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There are only a few ways to get players onto a hockey team. Draft them, acquire them through free agency, pick them up off waivers, trade for them. Only one of these options requires you lose something (RFA also I suppose, but that's still a rarity in this league). The salary cap makes draft picks, prospects, and roster players that much more valuable, so trades are that much less desirable an option to collect players for your team. I understand that its frustrating to get your hopes up every trade deadline expecting to land some star, but in today's hockey league its more important than ever to be economic. That means developing your talent, holding onto your picks, and making big roster changes through free agency, not through trades. Its boring, but its also a smart way to go. I'm in the minority which believes Holland did not make a mistake this deadline by not making any moves.

It's a damned shame that we didn't pick up Brunnstrom, too. After all, he scored a hat trick in his very first game! No, wait... After all this time, don't we know better than to judge players on a sample size of one game? P.S.: Clowe's two goals were gimmes. He scored the first one after been gifted a loose puck in front of the net and having nobody to beat but the goalie, and the second one was a tap-in into a wide-open net.

I really am glad that Holland didn't spend picks or prospects to bring in Gaborik. He is injury prone and isn't worth his 7.5 million dollar cap hit. Pomminville was the only guy I would even consider, and he isn't a top 6 winger like the Wings need. Boumeester isn't worth it either. One of two things are going to happen..... Either the Wings fall flat on their faces in the next couple years, fade away from playoff contention, Holland gets fired, and the collective whiners here will yell I told you so and sprint off to the Penguins forum board to become new fans.... Or.... The Wings will retool and rebuild over the course of the next couple years, and return younger and stronger in a couple years. They will be in a better position to win a cup then, so the collective whiners will stick around and cheer their team on. Either way, its a win/win for me. This forum really does need an enema. For too long, Wings fans have been gifted with high caliber teams and 4 Stanley Cups. The Wings fans are spoiled. Hell, I know I am. You can thank the NHL for making league parity a top concern. No longer can teams try to buy a cup. The salary cap has leveled the playing field. To expect a team to compete for the cup every year is ludicrous. Making the playoffs should be the new benchmark now. Once your team gets in, then anything can happen. At this point, I am going to support the Wings as they work to make the playoffs. I call on every Wings fan to do the same thing. Stand behind your team. Stand behind your Wings management. Its that simple. Hell, I would be really pissed if Holland offered that. Pomminville isn't worth that.

Completely untrue. In other news, apparently the word of just about every single hockey analyst---all of whom praised Holland's decision to not move prospects or high picks at this juncture---means nothing to all of the experts on this board. The team is re-tooling on the fly, and throwing away prospects for short-term, expensive players would be foolish.

He's not. But Quincey, Sammy and Carlo Coca-Cola aren't worth the money and draft pick we gave up either. Holland does overpay, just for the wrong players.

to the ryan clowe haters who thought he sucked with his 0 goals was washed up and laughed at me for saying the wings should go hardcore for him .... i know its just one game but 2 goals 2 assists first game as a ranger suck it lol could of had a 6"2 225 pd hitting machine that also fights and shows up bigtime in the playoffs .... but its ok we got samuelsson and bertuzzi yes its just one game but i look forward to seeing him produce just to prove the haters wrong .... big missed opportunity

I don't think he's even the best on his own team. I'd rather have Malkin. And I'd definitely rather have Datsyuk than Crosby.

I can respect that. Play on through.

When I heard that trade last year I spit my beer out. This has to be the worst trade I've seen the Red Wings make.

Could be a changing of the guard. I wouldn't really be surprised. Then he could leave saying "I liked my team"

You mean, there's a chance that Nill loves enforcers and thinks Cleary and Samuelsson are lucky to be playing in the NHL?

He would be a good fit in Calgary after they fire Feaster. I wonder, though, how different Nill and Holland are. They've been working together for a long time. Seems like it's the same person with similar ideas on what the team should be.

For every one saying Holland lacked the "balls" to do anything, I've already posted this but: “We offered some of (prospects). At the end of the day someone didn’t like them as much as we do or they liked someone else’s players better.” He made an effort to acquire someone. Other teams outbid him. Maybe it's not a matter of him not making an effort, but a matter of our prospects not being viewed as highly as someone else's? If Holland moved Nyquist, Mrazek and a 1st and 2nd to get Pominville, would you be happy? I'd be pissed off.

I'm not saying Columbus will be better then us for the next 5 years, but they're at least sending a message that they want to win. They have a young, hungry GM trying to prove himself. Too early to call these moves or him a disappointment. Many Wings fans are fed up with Holland and his ennui towards his job. He's basically admitting that we're not all that good. Much of it is his fault. Columbus has something to "potentially" look forward to, while we're looking forward to either missing the playoffs or getting bounced in the first round. Not to mention, what may happen with Datsyuk in the near future. It sucks.

He'd fit right in.

I did not expect the Wings to be buyers, but for sure sellers. Filpulla is believed to command 5m per so why not trade him for a first? At that price it would be desastrous to bring him back. White is sitting more than playing, if not a second a third should have been possible. I am glad Holland stood pat but these two guys should have been dealt today! Prices will never be that high again for Filpulla and this ladies and gentlemen is a lost first round pick.

FYI Clowe and Brassard are destroying Penguins already !

But I have Tatar on a line with Dats and Nyquist in NHL 13 GM mode and he's tearing it up. Honestly though, I think Tatar could step in nicely for Flip. I put it in some other thread not long ago.

This. Kenny lacks the courage to pull the trigger on high end talent for fear of "overpaying" (gasp!). Anytime there is any kind of competition for a player these days Kenny loses. Good thing DeKeyser had an entry level cap or Kenny would've probably lost him too. esteef

Why? Despite leading the league in man games lost, we are in a playoff spot right now, there's no need to blow up the team. Committing your team to selling off your assets is the last option that any GM should think of, and will likely get anyone fired when they're not even bottom dwellers. There's a lot of money to be had in postseason tickets, memorabilia, tv deals, etc which is ultimately what makes owners tick.

Holland would have to be a meth addict to think this team is a couple of deadline moves away from winning the Cup. Thank god he didn't do something moronic like McPhee did.

You guys whine like a bunch of school girls. Embarrasing.

How many rookies do you guys want to play? We already have Lashoff, Brunner, Nyquist, Smith, and Andersson playing regularly, with Dekeyser about to join that group shortly. That's 1/3 of the playing roster. The only Griffin who should be with the Wings is Tatar and if he comes back it will be at the expense of Nyquist most likely.

I'm not really upset we didn't pick up any of the guys available given the costs and where this team is ultimately at in the big picture of things, but I'm definitely upset we didn't move Flip for something. The only way I saw keeping Flip was if we added the top-6 forward and top-pairing defenseman. At that point, you've got a bit more of a shot to make a racket in the playoffs. But we didn't land those guys, and we're all the further behind, and anyone who thinks buyouts are going to be the answer to our Top-6 forward and Top-pairing defenseman needs are utterly and completely delusional. This team will still likely make the playoffs, but we're not going anywhere. How Holland justified not getting a return for Flip given all he says about building through the draft is just so far beyond me, and why I ultimately question whether Holland has a clue as to what he's really aiming to do with this team at this point. When he spends the majority of his time talking about doing what's best for the future and he fails to make this move, it's just hard to have faith in him. If he ends up signing Flip to a $5 million deal this summer, I'll be done expecting him to ever do this job well again for this team. Holland will always get credit for what he did accomplish early on in his tenure as GM, but it by no means minimizes the fact that the very best thing one can objectively say about the tail end of his run is that he has been average. He hasn't been as horrible as some try to suggest, but he absolutely has not been great or anything close to it.

For the sake of everyone's sanity - I hope so.