Three ways Detroit Red Wings GM Holland screwed up the Larkin deal
By Ash Thompson
The Detroit Red Wings are over the cap
The timing of this signing is poor. It is great that the team got this done, but there is little to be gained by the timing of finalizing the deal. Any pretense of power or opportunity for posturing in the upcoming negotiations with opposing GMs has been lost.
The team is now over the NHL’s salary cap by $3.2 million. That means they have to move out some salary before the season starts. I put out a list this morning, before the deal was announced, of the team’s three best options.
The way this deal impacts that is that the Wings are now officially operating from a position of weakness. They have to make a move, there is no wiggle room. There is no option to be patient. This has to get done.
It is now in the interest of other GMs to make Holland wait until the last moment. They have no reason to do anything but milk Holland for everything they can. They don’t want the players that the Wings would like to get rid of, and now Holland may have to give up someone that the team would rather hold on to.
The Red Wings are going to lose this deal. NHL general managers are notoriously similar to sharks in the water. Holland is going to have to give up something to get his team compliant. The quality of the piece he has to use to sweeten a deal just went up. Alternatively, the return he gets for moving any of the Red Wings assets just went down.