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This is the perfect example to me of how fans will twist anything against Holland. Any other GM makes a UFA signing that contributes to a cup and they are given credit, Holland does it and you say "he used Illitch's cash". Holland is not perfect by any means, but its crazy how fans will stretch reality to put him down.

Nick Jensen Hat trick Sent from my LGLS676 using Tapatalk

I agree with most of it.....Holland was not GM until July of 1997. So he did not bring them that Cup neither. I don't give him credit for 98, even though he was there as GM. In 99, I give him credit for trying to get the ever elusive triple Cup win. I believe the NHL screwed the Wings that year. I actually do not give him credit for 2002 either. Sure, he made the deals and signed the papers, but Bowman got what Bowman wanted. He built that team with Holland's signature and Mike's wallet. I give him some credit for 08. I do give him credit for listening to his scouts and inner circle. To me, Holland is not and was not anywhere near the best GM in the NHL. I thank Scotty Bowman, Jim Devellano, Bryan Murray, Steve Yzerman, Bob Probert, Sergei and the Russian 5. I also thank Shawn Burr, Dino Ciccarelli, Paul Coffey, Nick Lidstrom, Brad McCrimmon for being Nick's first nhl regular partner and teaching him the nhl game. Thank you Dominator. Thank you Patrick Roy for game 7 and making ABC look like the biased jack assess they are when they didnt give Detroit a chance and made all the news about you and still had to run all the pieces on how you've never lost a game 7, even after you were down 4-0 in the 1st. Thank you Holmer. Thank you KFC for many,MANY early nineties nights of Hot Wings and Red Wings. Thank you Stash, for my 27th b-day gift of a little old hockey game on March 26th, 1997. To quote him, after the goalie brawl, "I don't even care if they lose, this is the best game I've ever been to in my life!" If any of you were there live with us, I'm sure you totally concur with his statement...but hey, they even won. My God, where has the time gone?

As reality begins to set in across Red Wing land that this season is most likely the end of the playoff streak (barring an unlikely miraculous turnaround). I just want to say thanks to what the Red Wings have personally provided me over the past 20+ years. My earliest memories of watching the Wings are from 23 years ago watching the 1993 / 1994 season with my Dad. That of course was the year the Wings lost in in the first round in seven games to the San Jose Sharks. As a 9 year old boy, my feeble mind could simply not understand how a first seed could lose to the lowly Sharks. That was followed by a devastating lost to the Devils in the Stanley Cup Finals which was equally devastating for me. But good things were soon to follow and that has led to a lifelong passion of all things Red Wings. I want to personally thank the following: Illitch's - thanks for being great hockey owners and supporting the team throughout the years Holland - While I think its time to move on, Its incredible the success you were able to bring this organization since 1997 including 3 cups (2 if you don't give him any credit for the '98 win). Classy players who were World Class - Yzerman, Datsyuk, Lidstrom, Zetterberg...thanks for all the sacrifices you made over the years and for being such classy players who always gave it their all. Joe Louis Arena - A great Arena with many personal memories. You will be missed. Babcock - I think he is one of the greatest coaches of all time and is a big reason why the Wings stayed as perennially contenders well into the cap era. Mickey Redmond - Since I was 9 years old, I've listened to Mickey night in and night out. Please never retire! Four Cups - Four cups in 23 years of watching in a league of 30 teams and increasing parity in the later years...incredible stuff! The road ahead may be tough for a while, but I'll stick by these Wings. I believe that brighter days will once again return to this iconic original six franchise. It may take longer than we all would like, but I recognize how spoiled I have been as a Wings fan and am truly lucky to have identified with them for as long as I have. THANK YOU!!!

It was a hall of fame team, but lets be honest we are not talking all those players during their prime. Either way, I am not saying that money had nothing to do with it as that would be stupid on my part, having money to spend will always be a factor. But money does not equal success as it takes the right players being put in the right system. Just look at the NYR of the early 2000's, a payroll I believe close the Wings but with zero success. Anyone remember the famous Lindros-Fleury-Bure line lol. I just hate the blind hate of Holland. When people make excuses to give him zero credit, I find it sad. No one person is 100% responsible for any cup, but what some on here do is try to strip him of credit of all of them. If you really look at it, while not as a GM obviously, but as a head of scouting the guy played a big part in putting the 1997 team together, the 1998 team while he didnt put it together as the GM, he made some minor moves that did work. 2002 had more of his fingerprints, and 2008 from a GM standpoint was on him. I just find it hypocritical how people will give Holland zero credit for his '98 and '02 cup wins, but then give Stan Bowman 100% credit for his 3 even though Dick Tallon is the one who acquired Keith, Seabrook, Kane and Towes. Or they will give Yzerman 100% credit for Tampa's success even though he took over a team already having a strong core with Stamkos and Hedman. I would never sit here and say that Ken Holland is the #1 reason for the Wings success, he was a part of a great organization who dominated this league for almost 25 years. Though to say he had nothing to do with it, is just going to an extreme due to current frustration.

All I want for Christmas is Red Wings run in the playoffs again.

Or just do the obvious and let the other half of the tandem, Mrazek, play. Considering how well he did last time Howard was injured and all. All the gloom and doom so far about Howard being injured (again) is nothing but overreacting. It sucks this happened to him when he's having a huge turnaround year (and building trade value), but injuries are a yearly thing with him. Mrazek will be good to go. Coreau isn't ready for anything but a game here and there. Looking forward to see him play again though.

I didn't think that this week would mean much for our chances, but Green and Howard's injuries have kind of changed the outlook, i think. I hate to say it, but I could see the possibility of things getting out of hand. They've been 2 of our best players this year and we've already been struggling with them. Time for players like Larkin, Mrazek, AA, Nyquist, Tatar etc. to step up big time or it could get rough. Blashill, of course, needs to slot AA in a better spot and switch Glendening to get the lines in better order so that this can happen. On the bright side, we are playing a whole lot of young players now and it could be a good trial for them, if you're thinking about the long run.

Heavy hit to the playoff chances, in my opinion.

Two 2017 draft threads?!?

YOU BASTARD!!!

http://www.hockeyfeed.com/nhl-news/breaking-horrible-news-for-jimmy-howard-after-a-great-start-to-the-season?ref=jo I am sure Jensen feels like crap today, it was an accident.. but hey, how about not tackling opponents on top of our goalie? OMG, you killed Jimmy!!!

If he doesn't get his game on track both will be gone or traded. Right now there really can't too many untouchables outside of Larkin, Mantha, Dekeyser and maybe AA.

The Wings have at least had some chances around the net, which is reassuring. They just don't have that killer instinct to do what needs to be done when they get a scoring opportunity. If Nyquist one-times that shot instead of settling it and skating in a little closer he had a wide open net for that brief moment. Someone with that killer instinct would attempt the one-timer even if it was a poor pass. Instead Nyquist played it safe, which I think has been the Wings' mantra for offense this year, much to their demise.

I like those lines, besides Larkin and AA having to play with the bottom of the roster. Why not roll Larkin-AA-Jurco, then Ott-Sheahan-Glendening? Hopefully Jimmy has a solid game after his past two starts.

Hey look, if we make the playoffs, then fantastic. But this is the first time in the entirety of my Red Wing watching career that I don't have any confidence that they will make it. And as I've posted elsewhere, I think keeping the streak going has in many ways hurt management's desire or ability to make necessary changes in the name of keeping the streak alive...so if they do end up missing the playoffs (as I suspect they will), it may end up being a long run positive.

I think Larkin and Mrazek have the greatest potential to become elite. I notice that everyone seems to have cooled off on Mrazek after this year's performance, but I really don't think he's been bad and still has the really high potential that seemed to be a consensus before this season. As for Larkin's potential vs. Mantha and AA, I really like the other two - and AA especially - , but I think it's easy to forget that Larkin's 20 and 2 years younger. Really don't think we'll ever see Frk on the team or in the NHL elsewhere.

Larkin should be a top line center. Mantha could be about as good as Franzen, meaning he'll score 25 goals a year and people will still hate him because he doesn't play like Shanahan. I like AA for his speed and ability to disrupt games, but he needs to get a coach who doesn't bench him for a bad period. I think he's always going to be kind of a risk/reward type. I think most of the rest of the guys who have been pro before this season are most likely bottom half of the roster guys at best, many of them will never be regular NHL players. Svechnikov might be a top 6 guy. Cholowski who knows. Frk isn't an NHL player.

duh it's reverse psychology like complimenting a goalie on a shutout jinxes him. Thanking the Wings for the past flips the karma switch and they make the playoffs. If the karma switch doesn't flip then it's still a nice thought. So win/win

to be honest, i read "A Big Thanks!" and thought this was going to be a sarcastic post with how toxic wings fandom has been this season. This was a refreshing change of pace; thank you for that. and I'll always stick with the wings as well. Cheers!

I dont think a good team in 2016 has Frk on 3rd line and Russo in the top 4. Frk will likely never get there, and Russo is just not ready from all reports I have read.

Really looking forward to seeing how Givani Smith develops.

Positive posts are not allowed. THREAD LOCKED .....not really.

Screw 7th. If you are not going to make the playoffs you are better up just sucking it up and getting a top 3.

Neither am I, and I actually wouldn't be too upset with it tbh. I think a bad finish will finally tell KH that he can't get by with mediocre band aids to try and sneak into the playoffs, and instead that it's time for a few changes. I do fear however that if KH does a Dombrowski and sells off a few pending FA's for prospects he'll get fired by the Illitch crew and thus he won't do anything even if we're out of a playoff spot in february... Maybe chance for a new era, what with moving to LCA next year.