Why you shouldn't throw Detroit Red Wings' new jersey patch idea in the garbage

Karma backed up to Little Caesars Arena on Thursday night and dumped its garbage all over the ice. The refuse blocked the refs’ view, which explained all the missed tripping calls on the New York Islanders.

How else can you decipher the Detroit Red Wings’ 5-3 loss, their first in seven games? How else can you explain derailing — at least for a night — the rise of Hockeytown?

It certainly wasn’t the Wings sodden first-period effort, or their loose puck handling, that’s for sure. What does effort have to do with any of this anyway? Not when we’re talking about defacing one of the greatest jerseys in sports.

That first goal? When it looked like Ben Chiarot had the chance to control the puck but it hit his skate instead? And ricocheted onto the stick of Brock Nelson, who flipped the puck past Alex Lyon?

Yeah, that was Priority Waste’s doing, the sponsor whose logo now adorns the Wings’ jerseys, obviously.

And that second goal? Sheesh. How many times during this win streak has an opponent fired a prayer toward the net from the darn near the blue line only to have it redirected off a stick and into the goal?

As it happened when Adam Pelech whipped the puck from some 60 feet away and Casey Cizikas angled his stick up and deflected the screaming puck into the back of the net.

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Bad puck luck?

Heck, no.

Capitalism, pure and simple.

No matter what Red Wings owner Christopher Ilitch says, or what Priority Waste says. Both did their best, by the way, to pitch this new arrangement as a matter of the future.

"Priority Waste is humbled by this opportunity to have our logo don the jersey of such an iconic brand and team as the Detroit Red Wings," Priority Waste director of public relations Matt Allen said. "They are the hometown team, and the future is either going to be embraced by the change or it's going to be negatively impacted by the change, and we see the positive as the Red Wings do.”

Love it or leave it, eh?

Red Wings Twitter — sorry, “X," which is what Twitter used to be; see how branding works? — predictably blew up at news of the waste management company’s logo being stitched on the jerseys. And when the Islanders were knocking some humble into the Wings in the first period?

Folks grew apoplectic, suggesting the company was a front for communism, the mob, and that they’d rather eat their trash than let Priority Waste haul it away for them. As for the puns? Well, yeah, that was predictable, too.

“How about the refs make it a priority to call tripping?

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On it went, from dad jokey to downright anger:

“(Expletive) these patches.”

That one popped up after the Islanders took the 2-0 lead, blocking the view of the Wings’ lack of intensity. Speaking of blocking, New York did a fine job of getting in the way all night, frustrating one of the hottest teams in hockey. But then that was Priority’s fault, too, no doubt.

Or Ilitch, who’s easy to blame here as the cheapster who should open the checkbook for J.D. Martinez instead of vandalizing the best logo in the NHL. Wait, Martinez plays a different sport.

Look, the Wings’ owner is an easy target, much of it his own doing. He hasn’t spent like his father did. Meanwhile, the promised development around his sparkly arena remains in the promise phase.

And while I understand the emotional attachment to the purity of the winged wheel, sponsorships between companies and professional sports teams have been around since Babe Ruth. (Yeah, I know, wrong sport again.)

Ilitch isn't inventing new modes of marketing and branding with this move. He's taking his franchise where others have already gone. Besides, he approved the move to get Alex DeBrincat; baby steps, right?

Priority Waste’s presence on the Wings’ jerseys may make some apoplectic, but it’s hardly apocalyptic. As Allen noted in his press release, many NHL teams already have such arrangements. And as reality noted, a local grocery store chain adorns the Wings’ helmets.

This is about trash then. Or at least about trash as a metaphor.

There’s a reason Priority Waste doesn’t call itself Priority Trash, or even Priority Garbage. If Vernors had cut the deal, or General Motors, then I’m guessing the reaction wouldn’t have been so end-of-the-world.

The association isn’t ideal, no question. But that’s because we aren’t thinking this through. Without waste management companies, we’d fall into anarchy: the stench alone would turn us against each other. And if you had to walk out your door to the sight of mountains of your own refuse? Well, you can imagine, as End Times movies have imagined for us for decades.

So how about some slack for the folks that let us live lives of relative order? Who cart society’s metaphorical bowel movements to faraway mounds or to recycling centers. Who get their hands dirty so that we might breathe.

Yes, the winged wheel is akin to a symbol of faith, and attaching it to “garbage” must feel sacrilege. But churches don’t exist to make money — um, most of them don’t. NHL teams do. And always have.

What matters is talent and coaching, and roster construction, and puck luck. What matters is taking the ice with focus and intensity.

Karma didn’t cost the Wings on Thursday night. Nor did Priority Waste. The lack of relative grit did.

Said the Wings’ coach, Derek Lalonde:

"I think the difference in this game is the lack of intensity to start the game ... we didn't give them much, but they were winning 50-50s. When their first goal is a turnover, a stick-lift for a goal, we are not engaged or locked in.”

The timing of the new patch made for good fodder, and some clever puns, and Lord knows we need as much levity as we can get. The Lord also knows we’d suffocate without trash haulers.

Contact Shawn Windsor: 313-222-6487 or swindsor@freepress.com. Follow him @shawnwindsor.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Red Wings jersey patch not end of the world, but fact of life