Costa and Jansen discuss their current concerns with the Detroit Red Wings and whether they can make the playoffs.
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00:00Are you guys with John? Do you have some doubts? The Wings are in right now. We're into the
00:03second half. The deadline's around the corner. Do you have doubts? 248-539-9797 with this
00:09team's ability to close out hockey games, to close out the playoffs.
00:12Yeah, that was last night. I was sitting there and I'm watching a softball game, Firecrackers
00:18versus the Generals. It was heated competition. And on my phone, for whatever reason, I couldn't
00:24get the game on ESPN+. It kept telling me I was out of market. And I'm like, I'm still
00:29in Metro Detroit. Anyway, so I'm following it on my phone, which is maybe the most painful
00:33way to follow a game. And okay, you get the notification. One goal by the Wings. Two,
00:41three. In the span of what felt like six or seven minutes. And I'm thinking to myself,
00:47this is, Todd McClellan, yes, this is the response that we wanted. You come out, you
00:52lay an egg in the first one, you lose one that you should have had. And then you get
00:58to the fourth and even so close, you get to the third. Why do I keep saying that? You
01:06get to the end of the third and you're like, okay, well, they still got a two-goal lead.
01:09And then boom, boom, it's tied up. Oh, you've got to be kidding me. It's like you're living
01:13a nightmare. And then Kane goes away with the breakaway and gets one. So it stems the
01:20tide a little bit, but it still makes me, and we want to know you as the listener, it
01:26makes me very cautious to see where this Wings team is going to go. So I think a huge part
01:32of this is going to be to how they handled the deadline. It's March 7th, a couple of
01:36weeks away here. But to me, it's not a question of if they should add, it's a question of
01:41where they should add. Like they're a playoff team. And last year they didn't do anything
01:45and they missed by a point. So they weren't a playoff team. Right. And you think this
01:50year they are a playoff team. I do. I think they should be. Yes. And I think that they
01:56have to do something at the deadline. Like John, you would agree if they made a move
01:59at the deadline, it would calm some of your concerns. Yes. I don't think it's a question
02:05of if they should add though. Like, I mean, what's the alter? You're going to sit on your
02:08hands and hope to get in by the skin of your teeth again. Or you help these guys in this
02:11locker room. You make a move to make yourself even just a little bit better. I think there's
02:18a couple areas they could improve. I mean, if it's a band aid, third pair defenseman
02:22or third line player, fine. I think they've got a couple of goalies who are mediocre.
02:27I don't know that there's going to be a great one available, but you kick the tires there.
02:31And then I'd love to see this team get a second center. I don't know that it's going to be
02:35cheap. You're probably going to have to pay for it. But if it's a guy who's going to be
02:38here long term, like these are areas I think they should be looking to add at the deadline.
02:42So if you were sitting down with Steve Iserman and he said, we're only going to be able to
02:48add one center versus a goalie. I don't know that there is a goalie. Well, and I know the
02:57goalie topic is kind of a little bit cautious because what we believe is to come. Yeah.
03:01We think coast is maybe a year or so away. Look, they don't have a second center. Larkin's
03:06children a lot in that first line cop is hurt right now. And let's be honest, is not a second
03:10center. I'd love to bump him down when healthy to the third or the fourth and have a true
03:15second center on this team. That to me is the biggest need, but that doesn't mean they
03:20couldn't band-aid it up with a defenseman or a depth body.
03:23I think they do owe it to the guys in this locker room to be a little more urgent. Like
03:27Iserman was not urgent in the off season. It was a lot of, Hey, reshuffling and cycling
03:32through. They kept a loan. They waited on low loan. How about a little proactive urgency
03:37at the deadline? If they're in this thing, they got a couple of big games with Columbus
03:40this week, but they're on the bubble they're in right now. It's not, should they add it's
03:45you should add at the deadline here. And then I think it would make you feel a little
03:48bit better about this hockey team right now.
03:51Yeah. For me, if, if there was a better answer in goal. And again, I like you, I don't know
03:57that there is a better answer in goal for what this team needs now, as well as what
04:03is going to be here in the next couple of years. And it doesn't mean you can't, obviously
04:08you're going to need two goalies. Yep. But I, when I look at what this team is, and if
04:16you can, if you only look at it with Todd McClellan, offense, isn't their big issue.
04:23It's more defense. They're able to score. And would we like to add everywhere? Sure.
04:28That's not real, but I would like to add somebody on the third level of defense so that when
04:33they do get into the third period, they don't lose some of these leads that they're able
04:38to build up. And, and even when you look at the losses that they've had with Todd McClellan
04:44as coach, all right. Yeah. It's, they haven't been able to score in that three, you know,
04:49the four game road trip where they won with at Florida on the first one, but then it was
04:54one goal, one goal, one goal, and they were all losses. It was, they gave up five, they
04:59gave up four. And then at Philly it was a two goal overtime loss, but. So they've had
05:04the two seven game win streaks with McClellan. The first one was all offense. The second
05:08one, they did have a little bit of a defensive backbone there. I think Johansson's helped
05:11a lot, but he is ultimately still a rookie. Look, they could even add a second pair defenseman
05:16and bump the rookie back down to the third pair. I mean, like they, there are areas for
05:21this team to improve at the deadline. I just, I hope that Iserman has a little more urgency
05:26than last year or even to start this year because you're right, John, it is going to
05:29come down to every point. It is going to come down to the wire right now. You should have
05:34a little nervous energy. They've got a tough schedule and look, however you guys interpret
05:39the first two games out of the break, they nearly blew both. So there is some, some,
05:43Hey, you need to dig in here right now. I do like the fact that they were very opportunistic
05:49early yesterday, right? With a couple of penalties and they take advantage right away.
05:56But it's, it's just frustrating that you get into the third period and, and I know
06:02you and Gov were there yesterday, you were there for the entire game and it's just, what
06:06was the mood having the perspective of what happened on Saturday?
06:12Oh, I didn't, I was not comfortable 4-2. Normally you're up 4-2 in the third period and you
06:16should feel comfortable. I didn't feel comfortable.
06:18It didn't sound like you were comfortable in your seat to begin with.
06:20Oh God, the guy next to me is encroaching would be polite, basically sit in my lap.
06:28But even that guy was like, boy, they can't blow another two goal lead. Everybody in the
06:31building was aware of what had just happened the day before they pull the goalie with four
06:35minutes and you go, boy, hold on tight because they're going to throw everything they have
06:40at you and then you end up in overtime and it really did feel like it was going south.
06:44I think you texted Tom and I, I did. And I said after the, after they tied it up. Yeah,
06:48of course you did. And I didn't answer until after the game.
06:52Yeah. Cause I'm walking out, enjoying the game. Yeah. And I go, I was, I wasn't, and
06:56now I am. It was a little trollish that you waited for it to get to 4-4. That was during
07:01the entire game. I was a little jealous, right? Because both you guys were there. I wasn't
07:04able to go. Um, and then I, you know, with everything falling apart in the third period,
07:10I just, I felt, I felt like it was necessary to just see how you guys were doing, how you
07:15were managing it. I figured Tom, you were managing it a little better than Mr. Emotional
07:19hockey fan here. Yeah. But well, look, I, I look at this weekend as glass half full.
07:25You got three out of four points. Okay. And then you were playing two West teams. Uh,
07:29so you weren't causing indirect harm in the standings they gained are now in the seventh
07:35by their, by themselves in the wild card right now.
07:38I think they have a game in hand too. Yeah. Uh, and you, you look ahead. I've been looking
07:43ahead here to this, this weekend, this two humongous games, uh, with the blue jackets
07:49at not the weekend technically completely. Cause they host the jackets Thursday and
07:53they got the Ohio stadium game on, on Saturday. And the jackets are too behind. They're the,
07:58actually, if you look at this this way, the jackets are the first team out. The team behind
08:02them is Boston. And there's talk about Boston selling at the deadline. So you really do
08:06have a chance here to separate from the pack with a good week to against the jackets, but
08:11they got to play the wild on Tuesday. You guys let us know shaky start out of the break
08:18glass half full. They did pick up three of the four points. They are still in the playoffs,
08:22but they got to hold some of these leads. What's your gut say? Do you have concerns
08:25that this team will finish in the playoffs and with the deadline, is there a position
08:31that you want them to add? What do they need most to lock down that playoff spot?