00:00to an advisor role all right where did it go wrong why did eiserman fail i think when you go
00:05to the podium in your eighth offseason and say we need better players it's a pretty damning admission
00:11that you haven't done your job well enough and then when the offseason plays out the way it has
00:16you have your longest tenured player disgruntled wanting out and you don't have a concept of
00:20reality you're asking for the moon and the stars you're not seriously trying to get deals done
00:25it reinforced this idea that he wasn't fit to do this job in 2026 he didn't add enough strong pro
00:33players around the few promising young pieces they did have it had become a forever rebuild
00:38if you're so hard-headed you won't pay market prices you end up with cop and comfort yeah the
00:44redundancy down the middle and then your hope to replace them casper and danielson those are top
00:5010 picks they don't look like they're gonna be first and second line centers so this started to
00:56compound on itself quickly but i think you trace it back to not being able to add enough strong
01:00pro pieces around the promising young guys because i like cider i like edvinson i like raymond but
01:07that's only three of his 10 picks in the top 15 it the the walls were closing in and he
01:13wasn't equipped
01:14with the tools in the modern nhl to solve these problems i think it's the inability to go out there
01:22and whether it's manufacture a trade or sign someone in free agency like you have complete control of
01:29who you're drafting and how you're developing those players but without adding real talent to this roster
01:37because in this era right it's if you don't have lottery luck and that's part of the equation but it's
01:43not the reason there's a lot of things that go into this and okay yeah if you if you get
01:49the number
01:49one overall pick in a certain year okay yeah it's put it's given to you on a platter if that
01:55doesn't
01:55happen there are other teams that find ways to add talent whether it's draft it's through free agency
02:02or trade and if you're if you're so locked on i drafted these guys i'm gonna be i'm gonna i'm
02:08gonna
02:09build them up and i'm gonna pay those guys versus hey i'm gonna have to pay somebody more than 10
02:16million dollars a year to come here and you just don't want to write that check it's a great point
02:20jason robertson could have been his golden ticket out of the larkin thing but if you're not willing
02:23to pay a hundred point player who the hell are you willing to pay and it reinforces this idea you
02:28don't have the tools to get out of this i'll give him credit for to bring it but that one
02:31kind of fell
02:31into his lap like they really hadn't made enough of those impact moves in his seven and now eight
02:37off seasons and there are other moves along the way like the wallman fiasco didn't do him any favors
02:43either for those that need a quick history lesson jake wallman was a good productive defenseman not a
02:49superstar but a good player and for reasons we still don't know no and no he was traded with a
02:55second round pick to dump him they extended him they chose to invest in him and then quickly
03:01thereafter attached a pick to remove him that same year he gets dealt for a first round pick
03:09and is playing in the stanley cup scoring goals with edmonton and those are some of the reasons
03:16i'm sure dylan larkin is looking at it going i i i just need out how do you think larkin
03:23felt
03:23yesterday because i sent you guys the was it the meme of him as washington crossing the delaware does
03:29he feel like he won he still might want out of this well i don't think there's i i think
03:35it's
03:35more likely now i've i've been a proponent of if steve eisenman was here that dylan larkin was on the
03:41roster when they went to training camp was on the roster when they started the season now i think it's
03:46less likely that he's here because whoever it is next now if if he only has those three teams yeah
03:55and
03:55maybe throw in you know dallas if if that's actually a part of the equation the the new general manager
04:03will have this rebuild on his hands and what better way to kickstart a rebuild than to get
04:10future draft picks and future prospects that you believe can be impactful in two years three years
04:18that's the other thing i'm not asking you to side with larkin i know that's a fight that
04:22some of you are more than willing to have today about it's sad that they let this whiny little baby
04:27strong arm our legendary gm i don't really need to go back into the larkin fight i don't need you
04:33to
04:33agree with me on larkin we can agree though eisenman was boxed in the new gm won't be boxed in
04:39right
04:39the new gm can meet with larkin and if he wants to pitch him on a brighter future he can
04:44he could say
04:44give me a year i'll do what steve didn't i'll try to get rowenski if i don't i'll trade you
04:49or he could
04:50say you know what this is this is my brad holmes moment yeah this is my chance to get a
04:53future
04:53based return that steve eisenman wouldn't consider either way convincing larkin to stay or getting the
04:59best return possible even if it's future based steve was boxed in and wasn't going to do either
05:04now the new guy can and and is part of that conversation with dylan larkin and the new gm
05:11it's if he just trying to sell him on stay here all right we've we're basically the same team we
05:16were last year let's get to that same point january february and here's my plan at the trade
05:23deadline because i'm not attached to these prospects i'm not attached to the guys that that have been
05:29drafted i see the value in them but that value isn't here with the red wings the value is i
05:36can
05:36trade those guys to get somebody that's impactful and we can make a push for the playoffs this year
05:41so how do you feel about like i was looking at like decisions he made that kind of get overlooked
05:47a little bit and we're talking about the now with larkin everybody wants to focus on that but
05:51i think a crucial pivot point was the 2021 draft yep and the bedard draft so they got uh edvinson
06:00uh seventh overall and then uh kosa kosa 16th overall and edvinson's turning into a pretty nice
06:09player that they're probably going to keep uh but they could have flipped them for quinn hughes
06:14potentially look at the layers of things oh that's another i was mixing up 22 is the bedard draft but
06:19keep going yeah so the kosa pick though man he was going to be the guy right when he came
06:25up
06:26it's elite goaltender we're going to win with defense and goaltending that was the whole eiserman plan
06:31yep big blue liner cider edvinson this giant goalie kosa yep and the moves that eiserman was hired to make
06:38was drafting wyatt johnson there instead who went 23rd after kosa went 16th yep eiserman supposed
06:45to be savvy to maybe sit there at 16 and take johnston or slide down a couple picks and take
06:51him and get more capital um and isn't it ironic that kosa was traded in the last few weeks and
06:58then
06:59he tried to trade for johnston yeah like that is a pretty full circle if chris illich is dialed in
07:05and watching this and looking back and and you're kind of like what's going on here the guy you hung
07:11your hat on you know it is the facade wears off yeah the the allure of eiserman meets the reality
07:17of eiserman and you're confronted in real time you're trying to trade for a guy that you could
07:21have drafted and then you drafted a guy that you just traded that was supposed to be one of the
07:25saviors yeah and maybe it also is indicative right so eiserman's big swing like we gave him credit
07:31for going and trading for fault giving this team a chance but ultimately isn't that more of the cop
07:36comfort when you could go for quinn like their inability to land those guys and settle for
07:42you know second pair defense or third line centers those are your get over the hump moves that's why
07:49they never got over the hump but there's this 2021 draft and okay so if i'm chris and i bought
07:55into
07:55i i gave eiserman two free years because of what he inherited so usually i'm a five-year gm guy
08:01you
08:01got to turn a corner in five years so he got an extra two so we're hitting sitting here seven
08:06years
08:06now yeah and the 2021 guys are supposed to be materializing at the nhl level and the guy you
08:14hung your hat on you traded right and and here's the other thing about the huge trade if it was
08:19just
08:20simply i'm not going to do it because it's a year and a half rental and i don't i don't
08:26want to pay
08:26that what is it going to be 18 million 17 million somewhere in that range and if i just simply
08:32i know
08:32i don't want to write that check so i'm not even going to pursue this guy yeah that's an interesting
08:37way of putting it because people have said well quinn wouldn't commit to an extension is that because
08:42eiserman wouldn't pay quinn what an extension would cost and i don't think they could get serious
08:47into negotiating talks given it was a year and a half out but if that's the reputation hey steve's
08:51going to try to get me at 13 a year and now you see he could end up getting 18
08:55well you wonder why
08:56quinn didn't give a promise that he'd stay he knows who he'd be negotiating with i mean it's all a
09:03part
09:03of the conversation was i'm going to pay you top dollar will you come to detroit will you come to
09:08michigan where you spend the summer will you come play with your your your buddy from michigan and
09:13your team usa teammate and the reputation is i will take care of you right maybe that goes differently
09:19but because of his reputation i could see why quinn was like well yeah you could trade for me but
09:25i'm not promising i'm extending because i don't know how you're going to negotiate right it's a
09:29really interesting way of looking at it 248-539-9797 i see the calls we're going to get to you
09:34guys
09:34coming up next why did this go wrong why did eiserman fail it's 97 one
09:38you
09:38you
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