On November 21st, 1976 the Wings were 5-11-4.

That team did not discover talent, and won exactly 11 more games the rest of the year.

This team, the 2016 version, is not as talent-less as the bicentennial team. However, their chances of winning a Stanley Cup are equal: zero.

Anyone who doesn't acknowledge that is...mentally irregular.

And if you don't have a chance to win the Cup, why not take steps to make sure that a season like the one unfolding in front of us now never happens again?

Tank? No. Trade every available asset outside of Larkin and Athanasiou for picks and talent? Absolutely.

Absofrigginglutely.

Mrazek? I suggested dealing him earlier. Crazy? Why? Is he going to bring us a Cup this year? No. Is he better than Howard? No. Is he younger? Yes. Comeau's even younger than Mrazek and has an equal opportunity to succeed in the future. Trade him for picks.

Zetterberg? Trade him. Take on some salary and deal him. For his sake and ours. Oh, he's not a deal-able asset? Right. Tell that to Washington. Tell me a team like the Caps wouldn't love to have that leadership as they try to, finally, reach the place where we used to be. And give Zetterberg a shot at another Cup, a chance wasted by an inept GM with his eyes on a mediocre prize.

Tatar, Nyquist, Smith: move them. Move them to teams on the cusp of success. Move them to places like Dallas, Colorado, Florida, Ottawa, Columbus. Move them for 2nd round picks.

Vanek, Ott, Niellsen, even DeKeyser. Three of the four would make any contender immediately better and they would bring back high picks or proven prospects. No reason to keep them. None. And it hurts to say that about DK, and I could be talked off that ledge.

There is no reason not to blow this team up and do it immediately. Do not wait for the trade deadline, our annual day of impotence. When you don't have a chance at the ultimate, why pretend you do and swim against a current that is clearly too strong?

Trade and build. Carolina, Philadephia, Toronto, Florida and Ottawa, New Jersey and Columbus are all ahead of the Wings. That, in itself, as we approach Kenny Holland's declared date of organ-I-zational reckoning (the American Thanksgiving) should be enough to do two things: get him shitcanned, and convince whichever Ilitch is in charge that there is no hope to extend their precious streak, much less win more than a period or two if they get in. Not games. Periods.

Do not tank. Trade and build. Do not wait, unless the deadline is truly the most lucrative time to get more for every asset but Larkin and AA.

This season is done. It's time to shift our optimism toward what can be gotten for who(m). That is a tectonic emotional shift for 19 of us, but it's time to swallow some reality, whore style. It's time for people to leave, players and execs.

Blow it up.