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I have always found Ouellet to be an excellent passer. Very good at getting the puck right on a shooters tape.

And they'll have a boatload of Cups. They'll probably win another one in the next few years. That's four Cups in their era. I'd call that a win. That's the whole point, after all, to win. Not to mention that situations are always fluid and they'll find a way to negate at least a few of the negative impacts of those big contracts. Sitting around waiting for cheap players to magically come through your system is a recipe for never winning. You wait 5-10 years, find out you didn't draft quite good enough, then start the process all over. I'd rather a GM take a balanced approach, draft as strongly as you can but don't take a passive wait and see attitude. Life is too short. Careers are too short. Win now. Only worrying about mortgaging your future if said future could win you a cup in under three years.

Welllllllllll to bring this back on topic...............GO BLUES!!

Thanks, frank. Hopefully we can find a decent power play coach this off season. I feel fairly confident in saying that at least we can all agree that we really need that I'm not too familiar with coaching staffs around the league.. Anyone have any ideas?

Any lineup changes I'll add to the OP later on. Let's hope that this isn't Datsyuk's last game. LGRW.

We've been building from the draft. It takes patience. I do believe we've been replacing our best players. I think Mrazek, Larkin, and Dekeyser are "core" worthy players. Maybe Mantha, Sverchnikov or AA step up to that level. Tatar and Nyquist are on the edge of that as well. I know people are down because we slumped in the second half, but we made the playoffs and we are deep into the rebuild currently. I think things look great for the future. I mean who'll be left from the old guard? Z, Kronwall, and maybe Howard (though he's only 32) They'll be good for leadership even if they're not elite in the coming years (though, Howie could/should be traded). I don't understand why people want to tear it down completely. They moved Sharp because they were in a cap crunch not because he was declining. I'm sure they would have kept him if they could fit him in. And what's up with the false stats? Sharp had 20 goals and 55 pts with the Stars this year. That's UP from his 16 goals and 43 pts with the Hawks the year before. Did you lie just to force your argument? Also, in the 2014-15 season when his goals dipped to 16, he didn't play the full season as you say, and only played 68 due to injury. Here's a link: https://www.nhl.com/news/blackhawks-forward-sharp-will-miss-3-4-weeks/c-737728

Hanta yo baby!

1 game at a time. i will never lose faith

Today their dream of back to back cups ends , go Blues.

Win it and bring Dats back to Detroit. Lets GO Wings !

There is nothing wrong holding on to a few vets o help guide your young players. I agree that getting rid of E and Howard makes sense, but having Z and Kronwall on this team when guys like DD, Larkin etc. are coming up is not a bad thing. I dont ever want to put these kids in an Edmonton situation. The problem is when you hold on to too many guys, or guys with massive cap hits (ie. Toews/Kane in 6 years). Also, with Z's back in the condition it is in, I would be shocked if he plays out his contract. He has his career ending on LTIR written all over it.

Hmmmmmm this hypothetical Chicago situation in a few years sounds familiar. A team and its GM bring in multiple Stanley Cups after a long Cup drought, then after the core of the team starts to age and decline, fans throw a temper tantrum blaming the GM for the team not staying elite forever, and have a hard time accepting the re-build.

I completely agree. My point, however, was that people generally view Holland/management with disdain because they won't bring in strong depth players like Yandle, Backes, or Lucic. If only we did that, I hear, then we would be cup contenders, and it's only because Bowman and others have the stones to make trades that they're so good. The issue is, we could make the exact same moves that Chicago makes (acquiring the same players, that is) and we still wouldn't be anywhere near their level. Just as, ten years ago, they weren't anywhere near ours. The moves they make in free agency aren't what keep them contenders - it's the two $10.5M contracts that does. Their depth only matters as far as making them contenders because of their top-level guys. Those top-level types of players that you need to truly be competitive for the Cup year in and year out are not the types of players you can get in free agency anymore. There are only a handful of players in today's NHL with that kind of impact - Crosby, Ovechkin, Kane/Toews, Karlsson, Tarasenko, Kopitar, etc. - and whether or not your team has one of those players is almost entirely up to chance and luck of the draft. Nobody knows who those players will be coming out of the draft, once you find out who they are they're locked up with a team for life, and you will almost never see them hit the free agency market. It's all about finding gems in the draft now, and cultivating that talent. Our success/failure has nothing to do with what our management does or doesn't do as far as signing free agents or making trades - it's entirely based on whether we happen to be fortunate enough to have a handful of superstar level players in their prime. Right now, we don't. Chicago does. Give it a few years and I think we will (Larkin/Mrazek) and they won't. So sure, would I love it if we signed some depth guys? You bet. But let's not pretend like we're only one or two minor signings away from a championship here. Unless Stamkos becomes a free agent - and I'd bet almost anything that he doesn't - and we can get him, there isn't an available player in the entire NHL who could make our team competitive right now. And mortgaging our future in the hopes of finding one isn't the path for long-term, sustainable success.

Hopefully, this is a learning experience that Blashill can build upon and improve. Part of that learning experience should obviously be to fire Pat Fershweiler immediately.... since he contributes to Red Wing losses about as much as the opposition.

awesome sign!

Pavel Datsyuk .. lets go !

Won't be watching, but Go Wings anyhow. f*** Ken Holland.

Eaves scores again. Meh we don't need him -Ken Holland

I completely agree with you. I'm just saying Chicago fans won't feel that way. I also think that would apply to early 2000s Detroit.

yall think toew kane seabrook keith contracts are bad? they have 3 cups the last 10 year? thats a win

The fact that Shaw was throwing post-game sucker punches probably didn't help his case. The kid is a goon and I'm glad he'll have a comfortable seat from which to watch his team get eliminated.

I'm surprised XO hasn't gotten more of a look. Must be a cap thing because I think he's better than Marchenko and would probably help the team a decent amount. He's going to have to be up full time next year anyway, I think.

Not if its the truth, in the history of hockey Russian players have been known to be sub par defensively and superior offensively. It's not the truth for all ( Datsyuk ) but on a large sample size its the truth. No different in the NFL saying that the majority of great QB's have been white, majority of the best RB's have been black. I'm from Canada, we suck at soccer, always have. Brazil does not. It's not racism, prejudice, or politically correct BS, its the truth. A fact.

This could be the dumbest comment of all times considering everything that Swedish players have done for this club...