Red Wings’ Larkin bemoans lack of deadline deals after another playoff miss
The lone trade the Detroit Red Wings made on deadline day sent forward Joe Veleno to the Chicago Blackhawks for goalie Petr Mrazek and forward Craig Smith. Now, after a franchise-record ninth-straight playoff miss, captain Dylan Larkin said that wasn’t enough.
The lone trade the Detroit Red Wings made on deadline day sent forward Joe Veleno to the Chicago Blackhawks for goalie Petr Mrazek and forward Craig Smith.
Now, after a franchise-record ninth-straight playoff miss, captain Dylan Larkin said that lone move wasn’t enough.
“We didn’t gain any momentum from the trade deadline, and guys were kinda down about it. So it’d be nice to add something and bring a little bit of a spark on the ice and a morale boost as well,” Larkin said during his season-ending availability on Saturday.
Franchise legend Steve Yzerman re-joined the team as general manager in 2019 after helping build a Stanley Cup winner with the Tampa Bay Lightning. But he has been unable to recreate that success in the Motor City.
One year after missing the post-season on a tiebreaker, Detroit sank to sixth in the Atlantic Division with a 39-35-8 record and 86 points.
Meanwhile, it was surpassed by teams like the Ottawa Senators and Montreal Canadiens, who each made the playoffs after similar rebuilds to Detroit.
While the Canadiens sat out the deadline, the Senators were aggressive in acquiring forwards Dylan Cozens and Fabian Zetterlund.
“You gotta come up with wins and I think, especially March, it was hard that we didn’t do anything,” Larkin said.
The Red Wings finished the season 20th overall, making them ineligible for the first overall pick but giving them a 5.1 per cent shot at drafting second.
