from Will Burchfiedl of 97.1 The Ticket,

After playing for the future again at last week's trade deadline where Detroit dealt Filip Hronek and Tyler Bertuzzi for a haul of high picks, the organization is still staring up in the division and crossing its fingers in the lottery -- and then again in the draft, where as Yzerman knows, "There's no guarantees." Which raises the question: did Yzerman jump the gun last summer in free agency? If the Wings were headed here all along, why shell out money to veterans like Andrew Copp, Ben Chiarot and David Perron? In other words, why not continue to tank?

Because, in Yzerman's view, what good did all that tanking do them?

"I don't have any regrets," Yzerman said about his splurge last summer.

"I wanted to bring in players that were good people and good players to be partners for Moritz Seider, to help our team," he said. "For us to get one of those high, high picks, we’re not just trading Bertuzzi. We’re trading Larkin, we’re trading everybody to get one of those picks. You look at the teams that are at the bottom and what they did to get there, there’s like five of them that are trying to get to the bottom. For us to do it, it wasn’t going to happen.

"My first three years, what did we end up picking? We picked fourth, sixth and sixth. And trust me, that was the plan. Like, ‘Hey, we’re not going to sign good players, we’re not going to take it to another level, we’re not going to sign a bunch of free agents. We’re going to be at the bottom, we’re going to suck this up for a few years and get high picks.’ Unfortunately in our system, the best pick we could get was fourth overall. And we’re OK with it because we like the players we got."

more

from Ted Kulfan of the Detroit News,

Lalonde feels the Wings need to harder and play with a bit more jam to get out of this offensive funk.

"It's going to be a reality of where our current lineup is at, which is fine," Lalonde said. "Some players are going to have to get out of their comfort level and get to the inside, and that's not just getting to the blue paint, that's getting inside and battles and keeping plays alive. It's just the reality of it. Hopefully in the long run we can learn to be a little harder in that area and it will benefit us."

The Wings have a chance to snap out of this streak Wednesday hosting a dismal Chicago team (7:30 p.m./TNT/The Ticket). Goaltender Ville Husso believes the Wings can only get out of this streak by focusing on the immediate task at hand and not think about the playoff picture or anything games or weeks ahead.

"We just to need come together as a group," Husso said. "We lost a couple of big players and it was emotional for some guys, but it's part of it. We just need to come together and there are spots open for other guys. There's no secret on how to come out of this. Just keep battling, just need to out-battle the other team, and go day by day.

"When you lose a couple games, it's hard. We can't focus on the playoffs too much, and just try to get better every day."

more ($)

from Harman Dayal of The Athletic,

Vancouver’s big swing for Filip Hronek was a stunning, polarizing twist to the club’s trade deadline plans. The debate in this market has been so concentrated on the cost and aggressive timing of the trade that we haven’t spent enough time analyzing what kind of value Hronek will bring.

It’s important to dive into that because the 25-year-old right-shot defender is in the middle of a breakout season where he’s provided borderline top-pair quality value. Did the Red Wings sell high on a player who is having an outlier year and/or setting himself up for a big extension at the end of next season that may be risky? Or did the Canucks seize a unique opportunity to add a player at a premium position who’s legitimately levelled up his game?

Let’s dig in.

Hronek broke into the league as a 21-year-old and was immediately thrust into a major role. He was thrown to the wolves, playing 22-24 minutes per game in a top-pair role on an awful, rebuilding Red Wings team and tasked with defending the opposition’s best players. Hronek was offensively productive immediately, scoring 80 points in 167 games (a 39-points-per-82-games pace) through his first three NHL seasons.

There were major holes in his all-around game, however. Hronek struggled to drive even-strength play and was on the ice for 81 goals for and 139 against at five-on-five in those first three seasons. He was even a healthy scratch for a pair of games early in 2021-22.

It’s understandable, however, for a young defenceman to struggle to handle tough minutes on a bad, rebuilding team.

Hronek has taken a huge step this year. It’s the second season that he’s settled into a second-pair role behind Moritz Seider. That meant a lighter workload where he’s faced league-average matchups (only occasionally playing against top lines) and slightly trimmed minutes. Hronek’s responded by tying his career high of 38 points in 18 fewer games than last year and driving a positive five-on-five goal share for the first time in his career.

continued

Lalonde said. "Some players are going to have to get out of their comfort level and get to the inside, and that's not just getting to the blue paint, that's getting inside and battles and keeping plays alive.

That sounds like Rasmussen and Bertuzzi.  Will anyone else step up?

7 years in... Giddy up Stevie.... Show us something!