#bringbackmurph has gained steam and Fox was in reactionary mode yesterday, releasing this bullshit statement.

“We wanted our primary team of Mickey Redmond and Ken Daniels to call the remaining games as the Red Wings make a push for the playoffs. We thought it was only fair to let Larry know as soon as possible that he would not be scheduled for any more assignments. We thank Larry for his contributions to our telecasts over the years and we wish him well.”

Ratings. That's what Murphy claims FS-D told him. FS-D is backing away from that one, now...simply saying the above that they "wanted" Mick and Ken to call the rest as the Wings "make a push"? What?

You don't fire a guy with fifteen games left in the season. You work it out so that he's gone when the season's done. You don't take abrupt action like that over ratings. You only go short-fused and fire people because of conduct. And if it's conduct, you give Murphy the option of resigning, citing personal reasons, whatever.

But if it were personal (beer, maybe?), Murphy wouldn't have publicly claimed total surprise. He would have simply faded away until the story died.

Instead, Murphy put FS-D on the defensive. Like the rest of us, he's pissed and surprised. And he's been saying so.

Murphy said he was scheduled to work the studio for the game at Calgary last Wednesday when he got a call “out of the blue'' from Hammaren the day before telling him he was terminated. He also had been slated to work in the broadcast booth during the four-game road trip that started Friday in Anaheim. But now Mickey Redmond is on the trip.

Why are these lessons so hard for corporations to learn? It's not advanced PR. Did Fox really believe this thing was going to fly under the radar? Murphy leaves Fox in June and it's a one afternoon story. Not anymore.

Next...

If Kenny Holland doesn't land this DeKeyser kid? C'mon. He's frigging gift-wrapped for the Wings. Ties to the franchise, personal history in the state, probably a Wing fan because baby Jesus told him to be.

But watch out. This should sound familiar. Remember the last time the Wings were in the hunt for a young stud d-man (before signing the sturdy, dependable Carlo Colaiacovo)? Well, Justin Schultz went to Edmonton as we all know. Tick Tock's on the verge of losing DeKeyser to the same team.

Of all the hockey news on a busy Sunday, the most welcome for Oilers fans was surely the report by TSN’s Bob McKenzie that Edmonton was going all out to land the top available college free agent, defenceman Dan DeKeyser. In fact, the Oilers are interested enough in the 6’3”, left-shooting rearguard that team owner Daryl Katz personally contacted him to sell him on the virtues of playing in Edmonton.

Feel free to stress about this, because losing out on DeKeyser is bad on two levels. We obviously need his skill set. But more than that, losing him to a team like Edmonton? Discouraging for those of us who already whisper about the indications the Wings have fallen back to mediocrity in terms of organ-I-zational prestige. This kid would have been signed already five years ago. It's not a cap thing. It's not a CBA thing. It's an aura thing.

Detroit needs this one.