done last game. It will be interesting to see how things develop and if the front office does truly have something special cooking. Talk to you in the post game!
Detroit Red Wings Blogger • 
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