00:01Good afternoon, it is the Valenny Show with Rico, mic off, different mic is here, yes
00:09it is Stoney here, with the one and only Rico Beard, David Hull, Kenny Cott, what's going
00:15on?
00:16Stoney, man, you're coming out the gate on fire.
00:19Well, just a little louder.
00:21I don't need headphones today.
00:22I haven't talked for a while, you know, it's been like nine days, you know, in mostly sunny
00:27times in Florida.
00:30Okay, well, yeah, good having you in.
00:33Good to be here.
00:34Kenny and I will have to wait for our lunch bet with the other mic that he lost, thanks
00:39to the wings.
00:40Yes, indeed.
00:41Oh, the wings, yeah.
00:42I guess that's where we should start, huh?
00:45Hmm.
00:46Always good to come back in time to watch your team implode.
00:53And that's what happened yesterday, as everyone knows.
00:56And I don't know, I just, I can't figure it out.
01:00Look, Saturday, look, they've been playing okay.
01:02The whole March thing, considering, you know, Larkin was hurt, they're holding their own.
01:07They were treading water.
01:08Yeah, well, they won two in a row, and then they played Boston Saturday, and I watched that
01:13game.
01:13We, you know, it was on national television, and they played pretty damn well, even though
01:18they lost.
01:18I'm not going to sit there and, you know, sugarcoat it, but they got goalied.
01:22Swayman was outstanding.
01:25Um, but last night, and when they came on the broadcast on, is it still Fandle or Detroit
01:32Sportsnet, whatever the hell it is, and talking about all the guys that Otto was missing, like
01:36their top two defensemen, Shabbat and, was it Jake Sanderson, correct?
01:41And they played, and won, the night before in Madison Square Garden.
01:48So you figure, all right.
01:50They got to travel here.
01:51Yeah, they travel here.
01:52Look, and the Wings have historically not done very well against Ottawa, especially when it
01:57mattered, but this year they've held their own.
01:59They won a big game there a few weeks ago.
02:02So, you know, you expected a depleted Ottawa team not to be able to defeat a Red Wing team
02:10that, uh, oh, Dylan Larkin was back.
02:13You know, it was a game time decision and they decided, you know what?
02:17We can't wait anymore.
02:18We need Dylan Larkin.
02:19And you know what?
02:20Dylan Larkin was Dylan Larkin.
02:21He played pretty well.
02:22He scored a goal.
02:23Yeah.
02:23It's almost a game.
02:24You're the captain.
02:25You got to play.
02:26Yes.
02:27Unless you're dead.
02:27You're playing.
02:28Yeah, absolutely.
02:29And he played and, but what bothered me the most, and our telephone number is 248-539-9797.
02:37What bothers me the most is the fact that this team came out slow and the fact that you
02:44have, they're still a young team, but they have enough veterans on this team where, oh
02:49Lord, if they get a goal that was called back by a, you know, an offsides call, that was the
02:55right call, but it was just, you know, it was very close and to like, oh, put their heads
03:00down figuratively, not literally, oh, oh, woe is us.
03:04And they gave up a goal and it's one nothing.
03:06Then boom, boom, next period, it's three nothing.
03:10And who, and who's going to, you know, give you some hope?
03:13Dominic Shine, who, by the way, love the way the guy plays.
03:18He gives them that, and I know it's a word that is used too much in this town, grit, but
03:24he goes in the corners, he does things, score occasional goal, you know.
03:29He only played five minutes last night.
03:33I think that's a little bit of a problem.
03:35And to lose that game when, and yesterday was a rare game, a rare night where all the
03:41teams that you wanted to lose actually lost.
03:44You know, like the Islanders, losing to Chicago at home, everything was set up and they're
03:50out of the playoffs, right?
03:51As of now.
03:52Now, can they come back?
03:53Obviously.
03:54Not, it would jump them for that spot.
03:56So, yes.
03:57It was, it was not a good night.
03:59You know what I've learned?
04:00I learned that I probably, I got to give credit where credit is due.
04:05We should have been listening to Kenny Cott for a long time.
04:09Kenny has been calling this out and we thought that, at least me, Kenny was
04:13in his feelings.
04:14Kenny was hurt.
04:15Kenny didn't want to get hurt again.
04:17Okay, Kenny, I think you're being a little too hard on the wings.
04:20Everything that Kenny has said has pretty much come to life.
04:24So, Kenny, I offer you my humble apologies.
04:27You were right.
04:29I benefited from you being right because we got lunch out of this.
04:34But, Kenny, you've been calling this out for a while now that you, you saw
04:38deficiencies that we all just kind of assumed, you know what?
04:42They will work this out.
04:43They have it.
04:44Kenny and I have been on this non-playoff train for a while that they better
04:47watch out.
04:48And, you know, the one show I did a few weeks ago with Costa where I pulled
04:53out the damn bugler.
04:54I buried them three weeks ago.
04:57You played taps on Carson Anderson last week or whatever it was.
05:01Yeah, whenever.
05:01Yeah.
05:02And, by the way, for everybody listening, it gives us no pleasure to be right about
05:06what we've just said.
05:08Hell no.
05:08This is awful.
05:09And none of us are having any fun.
05:11But as fans, we feel let down in this moment.
05:14And sometimes the truth hurts.
05:15Sometimes the truth, you get into your feelings.
05:18And it's just the truth.
05:20It's the mirror.
05:21And you look at that and you see what it is.
05:24And this is a team that is, once again, struggling in the month of March,
05:28struggling to see if they're going to make the playoffs.
05:30And last night, Stoney was about as close to a playoff game as you could get.
05:35You needed that game.
05:36Because if you win that game, everybody else who you needed to lose lost.
05:41Right.
05:41It would have benefited you.
05:43And instead, you come out.
05:45You're down early.
05:46You got to fight to come back.
05:48You end up losing.
05:49And then you wanted to fight at the end.
05:52It's like, where was this at the beginning?
05:55Where was this emotion at the beginning of the game?
05:57Yeah.
05:57And they didn't have it.
05:59And you know what?
06:01It might be easy for me to say, because I'm sitting here in front of a microphone
06:07or behind a microphone.
06:09And I was down south for a few days.
06:12But when I watch this team, you know, and all in all, he's done a pretty good job.
06:17And I'm not saying that he should be fired right now or anything like that.
06:23Although in hockey, weird things do happen.
06:25They fire coaches like with two weeks left in the season.
06:28Look.
06:28But this lack of urgency that I'm seeing early in games is so not what I expected from a
06:36Todd McClellan coach team.
06:38So some of the blame, while everybody wants to go after Iserman and Larkin and some of
06:44the players, all do respect they should be criticized.
06:49Okay?
06:50Because let me tell you something.
06:51If this was the end of the season, I'd have a garage sale right now.
06:58Because there's nobody on this team.
07:00Once they're eliminated, there's no sacred cows.
07:05None.
07:06And that includes cider.
07:08That includes everybody, depending on what you can get for them.
07:11Okay?
07:12Because it's been too long.
07:14And then the general manager.
07:16But I think Todd McClellan should take some responsibility for this as well.
07:21I mean, a lot of people say, why was this year going to be different?
07:27And my reasons before I buried them that it was going to be different was, I thought
07:32Iserman was going to make a move at the deadline, which, to his credit, he did.
07:37And Falk's a pretty good damn good player.
07:39They just didn't get another offensive guy.
07:41And I don't consider David Perron an offensive guy.
07:43He was a glue guy.
07:44Another one.
07:45Okay?
07:46So he did okay at the trade deadline.
07:50But I also thought that because they have a really good goalie now, that would be the
07:54difference.
07:55And he gave up a couple softies on Saturday.
07:58Not so much last night.
07:59And Gibson's been good, but I thought it would be different.
08:01It's no different because of the other guys.
08:04They don't do enough when it counts.
08:07They're too soft.
08:09They just, and I'm not talking about necessarily mentally.
08:13I just, in today's game, especially if you're going to get to the playoffs, you got to be
08:19able to use that body and take guys off the puck.
08:23And they're willing to do it.
08:25They're just not doing it.
08:27They're just not that good.
08:28They're not as talented as all these other teams seem to be.
08:34And that starts at Iserman.
08:36Where's this talent?
08:38Yeah.
08:38Where's all these, you know, we're not trading any of our prospects or draft picks.
08:42We're not doing that.
08:43Where are these great prospects yet?
08:45I mean, it's eventually, you know, great.
08:49Grand Rapids is going to win the Calder Cup if they win.
08:52Who gives a rat's ass?
08:53Sorry to all the, you know, Grand Rapids ganders, as Wojo would say.
08:57It doesn't mean squat if it doesn't translate here.
09:01I mean, come on, Sandin Pelica.
09:03He's going to be the next one.
09:04Well, you know, he's in Grand Rapids right now.
09:06But we call them prospects.
09:08They're called prospects for a reason.
09:09Yes.
09:10Even when they do get here.
09:11Yeah.
09:11To expect the sun and the moon from them is a little bit absurd, too.
09:15That's why you have to supplement with professional level talent on the other side.
09:19Right.
09:19But I'm not getting the information from Grand Rapids and people who follow the minor leagues
09:29a little more closely than I do and Wings prospects that they have anybody in their organization
09:35right now that's going to be a star.
09:37I mean, maybe the kid was named Groberg from Sweden who just came over to Grand Rapids.
09:41He might be that guy.
09:43Pelica, if you put some weight on him and teach him how to play defense, maybe.
09:47But you're still talking about projects that are years down the road.
09:50Danielson is not going to be a star.
09:52He'll be a solid NHL player.
09:55They still don't have stars.
09:58They've got to figure out how to do that.
10:00Because without stars in this league, you've got nothing.
10:03And as good as Larkin's been and DeBrinckin, they're really good players, especially Larkin.
10:09Okay?
10:09He plays both ways.
10:11But he's not a star.
10:12He's not a superstar.
10:13No, Wings fans, 2485-399-797, the Hockey Elite, last night's game, did that game break you?
10:22Did that game just send you off to the point where you feel like this team has no shot at
10:28the playoffs?
10:29Or do you still believe?
10:30We'd like to know.
10:31We'll get your phone calls and your text communications next.
10:3797.1.
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