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oh my God, the title couldn't be more true! LOVE IT. I want them both to lose.

I think the most critical needs are exactly what Holland tried to address at the trade deadline and in the last FA period but couldn't ultimately pull off: 1) A big, talented winger (ideally two) 2) A #2 defenseman No Franzen and no Cole leaves the Wings playing exactly two top-nine guys with decent size - Abdelkader and Sheahan. The team struggles to generate offense because they're left on the periphery and they're just too easy to block out. Babcock compensated by pushing a grinding shutdown game at even strength and then taking advantage of power plays to create space for his smaller players, but it's just not good enough. They need the kind of bodies that can make room for 40, 13, 14, and 21 to work some magic. Clearly physical size isn't everything when it comes to success in hockey but I'm fairly certain that Detroit has the smallest top nine in the league. It has to be a priority this summer. On the back end, it's time to end either (or both) of the Smith/Kindl experiments, admit that they're not going to get much better, and accept that they do nothing to address the yawning talent gap between Kronwall and everyone not named Kronwall. The best teams in the league play three (maybe four) very good defensemen and rotate the rest based on their specialty - the Hawks use Keith/Seabrook/Hjalmarsson, the Rags have McD/Staal/Girardi, the Ducks platoon four top guys, you see the trend. Meanwhile the teams going home early tended to lack that extra top-pair D-man and instead have a big drop in talent to their next best player - Ottawa has one guy, the Wings have one guy (DDK may be on his way to being a legit #2), the Weber-less Preds struggled badly with just Josi (Jones isn't quite there yet), and so on. I would venture that STL relies too heavily on Bouwmeester, he's overmatched in his role and it hurts them at times. The Wings need another impact player taking 23+ minutes a night if they want to be a proper contender. Assuming they can get such an individual, room still has to be made for the kids to play a regular shift so they can see who among Sproul/Jensen/Marchenko/Ouellet is the real deal and who is the next Derek Meech. No Kindl and no Zidlicky creates space for Marchenko and Ouellet to fight for the #6 spot, ideally playing with Ericsson. I don't see them trading Howard, especially not in any big NHL15-type trades. There's good reason to expect him to have a better season in 15-16 and the team's total expenditure at the position is only ~6mil between he and Mrazek, so it's not like they need the money. It makes more sense to platoon them for now and maybe deal Howard next year once Mrazek's contract is up. It should also go without saying that we have to hope Weiss is sent packing.

You're absolutely right. Tippet got a mostly garbage team to the conference finals in 2012, and they lost to the Cup winners. He might want to skip out on Arizona's rebuild...and Detroit would be an upgrade for him. He could probably squeeze more out of this Wings roster than Babcock.

Glad Jurco is going to keep playing. Hopefully he'll play a large role in the worlds and get some of his offensive game and scoring confidence back.

Well said. Everyone has a shelf life and I believe Babs has reached his in Detroit. It is extremely unusual for a head coach to not have a new deal in place at the end of the season, which tells me he is gone on July 1 (or whenever his contract officially expires).

The drama unfolds, in round 1 next year, Detroit meets the team that Babs goes to and Wings advance to round 2 in 7 .. something that he couldn't do when he was here. Circle of life. Called it here on Apr 30, 2015.

Can't help but wonder now if we had traded for Phaneuf for weiss/smith type deal that was reported that we'd be in the 2nd round today

That'd be awesome.But he wouldn't take Smith. But for Glendenning he'd probably give us phaneuf @2mil ret Jvr And kessel

Money will not be an issaue that's for sure IF Mr. I steps in whichever team wants Babcock will get matched moneywise. Our owner is not only the best one in the NHL but he's also a fan and loaded with cash. I know some Leafs think they might be able to outbid Mr. I well our salary cap has been much higher than theirs. Hitchcock is as good as done, Armstrong will just let his contract run out and not renew him. Johnson's contract was under a 1 year condition but paid for 2 years (if I remember it correctly that can't be a coincidence or can it ? ). If the Ducks aren't going to at least the WCF I think Boudreaus is toast there.

A lot of those aforementioned teams currently have coaches. Can't assume that they all will fire their current coaches and wait for an answer from Babs. Babs will get a hell of an offer from Toronto. I think his next best offer will be the Red Wings. I wouldn't be surprised at all of Detroit matches Toronto's offer. The Red Wings are quiet a rich franchise.

So before June 30th, we can get a 3rd round pick or something from a team if they want permission to speak to Babs? What is Jamie McLellan smoking ... he thinks San Jose is a good destination ... with that GM Doug Wilson ??!!

He's been a head coach for 3 seasons, went to the playoffs twice, and won a round. I don't know, because I obviously wasn't watching Colorado in 2003-2004, but that doesn't seem terrible. Maybe there is something there, but his record doesn't suggest a wash out to me. But like I said, I don't know. Because he's won a ton of games under arguably the worst possible conditions. And because he's done so with a roster that's about 1/5 as good as our current one. Fun fact. You know how many 80 point players Dave Tippett has coached in his entire career? Two. Mike Ribeiro and Mike Modano. You know how many 80 point players Mike Babcock coached on the 2005 Red Wings alone? Four. Think about that. The best players he's ever coached..ever...were Modano, Ribiero, and Yandle. His best goalie was Bryzgalov. BRYZGALOV!

Barry Melrose

Granato seems to have done good things here in Detroit, but I don't know about him as a head coach. He's had a couple shots at the job but keeps up ending back as an assistant. It's hard to say for sure but there's likely a reason for that. Some guys function better in that role of being on the side closer to the players versus overseeing the whole team and having to be the bad guy at times.

I don't know, I just hope it isn't Babcock. It seems like he's lost his effectiveness. You can't trade out an entire team, and it's time for a shake up. Thanks, Mike...we had a good run, and we all appreciate. I wish you luck with whoever takes you on, but I think we've stretched this thing out long enough.

Awesome.

Don cherry

I think they already announced that their coaching staff would be back next year.. babs being available could change things though, no doubt. If Babcock doesn't coach the wings next year though, I hope he goes to the western conference.

I hope its Babcock with a Director of player Personnel tag attached to it. I think he is an incredible hockey mind and has earned the right to call his own roster as well as lines.

Blashill...seriously if you heard Blash and Babs doing an interview you wouldn't notice the difference.

Babcock. If not him, then Blashill. He's waited patiently. I don't see them looking outside the org for this one.

Todd M. Blashill. Granato.

I honestly had to check your profile to see if you were new here after reading these statements. When does Holland get blamed for his bad moves? The answer, around here anyway, is ALL THE TIME. Constantly. It inevitably leaks into 90% of our threads along with Jimmy sucking and Babs being an incompetent coach. He gets absolutely *dragged* if he so much as farts in the same room players are in because it negatively affects air quality and makes them play worse. Yours are not new sentiments, and frankly it is refreshing seeing the level-headed, rational responses. Bottom line: Holland, like all humans ever everywhere, has made some mistakes. Some absolute stinkers. Should we replace him with someone better? Sure, I'm all about improvement. Who should we court that is clearly a better GM than Holland? *crickets*

Some of this stuff is just ridiculous lol ... Did I agree with every move holland ever made? Nope ... Hated giving up janmark ... Said from day 1 weiss would be a bust , didn't like resigning again and again samuelsson cleary and bertuzzi But to blame holland for such of the stupidities I read? Not preparing for lidstrom's departure? He tried to sign ryan suter and it didn't work , short of that wtf you want him to do? Nobody is gonna trade away a weber or Keith etc... We have to hope we develop one or wait for one to actually be a ufa and target them like everyone else will Taking a shot at nyquist? Short of us never having drafted nyquist wtf do you want holland to do? And without nyquist's goal production we Wouldnt even be in the playoffs Overall Taking digs at holland is just nonsense .... Nobody is just giving away there best players

Only on LGW does a GM "deserve blame" for building an almost entirely homegrown roster, making the playoffs for the zillionth time in a row, and being poised to upset a better team in the first round. The only thing Ken Holland hasn't done is play/coach the actual game itself. Has he made some mistakes over the years? Sure. Have those mistakes seriously inhibited our chances of being competitive? The results certainly suggest otherwise. Or is he supposed to make no mistakes whatsoever?