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Having a bunch of prospects really only means they'll have more washouts and trade throw-ins when they run out of contract slots to sign all those guys. I don't put much stock in HF ratings. 6.5 seems like their default rating. Could mean a pretty decent player like Marchenko, or someone who will almost certainly never see the NHL like Aubry. The letter grades seem to be C by default, B if the player is just about at the predicted rating already, and D if the player is all but washed out. Yeah, we lost three defense prospects this year, so our total number is low. But that's no reason to go chasing Chicago's garbage. We already have more guys running out of options than we have room. We need a few guys that are further away than what Chicago will be trying to dump. We'll try to draft a few this year, a few more next year, and so on, and our shortage of D prospects will be taken care of that way. If we're going to trade for D, it needs to be someone better than someone on our current roster. Besides, Chicago's depth is nothing. Dallas has the real goods.

Mantha has the skill, he just came off a major injury in a league that is more difficult than he has ever seen before. He just has some confidence issues. The skill is there. If he gets in a full training camp and season and still is underperforming at the end of next season then I'll hit the panic button. I think he is gonna have a bounce back season however.

Is flower power really what you want as kh's nickname? Really? PS. Matt Cooke hit the waiver wire... The waiver wire is now out with a lower body injury, MRI forthcoming.

What annoys me is the constant clamoring for ANYONE who will fight. Just cause a guy fights doesn't mean he's automatically good or would be a good addition. Remember Tootoo? If we can get a guy that fights and actually has some abilities that pertain to pro hockey - and can use them in our system - then sign me up. Paying (any price) and giving a roster spot to a guy for an entire season, whose only going to be useful during the 3 total minutes he spent fighting, is just dumb.

Several points that tie into each other: -Someone else sees the Bowman effect and it cannot be understated! Except for Buffalo, who no one can help, the Stanley Cup follows Bowman and I don't think it's coincidence in Chicago either. 14 Cups in one capacity or another plus another 4 Finals appearances where he didn't win, that's 19 Finals appearances since he started in 1967. If Scotty Bowman is the janitor in your building, that makes you an immediate Cup contender. -The decline really picked up when Brian Rafalski left 2 years after Bowman, if you look at the standings and defense numbers. Not filling it with a proper partner for Lidstrom and getting a top pair Dmen to replace Lids/Rafalski has been a huge problem that everyone knows about and I don't need to rehash it here. -Ken Holland needs to go. He doesn't know why free agents won't come to Detroit, he keeps saying there is no one to land on the free market yet all of our competitors have no problems landing free agents (Tampa, Minnesota...). I think the Illitches need to look hard at moving Kenny, he is unable to keep up with the modern trends and it shows. Yzerman went to Tampa and has not been afraid to trade core players, and he signed key defensmen, and has turned the team completely around, he looks like a friggin' genius with what he's done the last few years (trading for Bishop, signing Flip, trading St. Louis, buying out Vinnie, signing Hedman, Stralman, signing super huge goalies and defense, that's not coincidence that whole back end is over 6'5", etc. etc. etc.). Other GMs also have no problems trading and signing, it's time for a regime change, the era of Holland is not working anymore.

Big elephant in the room. We have not won a cup in seven years and haven't been to a final in six. Scotty Bowman leaves our organization and makes an instant impact on the Hawks. They have won three cups since he left. I think the organization has drifted from a philosophy that helped build a winner and I would like to see us return. The philosophy is hire the best and let them work. We poached the Islanders chief executive when they were winning cups and then we poached Scotty not far removed from Pittsburgh's run. Scotty left and then Steve Yzerman. I know the conventional wisdom is that we couldn't keep them which may be true. However, I hope the front office is working to figure out ways to bring these men back. In short, we should begin once again work to bring the best brains in the NHL back into the fold not see them leave. In this age of player parody, front office brain power is emphasized and we let two extremely talented men leave the fold. You probably could include Jim Nill as well but his impact hasn't been nearly as large as Scotty's was. Detroit Redwings - Post Bowman 2008-2009 51-19-10 Regular Season, Lost Stanley Cup Finals 2009-2010 44-24-14 Regular Season, Lost Western Conference Semifinals 2010-2011 47-25-10 Regular Season, Lost Western Conference Semifinals 2011-2012 48-28-6 Regular Season, Lost First Round 2012-2013 24-16-8 Regular Season, Lost Western Conference Semifinals 2013-2014 39-28-15 Regular Season, Lost First Round 2014-2015 43-25-14 Regular Season, Lost First Round Chicago Blackhaws - Bowman Era 2008-2009 46-24-12 Regular Season, Lost Western Conference Finals 2009-2010 52-22-8 Regular Seasons, Won Stanley Cup 2010-2011 44-29-9 Regular Season, Lost First Round 2011-2012 45-26-11 Regular Season, Lost First Round 2012-2013 36-7-5 Regular Season, Won Stanley Cup 2013-2014 46-21-15 Regular Season, Lost Western Conference Finals 2014-2015 48-28-6 Regular Season, Won Stanley Cup Tampa Bay Lightning - Steve Yzerman Era 2009-2010 34-36-12 Regular Season, Pre-Yzerman 2010-2011 46-25-11 Regular Season, Lost Easter Conference Finals 2011-2012 38-36-8 Regular Season, No Postseason 2012-2013 18-26-4 Regular Season, No Postseason 2013-2014 46-27-9 Regular Season, Lost First Round 2014-2015 50-24-8 Regular Season, Lost Stanley Cup Finals Dallas Stars - Jim Nill Era 2012-2013 22-22-4 - Pre Jim Nill 2013-2014 40-31-11 Regular Season, Lost First Round 2014-2015 41-31-10 Regular Season, No Postseason Jim Nill's impact has remain to be seen but he has been granted time in Dallas. Steve Yzerman has clearly made the right changes in Tampa Bay and their team is on the rise. The largest loss impact wise is Bowman. Chicago has developed into a dynasty with him and his son. Should also be noted that they are doing so with Joel Quenneville as coach, a man who Scotty was able to dominate in the 90s. Our beloved franchise has seen better days, we could conclude that this is due to the youth movement in Detroit but I don't think this movement is helped by a brain drain in Detroit. I don't see the Red Wings coming close to competing for a Stanley Cup in the next two years. I hope to see something year three but if nothing happens, I would hope that big changes would be made in the front office.

http://www.reddit.com/r/hockey/comments/3abs8z/best_of_the_best_what_would_happen_if_the_last_16/ Guy used some simulator site: Whatif sports... I like the outcome. http://imgur.com/a/PGtAj

Kicking hard or hardly kicking?

I'm still disappointed that the 2011 Stanley Cup Champs Detroit Red Wings didn't beat the 2001 Stanley Cup Champs Colorado Avalanche... I mean, of all the years we won the Stanley Cup, surely the 2011 squad was the most talented.........

Did you guys know that Kenny Holland likes to kick tires? http://kuklaskorner.com/tmr/comments/ken-holland-is-kicking-some-tires?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

Same ppl who hate on Franzen now defend Mantha. It's like Christmas.

This guy is my new favorite lol

How does a player acquire stupid speed? Does a team pay more for this? Can young players go to stupid speed schools in the summer?

The comment between the two statements threw me. Oh well. P.s. not in love with you talking about Pulkinnens stick, and then later my face.

Nykwist is about the only one of the kids I can see reaching superstardom with the Wings. He's got some skill and looks like he wants to break out once in a while. Every one else is just coasting.

I know this is tongue in cheek.But if we keep winning, we should probably try to start this. Like it can be the most ragtag parade ever, and just have signs that say poty, so no one will know what the hell were celebrating. It could be a thing.

I liked this, then disliked it, just so I could like it again.

When put together with the first statement, the second doesn't sound any better.

I wouldn't mind having him on our team for that kind of money. Better than a milksop like Andersson.

truth is I know we aren't close to the cup right now but we nearly eliminated a team that made it to the finals I still think we are a good team we just need pieces that can fall into the right form I think if mantha can net us someone who can right now fill that great but if not than hold on to him and try to work from the core

He gave up 14 goals in the 4 games he lost to Tampa. He gave up 14 goals in the 4 games he lost to Los Angeles last year. Gave up 13 goals in the 4 games he lost to Boston the year before that. Gave up 15 goals in the four games he lost to NEW JERSEY the year before that. Jonathan Quick or Tim Thomas he ain't. That's all I'm saying. He's pretty pedestrian when it matters. His offense would have had to average 4 goals a game to win any of those games. Kinda hard to blame them.

Stan is a GM who's not afraid of making some treads. He has balls to trade: Buff, Ladd, Versteeg right after winning SC... Kenny's opposite

In many ways the RW's under Holland have returned to the days of the RW's under Murray. Skilled-yes. Able to put up points? yes. Winning Cups? No. Prior to Bowman coming on board we had tons of skilled guys that could skate. Stevie and Feds putting up 120+ point seasons. winning 55+ games per year. yet in the PO's when the refs look the other way we lost every year. Bowman changed that. Yes we still had skill, but he was the reason we added grit, size, toughness, and most importantly-everyone played D. feds become a 80 point guy and great defensive f'd. Stevie was threated with a trade if he didn't start to back check. Rouse, ramsey, Vladdy, fetisov were all added the the BL for toughness. Mccarty, lapointe, ward, Pushor, were all added through the ranks. then to put the bow on the top, we added the best POWER FORWARD in the game at the time. Not to mention smart and cheap moves for guys like Draper, Maltby, and Kocur. This group won us 3 cups. That is 12 guys who all brought grit to our lineup. That is over 50% of the roster. Do we have even 3 guys that can compare to those 12? No. those players were all Bowman's guys. he wanted them all, asked for them by name publicly. Jimmy D went out and got them. Don't forget Murphy to this group! LOL Today, those are the guys that Holland wants to trade away. he doesn't want the gritty players that do the dirty work. But look deeper. it isn't about fighting. very few of those guys did any. or rarely did. But they were veteran guys with leadershop, experience, toughness, and many were no longer as skilled as they once were. All of the teams that win the SC every year have skilled players, you can't win without them. But they also have toughness and grit. They may not fight, but no one does in the PO's. They all have guys that go to the corners and bang away, guys that put the body on the other teams D, most have guys that work the front of the nets as well. We don't do those things and haven't in several years. which is way we haven't come close to a SC in several years. The last 2 years we had to win our last game of the regular season to even make the PO's. Then a 1st round exit. Now if we can see this, I am sure kenny can. The question remains, as it has been asked for several years now: What is kenny going to do about it? To date he hasn't done much. The why is the unknown.

I think that the wings are in a lonesome category here as no other team has been as in the mix to win year after year etc. the result obviously is far less bang for our buck in drafting which has an eventual effect on the team IF the GM doesnt make some bold moves... ...Holland needs to at some point pull a rabbit out of a hat here to get the big red machine going again, as people say over and over, Ken was put n a great position with a hell of a club and hasnt made that big splash since when, the Hoss?

Phaneuf is 30, and left handed.