2025 Offseason Thread

[Motor City Mullets 317]

On 8/16/2025 at 12:23 AM, Jimmybigrigs69 said:

Actual conversation I had with my son today - had me raging:

Him: Yeah dad, I think the Kraken get 60 wins this year

Me: HA, foolish child of the emerald city, you speak as if history was a tavern tale. But the scrolls bare not but sorrow for thine ilk. 

Him: But Matty Beniers is like a really young and faster version of Larkin.

Me: I have born witness to ages unending! From Vlad the impaler to Pasha the magic man! In the frost-bitten halls of the Joe we forged centers like sacred blades. Beniers is but a butter knife...

Him: Sure, but the Wings havent been good since like 2011. 

Me: Thou clingeth to a young team! Since then many winters have passed, like sand through an hour glass, and our pool ripens with age.

Him: Yeah, but the Kraken are still ahead of you.

Me: YOU ARE BUT A CARCASS DECLARING YOURSELF A FEAST.

 

He stopped talking to me after this. Was I too harsh? Too guarded? I feel like I should ground him for his traitorous insolence, but I'm not sure. Honest feedback appreciated. 

Stop talking to your dog...People will think you're crazy.

[Jimmybigrigs69 491]

I'll just post this here...

My buddy's cousin is close friends with Scott Harris, GM of the Detroit Tigers, and my buddy himself has met Harris a few times in the last 2 years, one of those times being very recently...

I don't care for baseball, but my bud relayed some interesting tidbits, via Harris, about Yzerman and Chris Illitch to me, so I'll share:

>They had an executives only meeting this summer with everyone (Chris + Yzerman + Harris + rando other olympia entertainment execs) via a video zoom call. Apparently, everyone logged into the call dressed in their finest business suits, except Yzerman. He logged in dressed completely casual and proceeded to eat his lunch on camera during the call... my takeaway: The talk about Yzerman being untouchable and not at all worried about speeding up this rebuild or losing his job is absolutely true. This is not the conduct of any exec on even a warm seat lol. Yzerman knows he's never getting fired. 

>Scott Harris also apparently mentioned he's not exactlyyyyy the biggest fan of Chris Illitch (in a nice way)... the reason being: He's cheap. If anyone has been following the Tigers this year they're really good, but at the TDL Harris was only able to add cheap veteran depth pieces. I guess he was implying that he wanted to make bigger moves, but Chris said no. He also said the team isn't going to be re-signing their best pitcher Skoubal... again because Illitch doesn't want to spend the money.

Obviously, this explains a lot of Yzerman's moves, or lack there of. SY may have very well have gotten a hard no on any meaningful trade additions at the last two TDLs from Chris. And there was that rumor of a deal being in place to add Stamkos last summer, but that the deal was nixed by ownership. 

Maybe we don't have an yzerplan problem... we have an ownership problem. I mean, Mike refused to let Holland tear down and rebuild when it was obviously time to. And now Chris is refusing to add when it's (maybe) time to...

[kipwinger 8,782]

1 hour ago, Jimmybigrigs69 said:

I'll just post this here...

My buddy's cousin is close friends with Scott Harris, GM of the Detroit Tigers, and my buddy himself has met Harris a few times in the last 2 years, one of those times being very recently...

I don't care for baseball, but my bud relayed some interesting tidbits, via Harris, about Yzerman and Chris Illitch to me, so I'll share:

>They had an executives only meeting this summer with everyone (Chris + Yzerman + Harris + rando other olympia entertainment execs) via a video zoom call. Apparently, everyone logged into the call dressed in their finest business suits, except Yzerman. He logged in dressed completely casual and proceeded to eat his lunch on camera during the call... my takeaway: The talk about Yzerman being untouchable and not at all worried about speeding up this rebuild or losing his job is absolutely true. This is not the conduct of any exec on even a warm seat lol. Yzerman knows he's never getting fired. 

>Scott Harris also apparently mentioned he's not exactlyyyyy the biggest fan of Chris Illitch (in a nice way)... the reason being: He's cheap. If anyone has been following the Tigers this year they're really good, but at the TDL Harris was only able to add cheap veteran depth pieces. I guess he was implying that he wanted to make bigger moves, but Chris said no. He also said the team isn't going to be re-signing their best pitcher Skoubal... again because Illitch doesn't want to spend the money.

Obviously, this explains a lot of Yzerman's moves, or lack there of. SY may have very well have gotten a hard no on any meaningful trade additions at the last two TDLs from Chris. And there was that rumor of a deal being in place to add Stamkos last summer, but that the deal was nixed by ownership. 

Maybe we don't have an yzerplan problem... we have an ownership problem. I mean, Mike refused to let Holland tear down and rebuild when it was obviously time to. And now Chris is refusing to add when it's (maybe) time to...

I think of it a lot like playing poker. You play a smart hand over and over and over just to stay in the game and keep yourself competitive, waiting for that moment when you go all in and try to win the whole damn thing. Mike Ilitch wanted to win...badly. So he was never shy about going all in when the time was right. Conversely, Chris plays the smart hand over and over. He's not a bad owner. He knows the right plays because he's been around competent sports management his entire life. But I'm not positive he really wants to win. I think he just wants to make money. That's what doomed the Lions for so long. They sold tickets whether they won or lost so why would they spend any extra to field a winner?

[Jimmybigrigs69 491]

1 hour ago, kipwinger said:

I think of it a lot like playing poker. You play a smart hand over and over and over just to stay in the game and keep yourself competitive, waiting for that moment when you go all in and try to win the whole damn thing. Mike Ilitch wanted to win...badly. So he was never shy about going all in when the time was right. Conversely, Chris plays the smart hand over and over. He's not a bad owner. He knows the right plays because he's been around competent sports management his entire life. But I'm not positive he really wants to win. I think he just wants to make money. That's what doomed the Lions for so long. They sold tickets whether they won or lost so why would they spend any extra to field a winner?

I don't mind Chris playing the smart hand. It makes sense given the position the Wings are in, and saying no on stamkos was the right call. 

However it doesnt make much sense to me with the tigers. They were hella games up, and will be losing Skoubal next year. The time to go all in was now IMO. That has me worried we simply have a cheap owner. 

Sheila Ford is certainly the best owner the Lions have ever had, and credit to her for hiring Campbell and Holmes. Those two are coaching/drafting phenoms. But the Lions are still a young inexpensive team. That changes after this coming season. Will be interesting to see if the Lions truly arent the 'same old lions' and are prepared to spend. They did raise ticket prices to highest in the NFL for this season...

Edited August 19 by Jimmybigrigs69

[kipwinger 8,782]

1 minute ago, Jimmybigrigs69 said:

I don't mind Chris playing the smart hand. It makes sense given the position the Wings are in, and saying no on stamkos was the right call. 

However it doesnt make much sense to me with the tigers. They were hella games up, and will be losing Skoubal next year. The time to go all in was now IMO. That has me worried we simply have a cheap owner. 

Sheila Ford is certainly the best owner the Lions have ever had, and credit to her for hiring Campbell and Holmes. Those two are coaching/drafting phenoms. But the Lions are still a young inexpensive team. That changes after this coming season. Will be interesting to see if the Lions truly arent the 'same old lions' and are prepared to spend. They did raise ticket prices to highest in the NFL for this season...

That's what I'm saying. It's not clear to me that he'll ever go "all in". I don't think he cares about winning as long as his team is making money.

[Jimmybigrigs69 491]

27 minutes ago, kipwinger said:

That's what I'm saying. It's not clear to me that he'll ever go "all in". I don't think he cares about winning as long as his team is making money.

I wonder if Chris cares more about the Wings?

The Tigers never won under Illitch control, but obviously the Wings have a huge legacy with their family. And Chris played both baseball and hockey in school.

Who knows how well Lil C's is doing these days either.

[AtlantaHotWings 1,137]

35 minutes ago, Jimmybigrigs69 said:

I wonder if Chris cares more about the Wings?

The Tigers never won under Illitch control, but obviously the Wings have a huge legacy with their family. And Chris played both baseball and hockey in school.

Who knows how well Lil C's is doing these days either.

Chat tell me about Lil C's

AI Overview

Little Caesars earnings overview

Little Caesars, as a privately held company, does not publicly release detailed quarterly or annual earnings reports in the same way a publicly traded company like Caesars Entertainment does. However, we can still glean some insights into their financial performance: 

• Estimated Revenue: Little Caesars reportedly achieved a revenue of over $4.4 billion in 2023. Another source estimates the company's total revenue (TTM) as of 2025 to be $11.37 billion.
• Profitability: The company has a consistent net profit margin of around 7-8% in recent years, according to edtechdev.stanford.edu. Franchisees are estimated to have a profit range of $50,000 to $200,000 per location annually, while some estimates suggest an owner can make around $100,000 in profit after accounting for overhead and royalties.
• Growth: Little Caesars has demonstrated a strong growth trajectory, driven by factors like innovative marketing, menu diversification, and a focus on digital ordering and delivery services. 

In summary, while specific earnings reports are not publicly available, Little Caesars shows strong financial performance and is a significant player in the global pizza market. 

[Jimmybigrigs69 491]

24 minutes ago, AtlantaHotWings said:

 

• Estimated Revenue: Little Caesars reportedly achieved a revenue of over $4.4 billion in 2023. Another source estimates the company's total revenue (TTM) as of 2025 to be $11.37 billion.

Isnt 2023 the exact time the $5 hot n ready became the $5.55 hot n ready?

I remember bc my family nearly starved that year until we adjusted our pizza budget.

Chris Illitch is a monster

[AtlantaHotWings 1,137]

Total revenue of 11 BILLION and we cant get a new dman or top 6 forward?

[kipwinger 8,782]

8 minutes ago, AtlantaHotWings said:

Total revenue of 11 BILLION and we cant get a new dman or top 6 forward?

This is why it’s so important to scoop players up via trade when they’re available. Many of them aren’t hitting the market otherwise and the ones who do get overplayed. Look at Columbus, they traded for Ivan Provorov and Dante Fabbro for peanuts a few years ago. This year those guys were two of the top free agent defensemen and Columbus re-signed them before they ever hit the market. 

[AtlantaHotWings 1,137]

8 minutes ago, kipwinger said:

This is why it’s so important to scoop players up via trade when they’re available. Many of them aren’t hitting the market otherwise and the ones who do get overplayed. Look at Columbus, they traded for Ivan Provorov and Dante Fabbro for peanuts a few years ago. This year those guys were two of the top free agent defensemen and Columbus re-signed them before they ever hit the market. 

dont disagree my comment was meant to be smart aleck ....

[LeftWinger 5,160]

Nm

Edited August 20 by LeftWinger

[Motor City Mullets 317]

7 hours ago, AtlantaHotWings said:

Chat tell me about Lil C's

AI Overview

Little Caesars earnings overview

Little Caesars, as a privately held company, does not publicly release detailed quarterly or annual earnings reports in the same way a publicly traded company like Caesars Entertainment does. However, we can still glean some insights into their financial performance: 

• Estimated Revenue: Little Caesars reportedly achieved a revenue of over $4.4 billion in 2023. Another source estimates the company's total revenue (TTM) as of 2025 to be $11.37 billion.
• Profitability: The company has a consistent net profit margin of around 7-8% in recent years, according to edtechdev.stanford.edu. Franchisees are estimated to have a profit range of $50,000 to $200,000 per location annually, while some estimates suggest an owner can make around $100,000 in profit after accounting for overhead and royalties.
• Growth: Little Caesars has demonstrated a strong growth trajectory, driven by factors like innovative marketing, menu diversification, and a focus on digital ordering and delivery services. 

In summary, while specific earnings reports are not publicly available, Little Caesars shows strong financial performance and is a significant player in the global pizza market. 

They're also the official pizza of the NFL...

[Jimmybigrigs69 491]

42 minutes ago, Motor City Mullets said:

They're also the official pizza of the NFL...

And NHL

All professional athletes eat Lil Cs

[kipwinger 8,782]

I ate so many Hot-N-Ready pizzas in college. It would be egregious of me to say that I payed someone like Datsyuk or Lidstrom's salary with my pizza purchases. But Aaron "One Punch and He's" Downey can thank me for the Toyota Corolla he's almost certainly driving these days.   

[Jimmybigrigs69 491]

5 hours ago, kipwinger said:

I ate so many Hot-N-Ready pizzas in college. It would be egregious of me to say that I payed someone like Datsyuk or Lidstrom's salary with my pizza purchases. But Aaron "One Punch and He's" Downey can thank me for the Toyota Corolla he's almost certainly driving these days.   

Lived next to Lil Cs on Grand River at MSU. Would dig through couch cushions and car doors until I had $5. 

Hot n readys kept me alive.

The Illitch family are angels.

[Jimmybigrigs69 491]

Video of "behind the scenes" of free agency with Ken Holland and the Kings has released.

Specifically there is footage of his call to Jordan Spence telling Spence he's been traded to Ottawa. He tells Spence: "We don't feel you would have gotten the opportunity here that you have earned, so we decided to trade you, and will look to fill your role in free agency instead."

Mind you, Jordan Spence grew up living in LA as a Kings fan. Even named his dog after Drew Doughty. And was drafted by that very hometown team. Further, he's a very good puck-moving Dman who was able to put up 28 pts last season from 3rd pairing minutes. And he's only 24, only costs $1.5 mil against the cap, and will be under RFA control when this contract ends after this season.

What did Holland get for him? A measly 3rd + 6th round picks.

Whom did Holland replace Spence with in free agency? A 32 year old Cody Ceci, on a $4.5 x 4 year deal with an NTC

It's like this man has a compulsive need to load up his team with bad vets on bad long contracts that are impossible to trade. It's truly remarkable. 

[LeftWinger 5,160]

On 8/21/2025 at 7:43 PM, Jimmybigrigs69 said:

Video of "behind the scenes" of free agency with Ken Holland and the Kings has released.

Specifically there is footage of his call to Jordan Spence telling Spence he's been traded to Ottawa. He tells Spence: "We don't feel you would have gotten the opportunity here that you have earned, so we decided to trade you, and will look to fill your role in free agency instead."

Mind you, Jordan Spence grew up living in LA as a Kings fan. Even named his dog after Drew Doughty. And was drafted by that very hometown team. Further, he's a very good puck-moving Dman who was able to put up 28 pts last season from 3rd pairing minutes. And he's only 24, only costs $1.5 mil against the cap, and will be under RFA control when this contract ends after this season.

What did Holland get for him? A measly 3rd + 6th round picks.

Whom did Holland replace Spence with in free agency? A 32 year old Cody Ceci, on a $4.5 x 4 year deal with an NTC

It's like this man has a compulsive need to load up his team with bad vets on bad long contracts that are impossible to trade. It's truly remarkable. 

And this is why the red wings were about five years in the hole when steve Yzerman took over.

[kipwinger 8,782]

   In light of the news reports that Detroit management only ever wanted Klim Kostin to be "an enforcer" and nothing else, I can't help but re-iterate how badly I think SY and Lalonde handled that situation. According to Kostin the Detroit brass made it very clear that they only wanted him to fight and not play actual hockey and that he wasn't interested in playing that kind of game. I'm not sure why we'd trade for a guy AND buy out another player's contract if we weren't sure he would actually fill the role we intended for him. I'm also not sure how/why we didn't have room for him to play actual physical hockey on the 3rd line considering all our bottom six wingers were either A) redundant, or B) milktoast af. Like, isn't Kostin the exact player that management hopes Sodorblom will be?

It's not some organization altering failure or anything, but it's pretty hard to see what the plan was with that one.

[mackel 770]

On 9/9/2025 at 2:12 PM, kipwinger said:

   In light of the news reports that Detroit management only ever wanted Klim Kostin to be "an enforcer" and nothing else, I can't help but re-iterate how badly I think SY and Lalonde handled that situation. According to Kostin the Detroit brass made it very clear that they only wanted him to fight and not play actual hockey and that he wasn't interested in playing that kind of game. I'm not sure why we'd trade for a guy AND buy out another player's contract if we weren't sure he would actually fill the role we intended for him. I'm also not sure how/why we didn't have room for him to play actual physical hockey on the 3rd line considering all our bottom six wingers were either A) redundant, or B) milktoast af. Like, isn't Kostin the exact player that management hopes Sodorblom will be?

It's not some organization altering failure or anything, but it's pretty hard to see what the plan was with that one.

Yzerman isn't a great GM. He's far too conservative/old school. I'm absolutely resigned to the likelihood he re-signs Chiarot... then can't find another player in FA or trade and he's with Seider for another 2 years.

It won't be long before our decent players wasn't out, this team needs a bold move or two or ten.

[kipwinger 8,782]

14 hours ago, mackel said:

Yzerman isn't a great GM. He's far too conservative/old school. I'm absolutely resigned to the likelihood he re-signs Chiarot... then can't find another player in FA or trade and he's with Seider for another 2 years.

It won't be long before our decent players wasn't out, this team needs a bold move or two or ten.

It seems pretty clear to me that the idea has always been to build a playoff team through the draft AND THEN make the bold move or two that puts the team over the top. I'm not sure whether that's the right thing to do or not, I guess we'll see. I agree that he's conservative, but I'm not sure whether he's bad or good overall as a GM. Our drafting is really really good, and I think the organization is moving in the right direction. I also think he's had a few missteps also the way that have delayed things a bit. For instance, it's not really hard to imagine a defense corps last season with Walman, Maatta, and Gostisbehere instead of Petry, Holl, and Gustafsson might very well have put us in the playoff picture. He's been really great at finding the building blocks, but not so great at rounding out the roster, and that has delayed playoff hockey by a year or two IMO.

[mackel 770]

2 hours ago, kipwinger said:

It seems pretty clear to me that the idea has always been to build a playoff team through the draft AND THEN make the bold move or two that puts the team over the top. I'm not sure whether that's the right thing to do or not, I guess we'll see. I agree that he's conservative, but I'm not sure whether he's bad or good overall as a GM. Our drafting is really really good, and I think the organization is moving in the right direction. I also think he's had a few missteps also the way that have delayed things a bit. For instance, it's not really hard to imagine a defense corps last season with Walman, Maatta, and Gostisbehere instead of Petry, Holl, and Gustafsson might very well have put us in the playoff picture. He's been really great at finding the building blocks, but not so great at rounding out the roster, and that has delayed playoff hockey by a year or two IMO.

I hope you're right... it's been incredibly frustrating watching Montreal lap our rebuild AND have pieces with higher ceilings... in-part due to luck but largely due to shrewd aggressive moves by their management. 

[kipwinger 8,782]

Just now, mackel said:

I hope you're right... it's been incredibly frustrating watching Montreal lap our rebuild AND have pieces with higher ceilings... in-part due to luck but largely due to shrewd aggressive moves by their management. 

Who? Montreal acquired players with more name recognition and that's pretty much all. Player for player they're not really any better than we are. Dobson is good but he's not obviously better than Seider or Edvinsson. Laine isn't better than Debrincat. Dach isn't better than Kasper. Suzuki isn't better than Larkin. I'd rather have Raymond than Caufield. ASP may not score quite as much as Hutson but he'll be a better player at even strength and won't need to be sheltered because he can actually defend. We're also WAY deeper in goal and have the better center depth too. They're deeper on the wing, with Slafkovsky, Caufield, Laine and Demidov but we're not far behind. We've got talent there too with Raymond, Dcat, Bear, and MBN.

They made a bunch of moves to make up for the fact that they draft like sh*t. Good idea on their part, it beats the alternative. But they didn't really "lap" us. Yzerman has just played the "slow and steady" game when it comes to bringing his talent onto the big club, and he hasn't really pulled the trigger on his blockbuster moves YET. But aside from a player here or there, I wouldn't rather be in their position than ours.

 

[Motor City Mullets 317]

On 9/9/2025 at 12:12 PM, kipwinger said:

   In light of the news reports that Detroit management only ever wanted Klim Kostin to be "an enforcer" and nothing else, I can't help but re-iterate how badly I think SY and Lalonde handled that situation. According to Kostin the Detroit brass made it very clear that they only wanted him to fight and not play actual hockey and that he wasn't interested in playing that kind of game. I'm not sure why we'd trade for a guy AND buy out another player's contract if we weren't sure he would actually fill the role we intended for him. I'm also not sure how/why we didn't have room for him to play actual physical hockey on the 3rd line considering all our bottom six wingers were either A) redundant, or B) milktoast af. Like, isn't Kostin the exact player that management hopes Sodorblom will be?

It's not some organization altering failure or anything, but it's pretty hard to see what the plan was with that one.

Not surprising...Makes you wonder why/how the whole Walman (apparent locker room cancer) situation played out (my take was to move Walman and create cap space for Trouba who then negated the trade AFTER finding out from his agent and not from Drury or Yzerman)...Just a bunch of other trades and random signings over the years that always leaves me scratching my head - nothing that'll hinder this team long term - just odd $hit is all.

19 hours ago, mackel said:

Yzerman isn't a great GM. He's far too conservative/old school. I'm absolutely resigned to the likelihood he re-signs Chiarot... then can't find another player in FA or trade and he's with Seider for another 2 years.

It won't be long before our decent players wasn't out, this team needs a bold move or two or ten.

I think Larkin's demeanor this past post season presser sorta tells where his mind is at...He's gotta be burnt out - has any other player who's worn the 'C' for this team had to languish with such a poor roster?