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I did a quick recap on the Bally Sports/Diamond Sports/Sinclair situation. There’s also speculation regarding ESPN as Disney has implemented a lot of changes including shelving finished movies, layoffs and announced upcoming cuts.
I was unable to watch the game and can only comment on the recap. My hope was for 5 of 8 points on this Western swing, we got 6 of 8. Eberle is a player I used to keep a closer eye on, and he had a good night for Seattle. Bertuzzi saw another board battle turn into a goal as Larkin netted Detroit’s 2nd (and final) goal in the 4-2 loss. Tyler’s battling seems to be his strongest attribute on this trip. Suter seems to have had a nice boost in play as well. Larkin seems to be appearing on the score sheet and making plays. Some good things are happening.
I was sent a post midnight text that Friedman has said that Detroit won’t trade Bertuzzi as long as they’re in the playoff pic. A win last night certainly would have been welcome, but Detroit has games in hand on everyone but Buffalo that sits between them and the two wild card teams. At this point, if the team made it in, it would be versus Boston or Carolina, likely Boston. It would take a lot of consistency and some more streaks like this past one to get there in what many (myself included) would see as a first round exit.
Trade rumors mentioned that as well. And, while several outlets are commenting on Larkin’s negotiations (doesn’t seem like there’s a huge gap, but there is one) the only information I’m seeing on Bertuzzi is why he hasn’t been traded. With less than 2 weeks before the March 3rd deadline, reports of talks around September between Tyler’s camp and Detroit just aren’t popping up.
I can tell you Larkin seems to love having the scrappy winger around. I can’t begin to tell you what Yzerman is thinking, ever. It’s only speculation, and I don’t know how often this happens, but I wonder if Larkin is pushing hard to try to keep Bert in the fold. I don’t know, only the people in those rooms know the answer to that.
This is still a “gap team…. We’re seeing pieces come together and this year just didn’t pan out as far as what was planned. Vrana and Bertuzzi were both unavailable for a lot of the season. Now Vrana is just sitting with most of us wondering why (and was correctly pointed out that the defense has been changed during the streak in the comments of the last post). With the team heading to Vrana’s old stomping grounds, it would be interesting to see if this is his “shot… after watching the past 4.