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It's a little bit early, but I wont be around at Midnight to post it. Hopefully that's ok.

Holy hell. I'm going to this game, my first ever game, and Datsyuk is back? So excited!

Nill passed on drafting Larkin and chose Julius Honka. Honka could be really good too, but so far Holland's winning vs. Nill in drafting since he left because of this decision. The argument that Holland's success was due to others is one that can't be proven or disproven. There's no way that you know what happened behind closed doors so making that statement is just based on biased rather than fact. Think what you want to think. No. Nill negotiated the Z deal and Datsyuk made his own deal because he's magic. Holland is responsible for Franzen's deal because people hate that guy.

What about something like this? It would be something pretty different, but it would be a great way to incorporate the octopus.

13 returns on Friday the 13th!

I figured hah, double shift today unfortunately, loooong day. no no its. Shanahan > Holland > Nill > Yzerman Shanahan landed Babcock (while he was acting GM as president before Lou came). That was the deal of all deals. Holland couldn't even hang on to the greatest coach in all of hockey. Psh.

Smith is what he is...not nearly as bad as half the fan-base make out, but not nearly reliable enough to earn complete trust. One thing is for sure...he needs to be alongside someone who is more defensively solid and calm under pressure. Hence the reason he looks better next to kronner or DD....next to kindl you have jakub's primary weaknesses (a slight lack of intestinal fortitude and a related capacity to panick under intense pressure) intensified by a complimentary s***- storm of Smith's erratic decision making and Iack of awareness.

Dats' Back

https://www.facebook.com/DETROITREDWINGS/videos/10153382847784139/?fref=nf Wet my self a little. ^Today from practice. Return of the Euro Twins!

The article makes it sound like Pulkkinen is a *****. Coach wanted a battle drill, Pulks couldn't take it and lost his temper and went off on Smith.

I'll take tomorrows vs San Jose if nobody minds.

I will make a LGW wager that Abby scores at least 15 goals this season

The only thing to complain about, and rightfully so, is the skyrocketing salaries for average players. It seems you have the Elite ($8M-$10M) then the bottom ($2M or less) and then for some reason you have everyone else making $3M-$7M and most not really deservng it. I konw the market dictates it, but in no real world does Abby deserve the same amount of money as a Nyquist. Nyquist is a 50+ points per year scorer, I can never see Abby getting above 30 too many more times, if ever again, heck I even thought $4.75M was a bit much for Nyquist so soon, I was kind of hoping for a bit less for a couple of years, then the bigger money. If you ask me, $3.5M is the top of the heap for players like Abby, if not a bit less but no more. But, I digress because we are living in an NHL world that says KFQ and Erection are worth nearly $5M....that's my complaint, we've gone through 2 lockouts to get a reign on these contracts, but you sure cannot tell by looking at most of them.

Danny's picture looks like it was his awkward prom photo or something. I could totally see him wearing that.

And scores 13 seconds in.

I find it funny that some people attribute any success Holland has to those around him, however any bad decisions are solely placed on him. Got to love being a GM in the NHL, you will never please everyone. As far as the '89 draft goes, yes it gave the Wings Vladdy, Lidstrom, and Fedorov, and yes of course it was a big part in the future success of the franchise, but only 2 of them were there in 1998 and 2002, and one in 2008 (well I guess 2 if you count Drake lol). To say all of his success is based on that draft is just wrong. Using that logic to dismiss Holland's part in the 2008 cup win could pretty much dismiss every GM's part in any cup win ever as most teams have a player that is good that was there before the GM got there.

Aawesome stuff flashy. Good to see you back here. LETS GO WINGS!

So in other news water is wet, grass is green and the sky is blue

I think he could score around 20ish for another few years if he's paired with Hank. He's just going thru a slump at the moment.

Having a guy that hovers around 20ish goals and leads your team in hits at 4.25M is a pretty good deal. 5 years would have been the perfect deal imo but I'm sure Holland considered this but Abby didn't want to hit FA on the downside of his career with only a few years left in him

Don't forget the iron clad, patented KHAZMTNMHMTTNIC (Kenny Holland Absolutely Zero Movement or Trades No Matter How Much The Team Needs It Clause © ) that it will come with.

I would be okay with 4.25M but getting close to 5M for 7 years is pretty close to being a bad deal imo. Not terrible, that's close to market value but with that term it should be lower You're dreaming

So an extra year and an extra 0.75M really makes or breaks this for you eh? You're really living in the margins on this one.

Abdelkader is a decent player, but nothing special except that he's the only really physical guy the Wings have with any amount of skill. Depending on how long and how much, this could either be a decent contract or terrible. If he gets close to $5 mil for 6 years, I'm going to be pissed. If it's 4 or 5 years at $4.25 mil a year, I'll be ok with it. Pros: He scored 44 points last year and showed he has the skill that made him a 2nd round pick. He's the only Wings' forward who is big, plays like he's big, and has shown NHL level skill. Cons He has one year where he scored at a good rate, other than a 20 game stretch where he was hot the previous year. He's approaching the age where physical players start to tail off. Lots of guys could score 20+ goals playing as much as he does with Datsyuk and Zetterberg.

Moves are going to have to be made! If Abby is projecting north of $4M, Danny D is projecting north of $4M, guarantee Mrazek gets at least $4M...that doesn't even include having to try and better our team via trade or UFA, or the players that are out of options next season. This is why you have to get rid of Erection, one of Smith/Kindl and don't even think about re-signing KFQ. Helm can be traded, Andersson can as well. These are UFA's that are redundant on this team and will waste cap space if re-signed. Hell, most of us knew Helm was tradable with the emergence of Glen and Sheahan. Speaking of Sheahan, he will get in the $2M's on his next deal too. We need to make this team better, and right now, we need to add by subtracting so we can do so. If we want to even sniff Byf, we need to clear tons of capspace, especially if we are going to overpay 30 point players.