The Red Wings have a GOLDEN Opportunity... - Multiple Detroit Updates

The Detroit Red Wings have a golden opportunity as one player placed on waivers opens up a very interesting door for the Red Wings to improve at a position of need. But not only that, fan outrage with Chris Illich and the team continues to spiral out of control and we have brand new updates on where the team stands with the Simon Edmondson contract holdout and an update on Dylan Larkin as well as a LinkedIn post that is going viral from owner Chris Illich that is something pretty spectacular when you consider everything that's been going on the last little while. We're going to break that all down and much more in this episode of Red Wings Digest. But guys before we get into all of that a quick reminder to hit that subscribe button we've noticed over the last little while a new influx of new viewers and a lot of you guys are not subscribed to the channel so make sure you are so you don't miss anything that's happening with the Red Wings. We're giving you guys daily updates from post-game reactions to pre-game you know reviews to all of this stuff that we're going to break down in this episode as well around the owner Simon Edmondson and of course Dylan Larkin. But something new has just come across our desk Mark and that is Connor Zeri has hit waivers in Calgary and this opens up a very interesting door for the Detroit Red Wings. They need help at the center position and Connor Zeri is a former first-round pick in 2020 who does play center. Now he's 25 years old there's been some drama going on in Calgary and then over the weekend there's been some rumors and some rumblings about him being placed on waivers and he's a great player right at the end of the day I mean Calgary is not a very good team and he had some pretty good numbers as you can see here so what do you make of this is this something where they should claim them off waivers take the whole contract because they have more than enough cap space to get everything done that they need to it's just a matter of them playing hardball at Simon Edmondson. Is this a move you would make would you even trade for him if you were to clear waivers there's been a lot of talk about that as well. I think with Connor Zeri and the position that you're in with Detroit right now you might as well try something listen getting a new body and a younger guy a former first-round pick you might as well pick him up if it's completely free now of course there's a lot of teams ahead of you in the pecking order when it comes to waivers and the trade options very interesting because of course that gives you the possibility to go out and not only pick up this guy if you wanted to give a future considerations or a seventh round pick but once he clears waivers you can bounce them back and looking at the numbers and exactly what Connor Zeri has brought to the game 12 goes 25 points in his last 74 games dating back to last season a two-way guy that's not the biggest player and doesn't have the best skating but still a young player 25 years old I think there's a lot that Connor Zeri can give a guy that might not be the best centerman when it comes to percentages but again you're looking at a Detroit team that's looking to move Dylan Larkin maybe you can kind of mold this guy into a centerman and at least soften the blow of losing that center position and adding a guy for nothing I think with the cap space that they have this is a move that they should definitely consider and again this is a guy that you know he might not break out at 25 years old but he can definitely have a rebound and I think that um in thinking of that what a great opportunity with Detroit in terms of where the Red Wings are at right now where Connor Zeri kind of wants to get his career back to instead of going to play for you know their AHL squad so I think there's a great opportunity there that does you know actually make some sense and you know should they consider uh you know getting him on waivers or claiming him off waivers let us know in the comments below because that's going to come down tomorrow around 2 p.m eastern and obviously you can see where the cap is where the cap is going and and how much they have to spend still and what they need to do to get Simon Edmondson signed we'll get to that in a few minutes as well they have enough money to make this move to make this work and I think this is uh again with no real update which will kind of get to an update on Dylan Larkin but no real update in terms of is he going to stay at Red Wing long term on Dylan Larkin I think it's an option that when you look at this you could use some centers I mean what have we been talking about since last season right it's the center depth and how it's not really there now he makes 3.7 million dollars on some change million dollars um AAB and he signs through next season as well so I think this is something they should definitely consider claiming him off waivers now there's always you know why was he put on waivers is it just that he's not performing is there attitude issues you got to consider everything right but at the end of the day I think this is a guy that has shown that he can play at a fairly high level at the NHL and for a team that does need a center I think that it actually does make some sense so Mark do you have any final thoughts on this because you know we got to get to a lot more you know there's a lot of injuries right now Casper is out right now with an injury too Larkin's working his way back from an injury any final thoughts on this because I think it's something that the team should at least and I think that's the biggest thing I mean looking at it if you can get him for absolutely nothing there's no big risk again 3.75 million or 3.775 million isn't a lot when you're looking at the grand schemes of this team not spending money of course you're taking on this year and next year the deal but again a buy low uh sell high guy if this is a guy that steps in fits into this organization you get to deadline if this is the team not looking to contend flip them for a you have a middle six option that can play center can play the wing I think it's a no-brainer especially with of course a lot of people are going to point fingers on why is Calgary doing this but we have trade reports on him dating back to this summer so maybe it was just a situation where he's not fitting the timeline that's a rebuilding team they were looking to move on from him and this was the only option they could honestly get to that crossroad they again like you mentioned there were some reports that they were trying to trade him in the summer but that's a interesting trade for Calgary in the summer when there were so many other big names available this summer as well and there's so much trade chatter now big update what everyone's waiting for Detroit has raised its offer for Simon Edmondson we have a brand new update on that and it's not uh ideal I'll say that so what we've learned today is they've come up to a six-year 8.5 million dollar deal you can see this from Elliot Friedman as well I think they're agreeable to a bridge which I don't know if that's the case but hey I'm going to listen to Elliot Friedman whenever he talks I feel like it does shortly thereafter come to fruition but I think they've also made some longer term offers now the latest again like we heard from David Pagnotta today is six years at 8.5 I think he wants max and I think he wants like 11 million and for everything that's gone on this offseason with where the salaries are going with where the cap is going how much cap space this team has I don't know I don't even know if he's wrong for asking for that mark I don't think he is and you know could you get him a little bit cheaper maybe but he's probably looking at 8.5 six years and going you know what if it was last summer then maybe I would have signed this but you waited till now and now I'm pissed off and that's what we learned uh this weekend as well that he's not happy with anything that's been going on so what are your thoughts on this again Detroit's offer six years around 8.5 million he wants a little bit more I feel like now they're trying to pin this on him the player even though we all know this is the team's fault that it's got to this point uh and the offer is described as near cider's 8.55 which by the way cider has one of the best contracts in the entire national hockey league at this point so he's asking for around 11 million dollars mark what do you make of these new reports and what do you think happens here because I still actually think with how this played out Edmondson does want to trade and it's going to end in a trade I think a thing too is when you're looking back I think I think I said that a lot of times there but this is a guy if you offer this contract before July 1st or going on July 1st if you offer this before those huge deals started to come through maybe that was an offer he would have legitimately taken at 8.5 million dollars over eight years if you actually got him in on that but now with the rising capital I don't blame him for asking for this 11 million and I think a lot of ownerships and a lot of general managers are looking and saying hey this is what our top player is being paid if that's mowing at a lot of guys say hey we don't want to pay anyone over this but when you're looking at the current world of contracts growing there is people are going to start getting paid a lot more and I think a lot of teams like Detroit right now is going to struggle with keeping players because they're afraid to go over the cabinet of their top player or go over someone that they view as someone in this organization that's their top dog but again I feel like it's coming down to the point this went to Sweden he came to training camp I don't blame him at this point for asking out and it sucks to say because I love having him on this team yeah I mean he's a great player he came to camp he bought insurance to come to camp because he doesn't have a contract I mean how do you not love that and then he said I'm going to Sweden because you guys are playing games and Friedman reported and this is basically where everything stands you know what the contract looks like in terms of what the offers from the team right now we know what the player and the agent have said and what they want obviously the Red Wings their intention is still to sign him they do not want to trade him they have some leverage obviously he is an RFA but at the same time I mean if the guy wants to leave now and everything's kind of crumbling maybe you just take some assets right again I think this ends in a trade I do and Detroit has gauged his trade market they have been taking calls teams have been calling on Simon Edmondson and it is reported that Edmondson at this point would prefer a trade he does want to be traded now I don't know if that can be mended at this point I think there is a world where it can that relationship be mended and he remains a Red Wing and they get a contract done but I feel like with how they've conducted business here it's leaving a sour taste in his mouth and not just his mouth everybody's mouth I mean there's fans from other teams that are talking about this like how is this possible I'm mad for you right so that is uh it's absolutely insane that's gotten to this point now Chris Illich today had a LinkedIn post all right Chris Illich acknowledged what's going on with Red Wings fans and what's been happening since the home opener we've heard sell the team chants we've seen you know fans voicing their displeasure in other ways in terms of you know uh changing their Dylan Larkin jerseys and all that fun stuff as well but he said I recognize the fans frustrations it's a huge post go check it out right I'm not going to read it verbatim here or anything like that but I did want to point out the ending part and how tone deaf this message was because at the end he goes you know we're going to continue to build the championship level team and organization that our Red Wings family and fans deserve how Chris like how at this point like there was no actionables in this uh posting right it just seemed a little like hey I acknowledge that you were booing the hell out of the former captain and we didn't do anything and we sat on our hands for five months and you know and you want me to sell the team I'm gonna acknowledge it all but like I'm not gonna do anything about it right that's kind of how this felt this post so Mark do you have any thoughts on this too and guys let us know how you feel in the comments too because fans are just pissed off at this point right they they just are like people have had enough and it really feels like there is very little hope because while they did bounce back in a way in the second game it's not looking good for the team on the ice the fans in the stands the lack of fans in the stands and I heard a story yesterday that Chris Illich in the second year Little Caesars Arena was open uh ripped out all the seats and put I don't know how true this is put black seats in because it looks better when it's empty on TV they're going to be empty this year that is for sure you're already seeing that so Mark do you have any final thoughts on this because it just came across as I don't care and we're not actually going to do anything about this listen I'm too sick to get overly mad with the statement but I think it's one of the things again you're looking at a guy that is tone-deaf with this of course speaking out it's nice that he's semi-acknowledged but it felt like that letter where we seen them put out after weeks of screaming about Dylan Larkin and everything happening they put out the tweet with the small little paragraph saying hey Dylan Larkin's gonna be here we're not gonna address everything because there's no point from our side but the thing is this man needs to sit down with everyone in management they need to address the media this is not going to get better the outside noise is of course creeping into that room you can tell with the way they're playing you can tell with them getting booed on this ice and of course it's not directed towards the players Dylan Larkin, Chris Illich, everyone else in between when you're looking at people that but I think with Chris Illich he can sit down and save face if you sit down in front of the media with your intern gym your puppet whatever you want to call them you can at least save face with this but with the way the season's going with the crowds there there's going to be mobs pushing into this arena each time Darius and again it's not going to get better the longer they hold out on all this yeah this was not even close to like an apology it's just acknowledging that it happened there's no actionables in terms of fixing it so guys let us know in the comments if you would claim Connor Zeri off of waivers there is an argument one way or another or a couple ways here uh to to go about it right so let us know if you would do that I think that it does make some sense if he could play center and why not take a shot on the guy right so ultimately we'll see what happens at the deadline tomorrow let us know how you feel about this new update on Simon Evanson I don't believe that they are actually any closer on a contract right now and he's still in Sweden skating with Forlunda and then Dylan Larkin we learned that he may be ready to play Ottawa but that's kind of up in the air and they're being very vague about those updates and like how he's progressing so who knows if he even plays another game for the Detroit Red Wings at this point