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I'm a huge Holland critic. But remember before we won in 97? We had a core of young players growing together, learning together. Remember when Yzerman was traded in 94 until Mrs. I put the cabash on it? Remember when we signed aging vets like Bob rouse, Mike Ramsey, acquired a past his prime Mike Vernon, remember trading for a 35 year old igor larionov and a 36 year old fetisov? Remember claiming a 30 year Doug brown off the waiver wire? 35 year old Larry Murphy who seemed to be done after failing miserably in Toronto. How about 32 year old Joe kocur out of the beer league? You have to grow a core, you have to influx that with vets. Not a big fan of Helm, but he's obviously part of our core... I wish Holland would make a deal for a D man, but I think he is doing it very similar to the early 90's.

Right. A few decades from now, I don't think anyone's going to talk about how we got eliminated in the first round, if the record is broken they will talk about how we broke the record AND won 4 Stanley cups during the streak. It's all about how history is written, and nobody is going to write "the red wings were eliminated first round 5 years in a row just to preserve a streak, FIRE HOLLAND" I presume the hockey books/ web pages will have something along the lines of "An impressive 30 years in a row playoff streak broken by the Red Wings in 2020. During their run they managed to win 4 stanley cups and sported legends such as Yzerman, Lidstrom, Fedorov, Hasek etc etc etc" Streak is nothing to look down upon at all. That's not to say Holland hasn't made questionable moves this summer but of course that's been discussed ad nauseam.

Are you kidding? Sakic was basically Steve Yzermans hockey doppelganger. Saying Sakic is overrated is saying Yzerman was. The fact that Brett Hull physically grabbed and sat Avery down and told him hes not allowed to talk to "Mr Sakic" shows the level of respect that guy earned. Through the whole rivalry Sakic was the only guy you couldnt hate. Pure class. As for Roy leaving

I'm sure the players take pride in the streak as well.... If the wings were to tank LGW would be irate demanding they fire Blashill/Holland Fans in general want their cake and to eat it too or... They'll just find something new to complain about You think if we were a lottery team but Mantha, AA, Bertuzzi and everyone was playing it would be all la di da... It would look really ugly with these hyped prospects looking very bad. Maybe if we had a team like that Larkin wouldn't have emerged and pretty much changed the outlook of the future We have a lot of young guys just blossoming into their NHL careers or entering their prime. I think Holland has had a good outlook on the future while ensuring they're a competitive playoff team. It's not like he's trading all our youth for vets and going all in on a bad team. The only struggle here is the kids have a lot of competition to make the team but they are definitely part of the future

Logically speaking, why would they "stop caring" once they get in the playoffs? Do you really believe that after battling for 82 games, the players/coaches/management etc. say "meh, lets just get these games over with". The streak does matter as a whole regardless of whether certain fans like it or not. It matters in terms of revenue, in matters in terms of history, and some fans legit care about it and take pride in it. Do Holland and co. sometimes make decisions that probably dont help long term due to the streak.....ya probably. But the streak is not the reason why we are not contenders. We are not contenders because of the cyclical nature of hockey. No team came be a contender for 20 plus seasons in a row.

Varlamov

But in our hearts, he was in for all 11

No lol. There's definitely players in the system that can do what Helm does. It's just that they don't get the opportunity and Blashill is too afraid to give them the chance. AA > Helm mark it. He's already a better producer than Helm is and played far less games and VERY limited ice time. He kills penalties (had a nice short handed goal), he's fast, has hands, plays with lesser linemates. Give AA the chance and he would probably do better than Helm. Helm is what? 29 years old? and still producing at a low rate while AA is 22 and already his production rate has surpassed Helm.

Well said. I am not going to sit here and say that every move Holland makes is perfect as its not. But with that being said, I believe because of Chicago and Pittsburgh, some fans think that the only way to build a winner is to completely clear house. But what people forget, is that for every Chicago or Pittsburgh out there, there is is an Atlanta/Winnipeg, Arizona, Calgary, Columbus etc. to match.

100% agree. Not to mention, if Holland can with another Stanley Cup with this crop of kids coming up, in 20 years from now people will look at Holland as legendary GM. That would be 3 generations of cup winning teams, however many years the streak ends up being, AND over a roughly 30 year period, their "low point" would be a few first round exits.

I'll remember Roy for 3 reasons...11 goals, getting his ass kicked, 7 goals.

Well I agree with your second statement to a certain extent and I've had my fair share of criticism of the off season moves. But I don't think the streak is an issue nor do I think it's that black and white. It would be ideal for management to continue the streak and at the same time to be able to make some major moves to improve things like the defense or whatever else we're lacking or are overstocked in (cough cough Howard, Ericsson).

Imagine how much better it will feel to win a cup without tanking Wings win a cup and they're right back to being the model franchise, doing things the right way. It's not like the team will never be good again. The future core is emerging right in front of us. The Wings are a few young guys having breakthrough seasons away from being a very good team All the doom and gloom around here is ridiculous. We're a doomed franchise until the end of time because the streak I think years ago when Dats and Z were good Holland sacrificed the future for trying to win with a somewhat mediocre team and I think that's why we are left with guys like Nyquist, Tatar and aging vets to lead the team. Now because of our struggles we're seeing high end prospects just starting to make the jump into the NHL. We haven't had blue chip guys like this in a very long time

Agree with everything except the four Stanley cups

I'm definitely proud of it. I'd love to see us break the record. Regardless of that though, being one of the only (or maybe the only?) team to make the post season each year since the cap era started is pretty impressive.

The second the streak and the Wings miss the playoffs is the second their goal changes from making a deep run and shot at the cup to making the playoffs.

I don't know if that was the case with Roy. His 8 years coaching in the QMHL he did pretty well. He won a Memorial cup there and that's the top achievement at that level. He was also the GM, owner, and vice president there as well. Maybe you meant Sakic? I wouldn't say that was the case either. He work his way up a la Yzerman.

Agreed. His wrist show was one of the best I have ever seen. The guy deserves every bit of praise he gets.

But it didn't.. That's what I mean. In reality, Ericsson fighting Benn in the 1st period didn't stop him from hurting Zetterberg in the 2nd period nor did it scare him away. That fight never resolved anything and it's been a year since the incident anyway. It was just an entertaining fight with absolutely nothing accomplished. That's part of what Kip's point was I believe.

May and Tootoo. Even by today's standards, Abdelkader isn't anything special. Not terrible, but not intimidating at all. Ott has never been a good fighter, but his career total of 100 NHL fighting majors tells you he doesn't mind doing it.

Sakic, overrated? Seriously? Why do fans that hate opposing teams have to hate every player on those teams? The Wings Avalanche rivalry is long over. Not a single player involved remains on either team. Why do people still hate them so much? I guess for the same reason they still hate the Penguins and Crosby... or should I say "Criesby"..... Burnaby Joe was a beast in his day and to say otherwise is flat out wrong...

Ya he played 40 games in 2010.

May was a good fighter. For whatever reason his time with us is a blur to me.