- 10 months ago
Costa and Jansen give their thoughts on why the Red Wings continue to miss the playoffs under Steve Yzerman.
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00:00Let's have the funeral.
00:02Red Wing season ended last night.
00:07And it was in the most poetic way possible.
00:11They jumped him.
00:13For many of you that watch the game, you know what we're talking about.
00:15They jumped him like 23, 24 shots in the opening period.
00:19A lead.
00:19The urgency that we had been missing all year.
00:23The overdue energy that we had been missing all season.
00:26And of course it didn't last.
00:29Of course it didn't sustain.
00:30It showed up for one period with six games left.
00:33Yeah, John, that's the thing.
00:34You get to the third period and it's, well, do or die.
00:37Tie game.
00:38Find what you're made of.
00:39And they put two shots on net and blew it.
00:42I mean, that is who they are as a hockey team.
00:43It's a fitting, poetic exit.
00:47And we can do the taps routine.
00:48We can do the funeral today.
00:50But even in the first period when they were winning, you were kind of irked.
00:53Well, I was irked because I could just see the storyline.
00:56You know, it's unlikely even if they won that game that they were going to make the playoffs.
01:00And the storyline was going to be, oh, well, we fought to the bitter end.
01:04Well, not really.
01:05Not really.
01:06Yeah.
01:06I mean, it's where were you in the month of March?
01:08Where was the sense of urgency when you could actually make a difference, an impact on your record, the points?
01:16You got eight points in the month of March.
01:19You can't make the playoffs that way.
01:21You just simply can't.
01:22When you were a team that was just fighting to be above the cut line or be right there,
01:28you can't go an entire month and actually a little bit longer because it goes into February
01:34and it strings into a little bit at the beginning of April.
01:37You can't go that long and only get eight points.
01:43I'd go a step further.
01:44The way they lost the game also included a blunder from Hull in front of the net,
01:50getting bodied and outworked by a smaller player in Cole Caulfield.
01:54Hull, the bane of our existence as Red Wing fans, with a bad play.
01:58Tarasenko, what a disaster that signing has been.
02:01He has the critical turnover that leads to the game-winning goal.
02:04Comfer misses a wide-open net.
02:07I don't mean, oh, he had half the net to shoot into.
02:09I mean, the goalie was standing behind the net.
02:12Comfer shot, sales, not deflected as it appeared initially on TV, just flat-out misses it.
02:18These are Iserman players.
02:20So our question today is, why did they fall short?
02:24After being right there a year ago, why did they fall short?
02:29Who do you blame?
02:30248-539-9797.
02:33Well, ultimately, the blame has to go on the general manager that put this team together.
02:36Some people would fight you on that.
02:38Well, okay, they could fight all they want, but these are his guys.
02:41These are his players.
02:42And the reason I say that is the one thing that I think the most glaring thing, not just the one thing, the glaring thing that this team is meeting, missing, is toughness.
02:54It's both physical and mental toughness.
02:58When you get to the end of the season, and as you approach March, you are in a playoff run.
03:04You are hoping to be able to make the playoffs, and you tank every single year.
03:10There's a physical toughness because there's nobody out there that's the enforcer.
03:16There's no one out there that is taking, there's no aggression on the ice.
03:21We saw it for a period.
03:22That doesn't constitute a physical team.
03:24We saw it for one period.
03:25You have to be a team that has individuals that will enforce, that will set a standard of toughness, and then it goes to the mental side of things where if Dabrinkit isn't the one that is scoring goals, then it has to be Kane or it has to be Larkin.
03:44It has to be somebody that steps up to make plays.
03:48Yeah, and I think McClellan actually did a nice job describing toughness when he took the job.
03:52It's not exclusively a bunch of goons throwing elbows in the corners.
03:57Toughness is a lot of things.
03:58It's mental toughness as well, and this team is not mentally tough.
04:03That's a big issue because I get it.
04:05You don't, it's not 1980s hockey.
04:07It's not 1990s hockey.
04:09You do need a little more of that speed on the ice.
04:12Well, yeah, you need some finesse, but you also have to be, but your finesse players have to be tough players too, and that's, that's back checking.
04:18That's aggressive for check.
04:19It's fighting for loose pucks.
04:20It's not two shots on goal in the final period of relevance for your season.
04:25Like that's a mental toughness issue for all that had happened.
04:28They're out shooting them three to one.
04:30It's the third period.
04:31You're in Montreal.
04:32It's a hostile environment.
04:33Their goalie's playing well.
04:34Your season's on the line and you put two shots on net.
04:37That's pathetic.
04:39That's a mental toughness issue as much as it is, you know, being big and burly and pushing people around.
04:45They need to do both, but it's just a toughness issue.
04:47And then you wonder, why is the roster built this way?
04:50This is done intentionally.
04:52Ken Holland didn't bring in these players.
04:54Right.
04:54And the contracts are, have all expired.
04:57Right.
04:57Anybody who was here from the Holland days was extended by Steve or replaced by Steve.
05:02I looked at Montreal and I know the puck knowers will say they're not built for sustained success, but I'll look at what they did in half the time and wonder why Steve doesn't take more heat.
05:15Montreal in 2022 finished dead last 55 points.
05:19Worst team in hockey.
05:20They finished last in the division in 23 and 24.
05:24They're bad.
05:25Now they're in the playoffs.
05:29They had Nick Suzuki already, much like we already had Dylan Larkin, and you can do a comparison there if you'd like.
05:34But the next three point scorers on Montreal were drafted in the time Iserman's been here.
05:40I say that not to suggest they've drafted better, but that they've had enough time here in Detroit to show progress.
05:47And they aren't.
05:48That's the big issue here.
05:49So I know people will say this is a big offseason for Iserman and he's got to win me over.
05:55We said that a year ago.
05:57I think he's lost a lot of the fan base.
06:01It's withering away.
06:02There's no question.
06:03And the question is about the job that Steve Iserman is doing and what will he do this offseason to make this team better.
06:12We asked that question going into last offseason.
06:15We asked it going into the offseason prior to that.
06:17And there's been nothing to get over the hump of actually getting in the playoffs.
06:22And I think there's another question.
06:24This one was brought up on Twitch.
06:27And just like questioning Steve Iserman in Detroit, I think this kind of goes along with it.
06:33Is the C on the right jersey?
06:36It's a harsh conversation that probably needs to be had.
06:39I don't know who else on this team you would put the C on.
06:42It's the best option probably on this roster.
06:45But if you're talking about toughness, mental toughness, you also have to talk about leadership.
06:51Yeah.
06:51And I don't know if people are ready to have the conversation because I think everybody collectively likes Dylan Larkin.
06:56Waterford native, homegrown.
06:57He's been through all the suffering.
06:59And he's a good hockey player.
07:00He might not be your elite number one center that you hoped he would be.
07:04But he's a good hockey player.
07:06And he wears his emotions on his sleeve.
07:08But he's also part of the problem.
07:10If you don't step up in these big games, if you're getting outplayed by their captain Suzuki, you're part of the problem, dude.
07:16We need to separate good guys and guys that we like from guys that are doing the job that they need to do.
07:23Winners.
07:24Yeah.
07:24Just because you're not able to win doesn't mean you're a bad guy.
07:27No.
07:28But my point is there's always that correlation.
07:30People bristle if you said this offseason there should be a conversation about stripping the C or trading Dylan Larkin.
07:34Not saying that you want to, but that he's on the table.
07:37He's available.
07:38I think people would bristle at it because of the first part, because of the likability.
07:42I think these things should be on the table, but it's not necessarily his fault for sure.
07:46The bottom line is that, especially the last two years, or even you go back to three with the collapses in March, that's what this team's doing.
07:52The core of this team has been the same, throwing in Kane the last two years.
07:58And the last two years have been far worse than a couple years ago.
08:00They were still young then.
08:02The core continues to collapse.
08:04When it matters most.
08:06After the trade deadline, right?
08:07When NHL teams usually say, all right, we've got to get going here.
08:10Like, if you've been a team that's sputtering, it's either now or never, and they fall apart.
08:15The core keeps doing that.
08:16So, I think the team has a chemistry issue.
08:18That's why the things you said about Larkin are on the table.
08:20Just like I think, you know, I'm disappointed in the growth of Mo Sider.
08:25I expected more out of him.
08:27I expected him to be a true quarterback, number one on the point power play guy.
08:32I don't think he's that.
08:33I think you can have a conversation that he's a number two defenseman in this league.
08:38Not a number one.
08:39You need another Mo Sider to go with Mo Sider to have a couple of great defensemen, right?
08:45Are you disappointed in Sider's growth?
08:48Yes.
08:49Yeah.
08:50I thought that there was more offense coming, and I think some of this is he is forced to
08:53play brutal minutes in his own end, and some of that is the collective decor is pathetic
08:58here.
08:59I mean, think about the defense around Sider.
09:01I'm not trying to give him an excuse.
09:01I agree with your point.
09:02But look at the defense around him.
09:04Hull was a healthy scratch all last year, yet Iserman put him on the ice all season.
09:09Petrie, when he plays, not very good.
09:10It's another Iserman guy.
09:12Seriously, look around this room right now.
09:14Gustafson, disappointing addition from the offseason.
09:17You know who's not here?
09:18Wallman.
09:19I had to give him away for some reason.
09:21And Gostaspare, who was a puck mover who could get the puck out of his own end and create
09:25some offense.
09:26Those guys lighten the load on a Mo Sider.
09:28All right.
09:29So what you're saying is that he's not able to play his game.
09:32Well, if he's not able to play his game three years ago, I think that's fine.
09:35Yeah.
09:36Two years ago, you're starting to say, man, we got to let him play his game.
09:40We got to put people around him that makes him his best.
09:42You're saying he's not the star that you were hoping he would be.
09:46Right.
09:46He might just be a very good hockey player.
09:47But if he could be a star and he's not allowed to do it because of the things you're saying,
09:51defensive liabilities elsewhere, shame on Steve Iserman for putting Mo Sider in that position
09:55this deep into his career.
09:57I think that's well said.
09:58248-539-9797.
10:00Let's knock out some phone calls.
10:01Sam and Pinckney, you're on 97.1.
10:05So I think the problem is Steve Iserman as the GM.
10:08And you're right.
10:09I don't think the team has chemistry.
10:12The reason the wing failed this season is because of Iserman.
10:17And he should be fired.
10:18Because if you ask yourself, honestly, if it was any other coach who didn't have the name
10:22Iserman, he would have been fired last year or the year before.
10:25And then with the trade line, when he told the players, don't expect any help, he's not
10:32trying to help this team.
10:33He has to go.
10:35I don't care who they replace him with.
10:37Anyone is better than him.
10:38I think some of the frustration is there doesn't appear to be enough urgency.
10:46Sure.
10:47There's no urgency on the ice.
10:48There's no urgency in the front office.
10:49There's no urgency in the organization.
10:52And when you have a lifetime contract, that tends to be what happens.
10:55I get connecting those dots.
10:59You don't think he has a lifetime contract?
11:02He may.
11:03That's not...
11:04Is that part of the issue?
11:06I don't...
11:07I can't go to a spot where I could say he's doing it wrong.
11:14But I think he certainly still has the competitive fire.
11:19Same as he was as a player.
11:21That competitive fire doesn't leave.
11:23That competitiveness, do you think he shows up and says, I'm okay with not being in the
11:28playoffs?
11:29But then do something about it.
11:30Okay, so he's just doing a bad job.
11:32But I'm not going to sit there and say that he's not competitive enough.
11:36He's just not doing it the right way.
11:39Fine.
11:40That's a distinction we can make then.
11:41That he is a competitive person.
11:43He just doesn't act like it.
11:48I don't necessarily know that.
11:51I just think the moves have been wrong.
11:53Okay.
11:57I think it's a fair question about the competitiveness.
12:00Other teams are making moves to win.
12:02We're treading water.
12:04Actually going backwards.
12:05And we could say this offseason will be the one that he really gives it the old college
12:10try.
12:11Okay.
12:12We said that last year and an offseason where they signed Sider and Raymond and we're really
12:16locking in the core.
12:17And could they put players around them?
12:19The players they put around them.
12:21Maybe you're right.
12:22Maybe he's just bad at it.
12:23Because the players he brought in aren't very good.
12:25It's 97.
12:25Okay.
12:26Okay.
12:28Okay.
12:29Let's see.
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