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Just wait til next year, just wait til next year, just wait til next year, just wait til next year.... esteef

If you were Ken Holland it would read "I like my lunch"

Holland has a nice golf-friendly routine worked out for himself: Trade deadline day: We kicked the tires, didn't see a fit, we'll save the money for free agency Free agency day: We kicked the tires, didn't see a fit, we'll save the cap room for the trade deadline Trade deadline day: We kicked the tires, didn't see a fit, we'll save the money for free agency ​Free agency day: We kicked the tires, didn't see a fit, we'll save the cap room for the trade deadline Trade deadline day: We kicked the tires, didn't see a fit, we'll save the money for free agency ​Free agency day: We kicked the tires, didn't see a fit, we'll save the cap room for the trade deadline Trade deadline day: We kicked the tires, didn't see a fit, we'll save the money for free agency ​Free agency day: We kicked the tires, didn't see a fit, we'll save the cap room for the trade deadline We like our team. Although to be fair, Holland will sometimes throw in a "the asking price was too high" just to mix it up.

Wouldn't it be something like "Getting my leftover soup from yesterday back in my bowl is my lunchtime acquisition"

BREAKING NEWS: I just traded a slice of pizza to a co-worker for a can of coke.

What irritates me the most is that standing pat is fine if you've got a good team, but when your team has been woefully inadequate for the last four years, how do you justify doing nothing? Holland says "we like our team". I respond...why? They've continuously gotten worse and proved nothing when it matters. What's to like? They aren't as bad as Calgary or Columbus? Aren't we supposed to aim a little higher than that in "Hockeytown"?

We Like Our Team Day 2013

Ya meanwhile none of them can stay healthy. Sammy is hurt either before his first game coming back, or 10 minutes in. Worst signing ever!!!

Injuries or not, Tatar needs to be back up for playoffs and without sending Nyquist down.

Babs having this team where it is at the moment that we can even remotely be discussing the playoffs is an accomplishment in itself. If you check a few hockey sites' preseason predictions on this team (THN,TSN,etc.) you will see that the Wings are at or above where most predicted, and almost every one of them site 'depth' as the entire reason why they all gave this team a sniff when talking contenders/playoffs. It's seasons like this mature prospects, ones where consistency is learned and mistakes are made. And if over half of our prospects are getting regular ice time and all learning together, I'm all for it. This was always going to be a rough year for this team and 38 games does not change this fact, despite some people's pants-busting urgency for NHL 13esqe roster moves.

Yeah if he'd continued to have a bad season then maybe, but the guy's in beast mode right now so everyone in D.C. loves him again.

Holland doesn’t fail, for not making a trade. However, how many times have we heard this? 1. Prices were high, Imma wait until the draft. That’s when all the trades happen. 2. Prices at the draft were to high to make a trade. Imma wait till July 1st and look at UFAs 3. Prices for UFAs were too high. We’ll save our cap and see what’s out there trade-wise this summer 4. Prices were too high in the summer, we’ll evaluate our team during the regular season and make a deal to get better, if need be. 5. Prices are too high right now, I’ll see where our team’s at by the trade deadline. 6. Prices too high at trade deadline, Imma wait until the draft. Rinse. Repeat.

If Holland doesn't make a move tomorrow, he should part ways with the team in the offseason.

I'm sorry, but Flip is nothing compared to Doan and Kesler. You're talking about heart-and-soul guys who play physical at both ends of the ice, skate hard, and bury their chances when they get them. Filpulla's just here to collect a paycheck. He disappears and certainly isn't worth 5 mil a season. I doubt he's worth 4.

By LGW logic...Pitt needs to win the Cup this year or their GM is a ******* idiot for making all these moves correct?

Nobody is suggesting "selling the farm". Nyquist and a 1st would get a pretty good return, and it wouldn't be detrimental to the long term viability of this team. It's not like we're talking about trading away 4 or 5 prospects here. Moving one or two guys does not equal destroying the future. Tomas Fleischmann was traded for Robert Lang. Lang didn't work out, and Fleischmann is a good player, yet our future wasn't destroyed because of it. Everybody around here acts like if we traded Nyquist or a 1st then all would be lost. It's silly.

Line 1: Thank you for calling Little Caesar's Pizza, how can I help you? Line 2: This is Ken Holland, how much for a large Pizza? Line 1: $10 Line 2: Too rich for my blood, goodbye. The following day in the Free Press, "Well I worked the phones but nothing made sense".

It's not a matter of not making a trade, at least in my opinion. It's a matter of not making a trade or a prominent free agent signing in about 4 years, in conjunction with the fact that this team (or at least it's core) has been woefully inadequate the entire time. The core group we have is not getting the job done, so either add too it, or rebuild it. All we seem to do is add bit parts, or do nothing at all. I just don't understand the strategy. For example: Holland doesn't want to trade his first rounder in case we don't make the playoffs. He doesn't want to trade White or Filppula in case we do. The whole point of hedging your bets is to stand still until something changes systemically that leaves you in a better position. I don't know what he thinks is going to change, but clearly it hasn't happened yet, and I don't see anything on the horizon that bodes well for us. Three years from now we might have Jarnkrok, Nyquist, and Jurco playing decent hockey. We'll also have Zetterberg, Kronwall, and Franzen playing declining hockey and likely no Datsyuk or Filppula either. So how does staying put work out in the long run?

Nah, Mario just gives Bettman a ringy-dingy and asks for a few more.

Kenny's working on hitting the JUCK F****** POTT

Yeah... Ovi is slated to make $9,538,462 annually through 2020-21. Somehow I don't see Holland trying to make that deal, since we've never been about super-bloated contracts. And I'm completely fine with that. I think it's been rebranded to "Little Caesartown"

With the team we have, I'd take Parise over Franzen just about any day of the week. Guy's a mad-dog puck-hound. Very intense forechecker, very responsible defensively. Great leader.

Flip re-signing has nothing to do with Datsyuk. Flip won't suddenly be our number one center if Datsyuk leaves, and we can always sign a Flip replacement.

Been on my mind all day. Filppula is not worth 5 mil. Trade him Kenny and get something for him!!!

I posted this in another thread already, but I think it will be a worthwhile addition here as well. If a deadline acquisition plays for your team, does not win the Cup, and leaves in the offseason, then you have lost your prospects and/or picks for nothing. Many teams make deadline deals every season, but ultimately only one team wins the Cup. As for prospects, the team has nine (Sproul, Ouellet, Tatar, Nyquist, Sheahan, Frk, Pulkkinen, Jurco, and Mrazek) that at present would be foolish to give away. As others have said---and it is true---this is a team that is rebuilding on the fly. Buying success is no longer possible. The teams that have won the Cup in the past four seasons have done so mainly on the strength of players whom they drafted and developed, and they drafted many of those players from high picks that were achieved from bottom-feeding seasons. I'll list these players (first-rounders noted): Pittsburgh (2009): Crosby (1st overall), Malkin (2nd overall), Staal (2nd overall), Fleury (1st overall), Orpik (18th overall), Letang, Kennedy, Scuderi, Talbot Chicago (2010): Kane (1st overall), Toews (3rd overall), Seabrook (14th overall), Hjalmarsson, Keith, Brouwer, Byfuglien, Bolland Boston (2011): Bergeron, Krejci, Seguin (2nd overall), Lucic, Marchand Los Angeles (2012): Kopitar (11th overall), Brown (10th overall), Doughty (2nd overall), Voynov, Lewis (17th overall), Bernier (11th overall), Quick, King, Martinez The above players, most particularly (italicized for emphasis) those drafted high in the 1st round, provided the meat for those Stanley Cup-winning teams. The contributions of Toews, Kane, Kopitar, Brown, Crosby, and Malkin require no explanation, and the highest pick used to select one of those was #11. For that matter, the lowest 1st-round-drafted player I listed above went at #18. In contrast, the highest pick that Holland has had (Kindl) since he has been with the Wings was #19. The highest pick that the Wings had before that? 10th overall... in 1991. That's just how things go now. Want the Wings to remain successful? Great, but be aware that it'll come at the cost of never having any of these superstar draft picks unless KH and his team get very fortunate (as they often have). That's something the organization will always need to contend with. But in the salary cap era, it's doubly vital to develop the good prospects that the team does obtain. On that subject, consider if Datsyuk, Zetterberg, or Kronwall had been sent away as a part of a deadline deal when they were still prospects. This team would look very different now, almost certainly for the worse. And at this stage of time, KH can even more not risk sending away the next potential superstar prospect, because there's no longer the buffer of higher spending. Like it or not, that's how it is. KH & company have been able to maintain the team's momentum since the lockout better than any other team in the league, but the system is constantly working against them in this.