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I would like to see an old title brought back to the red wings: Head Coach - Director of Player Personnel. Which was once held by Bowman. I think Babcock has paid his dues and deserves a raise and more responsibility. Holand morphs into - Executive Vice President and Alternate Governor of the Detroit Red Wings Same great minds but with change moving forward, and all part of a great big red wings plan one day Develano Retires Holand moves into his position Babcock moves into the GM position and then we promote the coach in the AHL. I think Holand has been soft and safe and picked up some wishy washy players over the years, I think Babcock as Director of Player Personnel would stop that and maybe make some hard trades, and cuts that may not be popular but would make for a better team. Next year my wishes would be simple a team with more Babcock influence less Holland influence.

Painful. Basically the reason why you try, as a team, to not go to game 7.

Vermette = Helm I love Helm, but do we really need another Helm?

Ya they should trade Howard. That way if/when mrazek has a sophmore slump McCollum can come in and play... Makes sense to me. Or should they re sign glass groin gustavsson?

To be fair, even when the hype was it its greatest, Smith was projected as top-4 guy with the ability to put up 30-40 points, which might not be a stretch if he actually got any PP time, and in a more run-and-gun (and probably less successful) team, i think he'd produce more. Same with Tatar and Nyquist...for a long time they were seen as possible 2/3 line guys, and it was only really the goose's goal output last year that gave anyone genuine hope beyond that. Certainly RWC (RIP) managed to predict most of the kids that have come through remarkably well, such as Howard being a solid but not brilliant starter, Marchenko being a good 5-6 guy and Sheahan being a 2/3 Center. These are the Kozlovs of old rather than the Federovs...very good players who are ultimately expendable in a good trade. The only real disappointments regarding serious projections of prospects I read were Kindl, Grigorenko and Emmerton. Kindl has all the skill to be a top 4 guy, but sadly none of the calm under pressure, fortitude or physical courage. Grigs never got back after the crash and underestimated what it took to make the NHL. Emmerton was only ever ok at a lot of things, without being NHL standard at anything. Re the coaching issue, Bab's is clearly an excellent coach as squeezing a lot of not much, but too many of our current younger players and potential assets would be better suited to a different system. So either the roster needs some major re-shaping or a new coach may be for the best. Certainly we will not maximise Smith, Kindl, Weiss, Pulks, Nyquist, Tatar in Babcock's systems. If he stays, he's a good enough coach to keep this team going, and the kids 2-3 years away are much more to his taste. If he leaves, some of the current roster may flourish, but overall results may suffer a little.

The best I've found it this http://stats.nhlnumbers.com/free_agents(obviously not using anything related to nhl.com) Man that UFA class is something else

Jon Cooper immediately moved to ask the NHL to suspend PK Subban as a result of this arson.

The most games Mrazek has started is 52 and that was back in the OHL. I'm guessing he splits the season with Jimmy and the "starter" will be the guy who ends up earning the spot over the course of the season.

And that's why if he leaves for a different team where he has control over his roster it will be a disaster. There's a reason managers, who can make unbiased and unemotional decisions about personnel, exist. This team would be full of Clearys and Glendenings without Holland.

And that's why Joel ward should be our number 1 target kids Mr playoff clutch

The Chicago take on the Preds however is a thing of beauty...

I also think Babcock was sending a message to his young players that they have to be better and they have to work harder to keep growing into solid NHL players who can compete when it matters most. Guys like Tatar and Nyqvist have a lot of skill and potential, but they're going to have to work harder and get stronger if they want to have a prayer of carrying this team when Dats and Z move on. As of now, they're simply not good enough. Not even close.

At what point? In Detroit the point will far exceed any other standard of failure. For example I believe many Detroiters are only now acknowledging a problem with employment in the auto industry. Others are noticing that there may be an issue with vacant buildings. Who knows. Some time in 2034 Detroiters might acknowledge that casinos won't save the city!

Joe Thornton? Over 35, making 7.5 million, epic playoff no show, can't handle the pressure, stripped of his captaincy, Joe Thornton? He'd be awesome. These threads are entertaining to say the least. Let's get a number one defenseman. Let's get a top 6 winger, oh, but he has to be big and tough and score a ton. Let's trade the prospects, well all of them except the good ones. Get a new coach who's better than Babcock, and a more successful GM than Holland. Oh, and throw in a hot 22 year old who likes to swallow twice a day while you're at it.

Remember back in March when there was "no goalie controversy"

Wow, so our cup back in 08 and cup finals appearance in 09 was a "long time ago"? Man, I wonder how Toronto feels with their last cup win. Or Edmonton for that matter. Heck, lets ask the Rangers how they feel since their last cup. This really does show the level of entitlement that Wings fans have grown accustomed to over the course of the last 25 years. Most teams have bandwagon fans. The Wings have achieved a level of greatness where the bandwagon effect hasn't been measured because we have been good for so freaking long. Now we are looking at Holland deserving blame for making the playoffs and not getting past the 2nd round since making it to the finals in 09. When I see this attitude, I just shake my head in disbelief. Is this really what some Wings fans have deteriorated to? The salary cap era has made the playing field level. No team is a slam dunk for a championship anymore. I will say this much. Any new GM that comes in may have successes in some areas, but failures in others. No GM is going to hit it out of the park on everything they do. So while a new GM may have landed Parise and Suter for Detroit, he may have not gotten Dekeyser and wouldn't have gotten Hossa either because he wouldn't have had the money to get them all. I get it, Wings fans want a championship. Its championship or bust mentality that really has to change though. Only 1 team gets to win the Stanley Cup every year, and the favorite doesn't win it much of the time. The sooner that we all realize that the Wings are just one of 16 teams in the playoffs and things have to go right for the team that wins it, the better off we will be.

So he's like Ericsson except he can actually shoot?

Looking good, Hockeymom1960.

Pull a mulligan on the Dave Lewis years and bring in Barry Smith.

I know on paper Phaneuf makes a fair amount of sense. I've just never liked the guy. He's one of those players for me where my dislike is based mostly on a gut feeling and not anything rational. That he's somehow like a Jack Johnson. A talented guy who on paper should be great, but when you put him in a defense they somehow get worse (thought I think that's changed somewhat for Johnson in Columbus).

Some of those "circumstances" were his fault. Keeping Cleary, Sammy and Bertuzzi around for too long. Trading a first rounder for Quincey. Spending too many trade deadlines on the phone ordering pizza instead of doing his job. His defenders make it sound like he's a victim of bad luck or something. He's made his own troubles the last few years. Yeah, there were some bad breaks in there but he's not absolved of guilt.

Your username makes this really ironic lol

You *are* pretty mcellan, don't ever let anyone tell you otherwise.