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For those that like to s*** on Cleary and / or Holland for keeping him around for so long, maybe you should read / listen to some of the interviews by Holland, Martin, or Cleary himself over the past week or so. It's very clear that he's doing a great job with the kids in Grand Rapids, in particular, Bertuzzi. I think Cleary may be a big factor in Bert's success thus far. Like him or not, Cleary is a stand up guy, with an unbelievable work ethic, and if that rubs off on any of the prospects, even a little bit, he's well worth yet another contract. The kids love and respect the guy, and rightfully so. Keep up the good work in GR Cleary, even if most of what you do down there is off the ice...

Make Red Wings Great Again

Seriously this site looks like it's the myspace site of a 12 old to quote Sheldon Cooper. As if the redesign of nhl.com wasn't bad enough now the official site has to follow that mess? I mean I've accepted that the video player became worse with each re-design but now even the normal site is barely readable, as bad as TSN's redesign is nhl.com is much worse. Seriously sooooo much wasted white space, the fonts are way too big and therefore wasting so much useless space. The old one wasn't great but much better than this bulls***. I've completely stopped going to nhl.com now I can't even find the things I'm looking for at the official Wings site great way to start this f****** season, f*** you nhl.com for ruining yet another site. Whoever decided having a "responsbile" (i.e. cheap looking, slow and not well designed), site for mobile and desktop deserves to experiencee that crap live way too destroy webdesign, screw this s***.

The long term deals he's given to Helm, Abdelkader, Glendening and Nielsen, along with blocking the spots that should be open for Mantha and AA, pretty much guarantees that the best the Wings will do for the next 3 or 4 years is hover around the 7-8 seed. Rebuilding teams don't usually sign middling vets to 4+ year contracts that pay too much money.

Fans can't see the direction the team is heading. Their frustration doesn't allow them to perceive things objectively. The rebuild is happening right in front of us. As of now I think we have two great pieces in Larkin and Mrazek- potential core players of the future.

So I guess we are debating the re-build lol. Doing the same things over and over again when you have had great success, is hard to argue against. The last time Holland did a re-build on the fly was when he had to transition from Yzerman, Shanny, Hull, Luc, Hasek, Fedorov, Larionov and others, and Holland did it successfully and won a Stanley Cup, almost 2. This time, he is doing the same thing, but in a completely different system (ie. cap) which means you cannot do it as fast and it must be more youth based due to the cap. Here is our top 20 that played most nights (12 Forwards, 6 D, 2 Goalies) in 2012, I will bold anyone who is no longer in our projected top 18 for 2016/17: Cleary, Datsyuk, Franzen, Filppula, Zetterberg, Hudler, Miller, Abby, Bertuzzi, Helm, Emmerton, Holmstrom, Lidstrom, White, Kronwall, Stuart, Quincey, E, Howard, Conklin Assuming E and Miller get a starting spot (which is not a given), we have gotten rid of 13 guys. HUGE amount of turnover in just 4 years. On our roster now we have Larkin, Mrazek, AA, Mantha?, Nyquist, Tatar, Sheahan, DD, Marchenko, with Jurco, Pulk, XO, and Sproul trying to break into the lineup and alot of top prospects in the minors led by Svechnikov and Mantha? in the waiting. Without a question, Holland is re-building. Now, whether or not it is successful remains to be seen. When the mandate from ownership is to keep your streak alive (dont kid yourself, Mr. I cares about this streak, it's his legacy), but you also have to re-build, that isn't the easiest task out there. I will say though, it can be a very efficient way of going about it as creating a culture of losing can be an awful thing (ask any Lions fan about this). You talk about Edmonton, Buffalo, Toronto, Winnipeg, Florida and the Isles, but how much success has actually been obtained by any of these teams with their tank jobs? Who cares about message board/media hype, what matters is results on the ice. Edmonton has been a joke of a franchise since 2006, how many #1 overall picks and top #5 picks have they had and they still have not gotten into the playoffs. McDavid does appear to be on a different level, but if anyone could screw him up, it would be them. Buffalo has done nothing and have not made the playoffs in years, I think you over-hype Eichel a bit and put wayyyy to much pressure on the kid. Florida got in last year at a high seed, but were bounced early and until they can show consistency, I have a hard time seeing their transition as a success. Toronto and Winnipeg have done nothing, and while the Isles have been consistent in the regular season that past few years, have won 1 playoff series since 1993! I cant see how the Isles can be looked at in a higher light then Wings right now. The only thing the Isles have done that the Wings have not, is they got a #1 pick who they may lose in a year or two. Now dont misinterpret me, I am not saying all of these teams are failing or are going to fail, what I am saying is that the teams you listed have not accomplished anymore then the Wings with their re-build. I know you only think a player can be great if he was taken top 5, but there is no reason not to think that Larkin will not be our #1 centre as like I have showed before, statistically speaking he is at the same level as Eichel. Either way, we are going in circles. You want the Wings to get a top 5 pick and to bottom out, I do not. The only way to see if this re-build is working is to give it time. I hope you can see this. On a side note, Cleary was mentioned in my post

I love when our best players happen to be North American, but I'm not going to target players solely on their Nationality. I personally don't care if a player is Canadian, American, Swedish, Russian, Slovak, or white, black or purple. If they're helping the Wings win games, who gives a s***?...

Rather then go for a Canadian d-man or a Michigan d-man etc. Lets just try to get a D-man who has the skill set that what we need regardless of where he was born.

Yeah, I think Jensen would clear waivers for sure. Sproul and Ouellet on the other hand, both would likely be claimed. I agree though that both will be with the team to start the season because I doubt Kronwall will be ready to go by then. I'm hoping Sproul gets a good long look. If I'm picking one of the two, it's Sproul for sure. Ouellet is the safer option, but Sproul has the much higher upside.

I would be absolutely shocked if Jensen made the team. I think XO and Sproul are both her though come opening night.

I'd love another look at Sproul. I remember him looking great that one game a couple years back against the Blues. Big guy that skates and hits like a truck. Huge slapper too.

... And we're back?

It's never a good thing to have injuries, but I think Ericsson's hip and Kronwall's knee might be a blessing in disguise. Hear me out here... Ericsson on his best day is a solid #5 big bodied penalty killer. But on his worst day, he's a turnover machine whose breakout pass isn't the same since his hand injury a few years ago. Kronwall, up until last year, did as good a job as a career #2D could do filling in as a #1. But injuries killed him last year, and in both of these cases their injuries don't seem like they can be fixed for sure by surgery. Now, why this could be a blessing in disguise. Since Kenny won't make a trade, because he doesn't make trades, I'd like to see Ouellet and Sproul get chances this season. Ouellet has looked NHL ready since 2013-2014 when he played against Boston in the playoffs, and has had tons of games since. Just like Marchenko, I feel when he gets a real chance he won't give it up. I think he could be a solid #4 guy, I really do. And Sproul, I've always believed has untapped potential. He's 6'4, can skate, can move the puck and has been improving in his own zone every year. We won't contend for the cup with the defence we have right now, so I'd rather these "overripe" guys get a chance. I don't want to lose either of them to keep Ericsson, or a broken down Kronwall. Those guys can be put on IR if need be, and we can get looks at two second round picks who deserve a chance.

My ideal lineup with the guys we have: Z-Neilsen-Vanek Tatar-Larkin-Abby Nyquist-AA-Mantha Glendening-Helm-Sheahan Jurco Frk Callahan or Bertuzzi as first call ups if a fourth liner gets hurt. Jurco and Frk draw in with Mantha if he struggles and/or there's an injury to a top 9 winger and either Mantha or Nyquist need to move up.

Found on Erica Ott's twitter page @EricaRene4 Steve Ott's 8th grade "ideal self" poster he made up. This is why he is an honorary member of the Michigan Mafia. Got to love him!

Yes, Cleary did spend some time on IR last season and if he does get another deal and again plays in Grand Rapids, I would expect a similar number of games / production again. He's a great mentor for the kids and they all love him down there. I'd personally like to see him spend another season down there helping out the kids on and off the ice. So, no it's not because he was horrible. It's really pissing me off how much disdain some fans are getting over such a great guy, that gave this organization so much over the years. Sure, he stayed a year or two too long, but is that on him? No. LeftWinger, what's going on with you? I mean you're at least somewhat bearable during the season, but every offseason it's the same old s*** with you. Nothing but doom and gloom, every post is worse than the previous. Relax man, the season starts soon...