Will Burchfield

Steve has been...

pretty good for all of this team's flaws in pro scouting at mining some pretty good talent with his first-round picks, and that was true with the Hironix trade.

So I don't know that you can apply today's lens on the wings to a team and to moves that were made four or five years ago at the outset of his tenure here at GM.

Yeah, and I think that's part of the reason why the Justin Falk trades

was met with approval when it happened.

And, you know, Steve said at the time, like, this was the year that, you know, we had to prioritize the present.

They hadn't traded a first-round pick at the deadline.

They hadn't really bought at the deadline in his seven years here.

They had made the one move for the brinket in the offseason a couple years ago, and that move does look pretty good in hindsight.

But, you know, Steve did, for the first time here, prioritize –

right now at potentially the expense of the future.

And I, you know, it's, it's hard to knock that approach given as you set up how patients is wearing thin here, but this is a fascinating off season for the Red Wings and for Steve Iserman.

I do think he'll be back.

I think he has the faith still of, of owner Chris Illich and maybe there'll be some sort of a front office reshuffling, but I don't think Chris Illich will walk away from,

Steve Eisenman, but I do think that Steve Eisenman needs to articulate to ownership a clear plan this off season by which the Red Wings can, can firmly upgrade their roster.

I'm not saying like second and third line players and second and third pair defenseman and a goalie who might break down.

I mean, he needs to make aggressive moves around Dylan Larkin and Dylan Larkin gets at the fulcrum of the Red Wings conversation right now.

Like I,

if I can go on for Larkin for a minute here, boys, Larkin is a very good player who competes hard and he cares deeply.

And you can hear the pain in his voice down the stretch after each of these losses, but he is not a sympathetic figure here anymore.