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Hope he can come back, he'd really help our top 6 if he's healthy.

I won't miss Edzo

^oh boy. Don't care about first pick because anyone could get it. DO care about a playoff streak because not every team can have that.

Should be Cleary. Won't be, though.

Bettuzzi's biggest asset, and one our team has desperately needed is his size and puck protection. Our team is not strong on the puck along the perimeter (aside from Dats and Z who are regularly double-teamed). The Wings play much better when they can hold onto the puck down low and dictate the speed of the game. Bertuzzi is good at hanging onto pucks and moving them to open ice, and its going to give Pavel and Z more time and space to be creative. Having said that, this guy is on a multi-year contract right now if I'm not mistaken, and I think it may be a better option to wait and make sure he's as healthy ad possible before jumping into the chaos at 70-80%. But I'm not the doctor nor the player, so it ain't my call.

I'll take an 7th or 8th place finish plz. Then I can laugh at all of the hateful pricks (Leaf's fans) that are dying for the streak to end. AND that still gives Detroit a 16-19th overall pick, provided they lose in the first round. BUT if they win a round or two, then that's awesome too. Basically, it's all good.

Its pretty crazy how hard it is to see a player's true value until he's not playing anymore. We saw it last year with Ericsson, and Helm is pretty obvious. Bert is certainly not the best player in the league, but he is valuable to the team, especially with how poorly the offense has been doing. I was never wild about his latest contract, but the offense needs him right now and for the final push.

Playoffs! Never give up the ship! esteef

Sucks for Kent, he played well for us and I wish him the best.

Reunite the Franzen-Datsyuk-Bertuzzi line

I think you would need to define "value" then, because there is certainly not a single player in our farm system that would bring what Bert brings to the table for this team. If they did, they would've been called up and replaced his spot rather than Abby. There just isn't a single youth player in our system right now that will hold on to the puck, win puck battles, cause havok, create space, and produce as much as Bert will. I really hope he can come back and provide what he did previously because he will change the dynamic of this team. No, I don't believe Bert is the second coming of Jesus himself, but I do believe he brings an element we need desperately in the top 6, which is someone else to actually hold onto the puck for an extended amount of time.

The thing is, we were less and less competitive before all of our major losses. We had two early exits from the playoffs before Rafalski retired and three before losing Stuart and Lidstrom. They were already trending downward before the losses and they're continuing that trajectory in the wake of said absences. In one sense I suppose you're right, we're close to making the playoffs so we are competitive to an extent, but on the other hand I have a hard time feeling like we're all that competitive when we're competing with Dallas and Columbus for a playoffs spot and we're barely above .500. I'm not trying to be contradictory or anything, obviously no other GM has Ken Holland's resume, but to say he's currently the best GM in hockey is sort of a nod to his cumulative career and not because of anything he's done recently...which, of course, is nothing.

Might be best to wait until more information is released before jumping to unfounded conclusions.

I want to keep the streak alive. The record is 29 years and I believe we could reach that mark if we just survive and retool for another year or two and squeak in.

What puts him above other GMs is the 14 straight years 7th or higher in points, 9th or higher in the standings. 10 of those years (Including 9 straight) 3rd overall or better. None of Chicago, Pittsburgh, or Boston have managed to finish top-3 even two years in a row, and that's with their best players still improving. That we have struggled to replace some top players and valuable role-players while more of our best players are in decline shouldn't drop him below other GMs. This decline (or even worse) is what should've been expected. Avoiding it would have been remarkable. More than that even, since we already retooled the team twice without any real drop-off. Three times in a row without a glitch would have been near miraculous. Instead, that's what most of you expect.

and than you woke up

This is where I'm torn. Yes a better pick would be nice. But I had to watch Michigan lose its bowl streak and I don't want to lose our playoff streak. Even if one and done. And if may be better for us as a team to lose and get a good pick. BUT I WANT THE PLAYOFFS EVERY YEAR!!!!

Bertuzzi is an important piece of this team, even if he doesn't score all the time. Our time of puck possession will increase the moment he steps on the ice.

Then by your definition, there is one good GM and the rest of them are terrible. That's an odd way of seeing things. The Red Wings have still, to this day, had more playoffs success in the post-lockout era than any other team. While the Wings have won only one Cup, Holland has been the only GM able to maintain momentum from before the lockout through six seasons afterward. Ray Shero did not construct the current Penguins team; and if you're using the Pens as an example of how to build a team in the salary cap era, then you are advocating a course of action by which a team should be terrible for several seasons in order to garner lottery draft picks. Shero inherited Malkin, Crosby, and Fleury from the Pens' long stretch in the doghouse, and upon entering office promptly had the 2nd-overall pick to spend on Staal. To sum up, Shero started off with two of the top five forwards on the planet in his system at entry-level salaries, amongst others. He inherited a team that also already included Orpik, Talbot, Malone, Whitney, Gonchar, Letang, Kenneday and Scuderi. He traded Whitney for Kunitz, yes, and he fleeced Niuewendyk in the deal for Neal. But other than that, his moves as GM have not been very noteworthy, and not a single one of his draft picks (Staal excepted) has yet made an impact in the NHL. And whatever the case, the core for his team's success was absolutely, indisputably in place already when he took the job as GM in 2006. I'm not sure what else to do but shake my head at this.

The new system had nothing to do with Shero constructing his team in fact Ray Shero had little to do with constructing that team, being terrible for a long period of time constructed that team for him. He took over a team that had selected in the top 5, 5 years in a row, with 4 of them being in the top 2. The biggest adversity he's had to face was a problem of his own making when he had to trade Staal away because he couldn't fit all his top 5 picks under the salary cap. Let's see him rebuild the team when those players start retiring, and have him do so without the luxury of having any top 15 draft picks and without missing the playoffs. Maybe then he can start being compared to Holland. Also if Holland doesn't get any credit for the teams draft choices because he employs a scout who recommends which players to pick, then no team's GM should ever get credit for a draft choice. They all employ scouts. Below is a list of players drafted while Holland was in charge of amateur scouting. If I follow your logic Holland should get credit for the cups in 97, 98 and 2002 since he drafted the core of those teams. He also made several trades in those years that provided key parts to those cup winning teams. Yves Racine Sheldon Kennedy Mike Sillinger Nicklas Lidstrom Sergei Fedorov Dallas Drake Vladimir Konstantinov Keith Primeau Slava Kozlov Jason York Martin Lapointe Jamie Pushor Chris Osgood Mike Knuble Darren McCarty Dan McGillis Anders Eriksson Mathieu Dandenault Tomas Holmstrom Holland is the best GM in the history of the franchise, arguably the best in the history of the NHL, and a guaranteed first ballot Hall of Fame Inductee.

I agree with inflatable boobs guy

If we make playoffs, there's always a chance Datsyuk or Franzen will explode, and with the right matchuos this team could go to the second round, maybe Conference finals. Just so long as we don't meet Minnesota or Chicago. I just have a bad feeling about those two teams matching up against the Wings.

Lundqvist, Rinne, Miller, Luongo, Price, Ward, Andersson easily > Howard 5 Mill would be a huge huge overpayment in my eyes

We have Abdelkader on our top line. I'm sorry, but I'm not searching for answers as to why we can't score. Abdelkader is a 3rd line player at best.

Can't wait to see him back in the lineup.