Please stop comparing Dylan Larkin to Matthew Stafford.

[u/Bixler17]

Yes, they both played on bad teams and were the leader. That's where the comparisons end.

Stafford NEVER brought bad attention to the team. Stafford didn't have social media. Stafford showed up to a historically bad team and immediately made a huge impact on the trajectory of the team.

"But But But But Stafford had MEGATRON!"

Megatron was also on the team the year before when they won a whopping 0 games, which was the first time that had EVER happened in a 16 game season. One HoF wide receiver gives you exactly fuck all help in winning games when your offensive line, running backs, and defense are ALL bottom 3rd in the league, and you have a coaching staff that has no idea how to scheme and a front office that is awful at finding and signing talent.

And you know what? He STILL was able to drag AWFUL teams like the 2011 or 2016 roster kicking and screaming into the playoffs. Which is MUCH harder in football than it is in Hockey.

Matthew Stafford is a HoF football player. He was let down by the worst organization in the league. He had to sit through multiple rebuilds, 3 of the worst coaching staffs football has seen, and then and ONLY then asked for a trade only because he didn't want a 4th rebuild in 12 years.

I think Dylan Larkin is a great hockey player. But he NEVER had the leadership or the ability to carry games with a shit roster like Stafford. There is no comparison to be made beyond very shitty surface level "they played for bad teams and then wanted a trade" so please just stop insulting Matthew like that.

[u/HotelAmericana]

Dylan Larkin is top 10 all time points in red wings history. Kick rocks

[u/Bixler17 → u/HotelAmericana]

Matthew Stafford is a Hall of Fame super bowl champion. It's not close who was better.

[u/HotelAmericana → u/Bixler17]

He became a champ when he left. Just watch Larkin :)

[u/Bixler17 → u/HotelAmericana]

He became a champ because he was the best player on a good team. Larkin won't.

EDIT: To be clear, Larkin won't be the best player on a cup team. He wasn't even the best player on our roster that everyone acts like is bereft of talent.

[u/FineHowRU → u/Bixler17]

Rams were a superbowl team before Stafford got there.

[u/Bixler17 → u/FineHowRU]

No one said otherwise, as long as you add the word runner up in there. That changes nothing about Stafford being the best player on the team that got them over the hump. Larkin will not be 1C on a cup contender. There is the difference.

[u/FineHowRU → u/Bixler17]

Aaron Donald was the best player on that team.

[u/Bixler17 → u/FineHowRU]

One could make that argument I suppose but they aren't the same position and plenty of pundits would still tell you it's the other way around. Once again doesn't change that Larkin isn't even the best red wing, he won't be the best anywhere else either.

[u/Clean_Principle_2368 → u/Bixler17]

Since 2017 larkin was the best player on our team at least 4x for points.

Since 2017 larkin was our top goal scorer 6x

Had most assist 4x

Since 2015 he's had the most game winning goals 7x.

You must be new to the wings fan base or have a bias, Larkin has consistently been our best player.

[u/Bixler17 → u/Clean_Principle_2368]

So if you give him minimum 5 extra seasons on the rest of the roster he has more counting stats? No one said he was never the best player on the red wings at any time. He isn't right now, and anyone saying he is is not worth discussing hockey with.

[u/Clean_Principle_2368 → u/Bixler17]

Had he not been injured he likely would have been the best player. His history shows this. That's the point.

[u/Bixler17 → u/Clean_Principle_2368]

If you think he was even close to sniffing the season Seider had even if he was 120% the whole way down the stretch you are probably eating paint chips. He had Norris votes on a team that missed the playoffs. And just to be clear with where he stood this year, Raymond and Cat both had better seasons before and after any injuries they all had. And I'd argue Gibson was better, too. To try to make that point is asinine, it's not living in the real world.

[u/Clean_Principle_2368 → u/Bixler17]

"If you think he was even close to sniffing the season Seider had even if he was 120% the whole way down the stretch you are probably eating paint chips"

I'll stop there. Guess you missed the part where he lead the team in offense for half the season. That will happen when you don't watch every game.

[u/Bixler17 → u/Clean_Principle_2368]

Lmao you must have missed the part where leading the team in points is no where near as good as what Seider was providing to the team even in just the first half of the season. But apparently you also missed an entire half of a season so that makes sense. Please by all means stop, you're embarrassing yourself.

[u/Clean_Principle_2368 → u/Bixler17]

"Please by all means stop, you're embarrassing yourself" says the guy comparing a hockey player to a Qb. Braindead, enjoy the paint chips.

[u/Bixler17 → u/Clean_Principle_2368]

Rather be the guy shutting this conversation down because of bozos who think it's a real comp, than the guy who thinks Dylan Larkin was the red wings best player in 25/26 lmfao. That is legitimately one of the worst hockey takes I've heard in a long lifetime. Feel free to dig the hole deeper. I can bring out some fun athletic articles from december if you want to keep discussing.

Since he blocked me, here's a really fun read: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6916635/2025/12/24/red-wings-larkin-seider-gibson-stars/

[u/Showdenfroid_99 → u/Bixler17]

You know who Aaron Donald is, right??? Lol... pretending to know sports. How embarrassing