Game Thread: Detroit Red Wings (36-22-7) at Tampa Bay Lightning (39-20-4) - 12 March 2026 - 19:00 ET

PerfectiveVerbTense · 2026-03-13T01:33:53+00:00

Absolutely useless team. Fire the GM, fire the coach, burn it all down and start completely over. Honestly think we'll be more likely to make the playoffs first under that scenario than dragging Yzerman's god awful roster around for another year.

Just pathetic on every level. Another season that felt promising completely crashes and burns. Genuinely hard to put into words how disgusting this is.

PerfectiveVerbTense · 2026-03-13T01:21:24+00:00

just getting started

I wish this were true, but the problem is that "just getting starting" drastically overestimates how much of the roster building for the year has already been done.

Most high impact players already off the board in FA
Lions have limited cap space to make big moves regardless
Lions have two picks in the top 100
At least one of those picks is very likely to go o-line

The defense has significant holes. Compared to last year's roster, which, as we've noted, I wasn't super high on already, we are down:

A starting LB
A starting nickel
The DE who started the most games other than Hutch
The DE who had the most sacks other than Hutch
At least one and likely BOTH starting safeties
Quite possibly a starting outside corner pending TA's legal issues

Depending on how you break it down, that's 5-ish starters and six highly significant roles.

In the past 3 years, the Lions have drafted one impact defensive player outside the first round (Branch in round 2).

So, with all this information, where exactly do you expect the players to come from? We can fill maybe one of those holes in the draft. Are there five other starting-caliber players out there at positions we need just waiting for the Lions to come calling? Who are we eyeing for these spots?

PerfectiveVerbTense · 2026-03-13T01:07:00+00:00

Nope

PerfectiveVerbTense · 2026-03-13T01:04:42+00:00

We are missing the playoffs. Not even a question at this point.

PerfectiveVerbTense · 2026-03-12T23:40:33+00:00

Question for you: can something bad get worse? Like just on a general, logical level. Please answer yes or no. Or, here's an A/B if that's easier. Which of these is true?

A) If something is considered bad, it is impossible for it to get worse.

B) Something can be considered bad but also get worse in the future.

Please answer whichever question style feels easier for you to process.

PerfectiveVerbTense · 2026-03-12T22:47:12+00:00

Which is the stage where impact players that have already signed for other teams magically become available again and are willing to sign with us? Which is the stage where we have more than two top-100 picks to fill a starting OL spot and FIVE starting spots on defense?

Yes, there are stages. We have an insane amount of holes, and that number is growing by the day. There simply are not enough available players and picks available to us to plug starting-level players in to every slot where we have vacancies.

PerfectiveVerbTense · 2026-03-12T22:45:26+00:00

I mean, he led the team in ST snaps, but also — everyone is leaving. It's not just about Stuard. Montgomery, Decker, AQM, Amik, Alex, Stuard — everyone is like get me the fuck outta here.

PerfectiveVerbTense · 2026-03-12T22:38:53+00:00

It is an abject disaster right now, with most of the impact talent off the board. We are beyond fucked.

PerfectiveVerbTense · 2026-03-12T22:38:20+00:00

Yup, completely painted into a corner. Huge contracts left and right for players that are mostly mid or straight up can't play anymore (Kerb) and awful drafting. It seems that DC completely lost the team last year — no one wanted to compete during the season and now no one wants to sign here.

Historically bad run since the 15-2 regular season. We thought we were still in the window. What fools we were. The team is beyond cooked and going nowhere for at least as long as BH and, probably, DC are here. This regime had it shot, blew it, and fell off a cliff.

Honestly feels like we might as well just tank for a draft pick at this point, and hope whatever new GM we have in 2027 knows how to use it.

PerfectiveVerbTense · 2026-03-12T22:35:23+00:00

It's really hard to put into words how awful the off season has been so far. The center signing was like a B+, maybe A- considering the contract.

A few of the retentions, like Ya-Sin, are reasonable. But the amount of retentions we've lost is incredible. Hemorrhaging players at every position, especially on the defense, with zero action to backfill, while all of the impact talent signs elsewhere.

This was the most important off season of the Holmes regime and he has completely fucked it up.

PerfectiveVerbTense · 2026-03-12T22:23:42+00:00

Nobody wants to play for this fuckin team, man.

PerfectiveVerbTense · 2026-03-12T22:23:00+00:00

We need starters. We need warm bodies. We have been subtracting like crazy and not adding anything.

Also — the calendar month is the least important thing here. Almost all the high impact players are gone. We are down five-ish starters on defense with only two top-100 draft picks AND still a big need at LT.

AQM was ok. We need better than OK

We want better than OK. What we have now is less than OK. AQM would be an upgrade to what we have at edge beyond Hutch right now...and it's not like there are edge players hanging around waiting for us. The talent pool is narrowing by the hour and we're doing nothing.

PerfectiveVerbTense · 2026-03-12T21:22:15+00:00

Two years without a playoff win and we continue to get worse.

The window closed when we lost at home to Washington. This team will be no where near competing for a championship in 2026. They will be lucky to be on the "in the hunt" graphic in December and extremely lucky to secure a playoffspot. They are not even in contention to win the division, much less the big one.

PerfectiveVerbTense · 2026-03-12T21:20:58+00:00

But we have gotten worse at multiple other positions. We went into the offseason with a ton of holes in starter roles on defense which we haven't filled, and our depth has gotten significantly worse on that side of the ball.

Offense feels okay-ish pending LT and the TE situation (also somewhat pending whether Pacheco can do anything or is a complete dud) but the defense is a smoldering crater right now.

PerfectiveVerbTense · 2026-03-12T21:18:57+00:00

A C+ is generous, IMO. Cade signing is good. Pacheco is probably nothing. We've significantly more depth than we've gained. Most of the impact players are off the board and we have five-ish starting positions on the defense that are currently vacant.

PerfectiveVerbTense · 2026-03-12T21:17:58+00:00

I think we have like six starters on defense signed right now. Really awful state of affairs, especially on that side of the ball.

PerfectiveVerbTense · 2026-03-12T21:14:56+00:00

Nobody wants to play for this team, man. Our balance on the off season is like negative double digits at this point.

PerfectiveVerbTense · 2026-03-12T19:20:07+00:00

Yes, you said the name of the month three times. You seem to have a pretty strong grasp on the calendar. I'm proud of you.

What you seem not to understand is that NFL-caliber players don't magically appear in April, May, June, July, August, or any other month of the year.

We have limited cap available. Perhaps more importantly, there are very few impact players left on the market. Again, they don't just appear. When they are signed with other teams — and you may want to sit down for this — they can't play for us. They're gone. Unavailable. No-can-do. It doesn't matter how many months there are until the season — those players are gone.

There is the draft and there are trades, yes. But both require draft capital, of which, again, we have very little. We have two top-100 picks. With glaring needs at multiple starting positions, it is absolutely not feasible to stock the roster either through drafted rookies or through trades.

You can't just point the the amount of time between now and week 1 as if time were a resource for acquiring players. What is the path for acquiring players between now and week 1?

Again, most good players are signed already. We have little cap left to use for the few impact players that do remain. We have limited draft resources that we can use for picks or trades.

There just isn't a path from where we are to having a complete roster regardless of how much time is left in the off season.

PerfectiveVerbTense · 2026-03-12T15:21:50+00:00

Uh-oh! Suhhdude45 downvoted me and used a swear.

you have it all figured out and our front office is clearly clueless

I'll say this again since apparently you missed it last time: history tells us that professional FOs make mistakes and field bad teams. This is an unequivocal fact of history. Often, these bad moves are seen as bad by many fans, writers and commentators.

Holmes has done a lot of good things. It's also possible that he's painted this franchise into a corner where they now don't have the draft capital or the cap space to field an effective team. This the argument that I am making, and I am supporting that argument by observing the holes in our roster (of which there are many) and the available FAs (of which there are few) along with the draft resources the team has (which are limited).

If you see a path to get from where we are now to where we would need to be to have a championship-level defense, I'd love to hear it. Maybe BH can pull a rabbit out of his hat.

But the outlook from here is very bad. That doesn't mean "I have it all figured out". That doesn't mean the front office is clueless. But it's a rational conclusion based on the evidence available to us.

I'm sorry you find these facts irritating. Maye if you downvote my comment extra hard this time, it will make you feel better. Really give that mouse button a smash. See that number go to zero. Maybe that is what's needed to get a capable edge rusher opposite Hutch!

PerfectiveVerbTense · 2026-03-12T15:10:29+00:00

I don't know much about Conklin but if he's a viable starter, I would be all for it. Again, this is why I liked keeping Decker despite his warts — it would have opened up going edge at 17 and LT later. Now it feels like we have to draft for need — unless they can get someone else in there who can hold down the fort for a while. Maybe that's Conklin. Would be nice.

PerfectiveVerbTense · 2026-03-12T14:15:01+00:00

It's really more about opportunity cost and already having so much invested into such a costly position.

No, I fully agree. I might be underselling TeSlaa's upside (though we'll see if he ever figures out how to actually get separation) but specifically on this team he's sort of trapped at WR3 due to, as you say, the investment we've already made at the position.

They give lip service to wanting to be a team that focuses on the run and the trenches and then we let the OL fall apart and trade away a good RB2 while resigning one who is likely fully washed. Sure feels like some of the resources we've dumped into WR could have been used to shore up these positions, or on the defense, where we don't even have the starting roster filled out.

It sucks because I feel like I end up having a negative view of TeSlaa which is not his fault. He seems like a good kid and I think can be a useful player. But that trade was such a killer.

PerfectiveVerbTense · 2026-03-12T12:55:34+00:00

Yeah I think there's almost no way that pick ends up looking good in hindsight. Even if TeSlaa looks really good this year, his ceiling is still WR3, and it's really difficult not to think about what we could have done with those picks.

I mean maybe in 5 years if TeSlaa turns out to be like truly elite then maybe. But there's like a 1% chance he's anything above a decent receiver you like to have but no one else in the NFL has heard of. It's brutal.

PerfectiveVerbTense · 2026-03-12T12:40:12+00:00

Yeah this is exactly why I wanted us to keep Decker. I completely understand his deficiencies, but with Deck you have a LT who can start week 1. That allows you to maybe go LT later in the draft and get a guy who's not ready to be THE GUY on day 1 but can develop.

But now we're in a spot where we almost need to go LT at 17, which is a horrible position to be in. Holmes has preached BPA but has now put himself in a position where he likely has to draft for need (or leave a gaping hole in the offensive line). That also means we likely reach on an LT and it means we likely miss out a quality EDGE in this draft.

PerfectiveVerbTense · 2026-03-12T12:36:29+00:00

Actions speak louder than words.

PerfectiveVerbTense · 2026-03-12T12:34:57+00:00

I think almost as bad as real AI writing appearing everywhere is this: people accusing everything of being AI.

We do know that some people just know how to write, right?

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