The national media apparatus has a bizarre fixation on the Detroit Red Wings.
Of course, it's hard to blame them. The team is the messiest, most dysfunctional mess in the NHL right now. But this goes far beyond just the last few months. For some reason, a large portion of the media seems almost gleeful whenever the Red Wings stumble or misstep.
The most recent example comes from a bizarre rewriting of history from Spittin' Chiclets' own Paul Bissonnette.
Bissonnette took to social media yesterday after Montreal Canadiens fans chanted for Dylan Larkin, hoping to entice the center into consider the Habs for his destination.
"Detroit fans you’re on the clock," Bissonnette wrote. "Dust off the knee pads, get on your knees and start begging for forgiveness. There’s another original six eyeing your piece."
It's hard to imagine there's an insider more out of touch with the Red Wings than Bissonnette.
Dylan Larkin requested a trade from the organization. Any hope of reconciliation is gone. The team and Larkin himself have made this abundantly clear for nearly four months. Why in the world would Red Wings fans need to beg Larkin for forgiveness? If anything, they should be thrilled at the thought of the Habs' hunger for Larkin. Of all the teams that have an interest in the ex-captain, Montreal's assets far outweigh every other party mentioned thus far.
The only ones that don't seem to get this are national media figures like Bissonnette.
National media fails to grasp situation in Detroit
This isn't the only time Bissonnette has missed the mark with Larkin discourse. The moment he returned, "Biz" went on a rant on his podcast, demanding that Red Wings fans stop booing Larkin. Had he watched the game in which Larkin was booed at all, he would've seen that fans stopped booing him shortly after he scored his first goal in his return.
That would, of course, require "Biz" to have watched the game. Based on his surface level analysis of the Red Wings at large, he does not watch the games.
But Bissonnette isn't the only culprit here. NHL insiders Frank Seravalli and John Buccigross discussed a Dylan Larkin trade to the Minnesota Wild. Seravalli posited the idea that a trade for Danila Yurov, Charlie Stramel and a first round pick -- one that, to be fair, Buccigross rejected, but Seravalli believed to be a fair offer.
If Yurov, Stramel and a first round pick was a fair offer, wouldn't the Red Wings have taken it already? There are a litany of reports that suggest that the Red Wings want a similar player of Larkin's caliber to come back in the trade. While likely unrealistic, that is the asking price.
"With all due respect," Seravalli adds, "[Larkin]'s not Quinn Hughes."
Of course he isn't -- but that doesn't mean the Red Wings are going to take two bottom-six players and a late first round pick for a cost-controlled 30-goal, 70-point center.
When watching Seravalli speak, it's almost like he's actively rooting for this trade to go through. He pushes back on Buccigross's skepticism multiple times and tries very hard to sell the deal.
Whatever you're selling, Frank, the Red Wings aren't buying.
National media problems are very fixable
The thing is, the way the national media reports on the Red Wings is extremely fixable. They just need to understand context. Sure, it's easy to just wave everything away as organizational incompetency (and they'd likely be right on a few counts). But, in order to grasp the situation as a whole, all the media members need to do is speak to someone with a more intimate understanding of the situation in Hockeytown.
It's perfectly fine for people to raise their hands and say they don't know what's going on with a situation. Elliotte Friedman has done it numerous times reporting on the Red Wings this offseason. But to go out confidently like Seravalli and Bissonnette have and make claims based on narrative instead of reality is ignorant at best and disingenuous at worst.
This isn't to say that the Red Wings have some grand conspiracy against them, either. The team has done more than enough to warrant criticism. All Red Wings fans are asking is that, if you criticize the team, do it with accuracy. Criticize the lack of finishing. Go after the ownership group and front office for their inaction with Simon Edvinsson.
You're absolutely entitled to your opinion on the Red Wings.
Just make sure it's one that's based in reality.
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