00:01knock out a quick phone call on the Pistons some playoff uh defined success for him and
00:09the thoughts of Tom Gores from his letter to the fans and then we'll get into this Patrick
00:12Kane conversation because Birchie wrote an article and he said should Kane come back
00:17it's complicated Henry in Chesterfield good morning you're on 97.1 hey fellas thanks for
00:23having me on hey I want to say something about Tom Gores um it's not the Monte Williams thing
00:29that was actually his second time riding a ship if you realize when he first came on as the Pistons
00:35owner the first thing he did was hired Stan Van Gundy to be the general manager and the coach
00:43and that went terrible and he wind up getting rid of him you know so he started off being a
00:50little
00:50flaky you know but he got rid of SVG and then he brought in Monte got rid of him so
00:57that's the
00:57second time he actually right at the ship so I really like Tom Gores I mean I think you know
01:03he's just doing whatever it takes to get his basketball team to win he's tried different
01:08things yeah you know I know there's this route this you know rap on him like the absentee owner
01:12he doesn't come to games he lives out in LA he goes to the games when they play the Clippers
01:16right
01:16at the same time he hasn't been afraid to admit mistakes so I mean that's not a guy detached from
01:22what's going on no I mean it's the old saying right if at first you don't succeed try and try
01:28again until
01:29you do and currently they are and the other thing I like about that letter he talks about the next
01:34chapter for the Pistons it wasn't about the start of the season it wasn't about 60 wins it was the
01:39next chapter for the Pistons begins Sunday when the first round of the NBA playoffs tips off at 630 top
01:45seeded Pistons now will look to win their first playoff series since 2008 like he's following
01:52that that same path that Trajan did as well so it's it when we're talking about the the Lions
02:00in their fall in 2024 being the one seed what did we say after they lost to San Francisco in
02:09the NFC
02:11finals it was well we don't really care what they do in the regular season we wanted to see what
02:15they
02:15do in the postseason oh they've graduated I mean we reached the point this year where they were pacing
02:20for 60 wins they were going to get the one seed even when Cade got hurt it didn't you know
02:24it was a bump
02:24in the road they officially reached the status of wake me up when the playoffs start correct so it's a
02:31compliment they've graduated to that level of basketball and now I like that phrasing the new chapter begins
02:36on Sunday it is possible to make the playoffs someone should let the Detroit Red Wings know
02:43the conversation I wanted to bring up was something that you could read about on 97.1 the ticket.com
02:51Birchie will Birchfield wrote about Patrick Kane and should Patrick Kane come back so I want you to
02:57think about where you stand on this he writes that it's complicated to bring back Patrick Kane
03:02citing yes it was a herky-jerky season points out that he had 57 points in 66 games it's going
03:11to be
03:12hard to replace that level of offense for the cap hit that he had but Kane does not bring quote
03:18the
03:18heaviness and hardness that Todd McClellan has lamented his players are missing during this drought
03:25he's still dangerous with time and space and the puck on his stick but he does not create much time
03:31and
03:31space for himself he does not win his own pucks bringing Kane back would be inviting more of the
03:37same offense with more of the same flaws but see what we mean here can the Red Wings afford to
03:43let
03:43those points walk out the door it's complicated do you want Patrick Kane back well I mean yeah that's
03:53that's maybe the simplest form to put it in it is complicated because I'll ask you this question
04:00how do you replace the points if he's gone I understand pucks in the corner it's probably not
04:06the guy coming out with it but he's good on five on five in a team that was not good
04:11five on five yeah
04:12let me put it to you this way he had 57 points that was fifth on the team we've really
04:16highlighted
04:16though what do you do when it's five on five he was third on the team in five on five
04:20scoring
04:24so is that a guy that you are letting walk well so the question is if you let him walk
04:31who are you replacing him with is there someone out there that's just going to walk in the door
04:37and provide the same production or but more because you're getting rid of somebody that doesn't play
04:43any defense is not tough he's not going to be physical like do is there somebody there that comes
04:48close to the point total but also does those other things see that's a fun stat Jim with the
04:54five on five and the third most points you said right yeah what's the plus minus five on five it's
05:00actually positive is it yeah I was a little surprised because I was digging up last night to see and
05:05uh
05:05yeah it's it's um it's a slight positive because that's where plus minus matters when you're looking
05:10at what happens on the ice when you're not putting up you know I'll give you this just so you
05:15have
05:15the context on ice goal differential five on five the best player on the team no surprise
05:23mo cider the number two player alex de brinket the number three player patrick kane
05:34where's dylan larkin uh i'll get it for you here in just a second
05:40uh dylan larkin is sixth and a minus five but he's not a pending free agent right i think the
05:48answer is probably you bring kane back but you you it's probably in a more limited third line
05:57offensive deployments power play specialist because if he's still playing in your top six
06:01like the identity of your hockey team is still in limbo and i think that's birchie's point
06:05is they are very much in limbo in terms of the identity of this hockey team but it goes to
06:10the
06:10argument and the disdain that you had for for those saying you got to improve the bottom six
06:15yeah no you got to improve the top six and some of those top six bump down and it makes
06:20the bottom
06:21six better if cops your third center much better place to be in if kane's in your you know that
06:26third
06:26line because you've got some dudes you can put in the top two then i can live with it
06:32problem solved problem solved the question is who are those guys and how do you acquire them
06:37tom i i want to spotlight you here because i know you are one that says you know what kind
06:42of hockey
06:42team do you want to be yeah i i don't like the idea of bringing them back and i i
06:47just think he's a
06:48very one-dimensional player at this point he's basically a a specialist i i think there i've always
06:55had this argument bad or mediocre team still have guys that put up numbers okay it's i always revert
07:03back to when the piston signed loy vaught years ago he was the number one scorer on the clippers
07:08everybody thought they were getting a you know great player and it bombed uh basketball is a little
07:13bit different in hockey i think you can really junk up some stats and not be that great of a
07:18player in
07:18basketball but look i just don't i don't like the idea of bringing them back i i i and where
07:25do they
07:26fill the void with scoring who knows is anybody coming up the pipeline that could maybe provide
07:30that i mean it's a problem is then you're putting a guy who's not played a full nhl season on
07:36your
07:37second line and saying we're going to score more goals for a team who couldn't score enough goals
07:41five on five to begin with like i get everything you're saying and and emotionally when he took that
07:46stupid penalty against minnesota i'm going i don't want this guy back but you settle down and you go
07:50he's the third best player five on five he's got clear deficiencies you're gonna have to go around
07:55that you're because the alternative is you're not replacing it right so that's that's the point is
08:03is okay yeah you got some deficiencies that you're gonna have to you know maneuver around and try and
08:09play within the context of what he could do but how about this too we talked about hey guys got
08:14to
08:14step up when your season's on the line right you might be surprised by this stat tom from march 1st
08:20to today they've played 21 hockey games he has 24 points yeah point per game during all of this and
08:28that's the guy that you kick out of town but then are we just bringing everybody back to i mean
08:33i
08:33share that frustration yeah i mean i would say what has he done in terms of points for the team
08:41the two seasons that he's been here they've been kind of right around the same thing right
08:45is he really improving the team no but he may be keeping them afloat i mean if you want to
08:52take a
08:52gap year move on from him call up mbn don't sniff the playoffs for the 11th season and then enter
09:00the
09:00free agent class the year after and try and convince somebody come to an original six i mean that that's
09:07the
09:07question is are are you going to take that gap year can anyone in the front office afford to take
09:12that gap year i was just going to say how could you look this fan base in the eyes and
09:16go hey
09:17we're two years away just settle down yeah it's going to be a minute 12 seasons of charm i know
09:23you
09:23boot us off the ice but it's going to take a dozen years deal with it i have a really
09:27big problem with
09:27the penalty at the end of the year a veteran not being that focused and costing the team it was
09:33and i also think he's the type of player that uh teams like the wild the stars the oilers the
09:41golden knights could add and he could make a difference there i'm not sure he's making a
09:47difference here he's cheap i mean it's a 50 50 you know i think it depends on a lot of
09:53the other
09:53decisions right but in a vacuum do you want patrick kane back my answer is yes my answer is yes
09:59and i
10:00understand why people view him as he's old washed up can't do enough is he a roadblock to the style
10:07of hockey the red wings should be playing or want to be playing because he doesn't play into the
10:12corners he's not going to drive play to the middle of the ice he's a perimeter oriented passing power
10:17play specialist i get all that at the same time point per game from march on one of a few
10:22players who
10:22was positive five on five his role needs to be reduced because they need to get better but he's still
10:29part of this to me with that five on five stat i would ask and i know we don't probably
10:32have the
10:33answer to it but we're the top two defensemen on the team on the ice all the time you know
10:37what i'm
10:37saying you want to know what tom i'll i'll go back and do a film study for you exactly you
10:41know so
10:43i okay we talked last week about does the core need to be shaken up so the core cider to
10:49brinket
10:50raymond and larkin and i think that's the most important thing in this offseason are they gonna
10:55make a change there and then i would make this decision after that well that what that probably
11:00does is kane hits free agency i'm not worried about him hitting free agency are you
11:08no i think he very much wants to come back here and would he kick his feet up for a
11:14little bit
11:15see how it plays out maybe i know he likes playing with the brinket sure he likes bringing the kid
11:22around the clubhouse but does he does he want to be in a place calling his milestones does he want
11:26to be in a place that just he rides out the end of his career or does he want to
11:29be in a place where
11:31i want to ride out the end of my career but i want to win something too but i would
11:33have thought that
11:34would have kicked in last year yeah you know what i mean like they went backwards last year and i
11:38would have thought if you're going to take the leap you do it and i think where he's at in
11:44his
11:44career he's got the stanley cups he wants to be somewhere he wants to play he wants to play in
11:51detroit well i think that's that certainly that plays a part of it but the only one they can
11:55answer that is patrick kane no and i i believe he has said he wants to come back and play
11:59another
11:59season so what do the red wings do and that was birchie's point so we'll get some phone calls on
12:04this got some text to read do you want patrick kane back quote it's complicated it's 97 one
12:08this got some text to read do you want patrick kane back to read do you want patrick kane back
12:09to
12:09read do you want patrick kane back to read do you want patrick kane back to read do you want
12:09patrick kane
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