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Agree with most of what you said, I think you are too hard on Abby as a player, but I wont defend the 7 years. Two things I would challenge. First would be the the Helm comment, in that I do agree given our team we should have let him walk, but I do not think we would have found someone almost as good for a lot less. We likely would have found someone not as good for a lot less, unless you are simply evaluating Helm based on his scoring. If you mean solely scoring, then I agree. The second is the DD signing. In today's NHL, and on our team especially top 4 D men are very hard to find, and I think we had to lock DD up. I agree his season last year was not the great, but with a solid partner on the second pairing, his 5mil cap hit would be ok (not great, but ok).

Zetterberg, Abdelkader, Helm, Nielsen, Ericsson, Kronwall, Dekeyeser, Howard, Mrazek, Franzen, Daley all are on the books for over $3 mil this year. Weiss is still on the books as a buy out, $2.6 mil this year and $1.667 mil for the next three years. Glendening is getting double what he should be. I have a hard time crapping on Holland for any of these. At the time they were signed they were reasonable. Zetterberg: Great deal when he signed it, the retroactive punishment for violating the spirit of the CBA makes this potentially hurt. Franzen: Ditto. Ericsson: Probably would have gotten at least that contract and maybe more on the market. Injuries and an apparent fear of getting hurt again have turned him from a solid player into a waste of space. Kronwall: Was a legit #1 D, although not elite. Very good deal until his knee fell apart. Howard:Was paid like an average starting goalie, which he is. When he's healthy and confident, he's one of the better goalies in the league. Problem is, half the time he's hurt or is fighting the puck and is terrible. Mrazek: Looked like he was on track to be a legit #1, until he as named the #1. Apparent entitled attitude and refusal to listen to coaches about what his weaknesses were combined with the rest of the NHL figuring out said weaknesses led to him being one of the worst goalies in the league last year. Looks like the team has soured on him and it may take a small miracle for him to stay after this year. Weiss: They lost Filpulla, needed a #2 center, and the wrist injury he dealt with the year before was healed. Then he hurt his groin, didn't say anything and made it worse, lost Babcock's confidence, and was a complete disaster. The rest of these deals were terrible from day 1. Daley: In a vacuum it's not a bad deal. Given where the Wings are now, it was dumb. Abdelkader: Took a grinder who had never scored much until he played with Datsyuk and Zetterberg for a year and rewarded him with a 7 year deal a year before he was set to be a free agent when he was starting to get close to the age players like him start slowing down. What could go wrong with that? I said the day he signed it he'd never score 20 goals in a season again, and it looks like I'm going to be right. Helm: "Best 3rd line center in the league" gets moved to a scoring line, does nothing, still gets a 5 year deal for too much money. Could have found someone almost as good for a lot less. Dekeyser: Holland jumped the gun and paid him like was was 100% to continue to improve. Was exposed when he was forced to play against better competition. Glendening: Double the $ and term of what he should get. The ultimate replaceable player who has little talent and gets by on hard work, basically a faster Matt Ellis. Should have spent his career on a series of one and two year deals for near league minimum. Nielsen: Aging center who put up the numbers he did because of who he played with as much as because of what he was. He's only going to continue to decline. Desperation signing, too long, too much money, and at a time when they should have been going with a youth movement. Arguable the worst of the bunch, even looking at the others in hind sight.

It's hard to not be super optimistic in the off season. One surprise breakout season from a player could change the outlook of the teams future very quickly

Mrazek never stole anything from Howard, it was a generous gift and he, at the end, lost it anyway. I hope we trade him during the season, if we cannot get anything of a real value in return, just get a couple cheerleader girls from Prague. For Tigers games, not for Red Wings'.

We are stacked at Wing, we needed a Center. Sure I would have taken Vilardi, but I wouldnt have chosen Tippet and I dont think many else other then you would have either.

Sorry but I call BS. Holland didnt give Tatar what he did out of "loyalty". They went to arbitration and gave him that because if he didnt Tatar was going to walk after a year. Tatar could have easily gotten paid the same from another team. Abby and Helm were UFA's, Sheary is an RFA. It is common knowledge that UFA's are paid more then RFA's with all things being equal. Plus, players that play for contenders are more likely to take a discount. Helm was paid what he was because the market dictated it, and Holland didnt want to lose him. Abby was paid what he was because Holland thought he was worth it, and again didnt want to lose him. Given Abby's production at the time, the cap is not horrible, the term is. The term was just a bad part of that contract. Blaming "loyalty" for bad contracts is just BS, as like I said earlier just look at the Nielsen contract, its just as bad if not worse then Abby's. No loyalty there, just bad cap management.

I feel this is a major misconception of moving in a different direction. You don't HAVE to get rid of every big contract in order to re-build. Look at the Leafs, they got rid of Kessel (retained 1.2mil), Pheneuf, and Clarkson plus some no name guys, kept guys like JVR, Bozak, Komarov, Lupol, Kadri etc. bottomed out got Matthews, signed a new coach and are now considered one of the best up and coming teams in the league. If we were to bottom out this year and get a franchise player like Matthews, get a new coach, trade just a couple contracts (say Nielsen/Helm), trade E and retain salary, trade Green at deadline, and put Kronwall on LTIR (if his knees call for it) and not re-sign him then in 1 to 2 years from now we look like a completely different team. Not saying this will happen, but its not like we are the Tigers stuck with massive ridiculous contracts.

Can we please stop it with the BS "loyalty" is a bad thing narrative? Loyalty is not our issue, it is a strength, players do appreciate this and do take this into consideration when deciding where to sign. Holland did not sign Abby to a 7 year deal because he is too "loyal". The only player I can think of that was signed purely due to "loyalty" is probably Cleary a few years back. Holland signed Abby because he legitimately believes he is worth that contract or because he was scared to lose him (same for Helm, Glendenning etc.). Was the Nieslen contract due to "loyalty"? Of course not, but its still just as bad if not worse then the one's above. If you want to criticize Holland for some of the contacts he has given out, "loyalty" is not the problem, if anything the problem is his inability to let vets walk and rely on the kids. For the most part, this has always been Holland's mentality, the difference now is that our vets can't carry us like they used to and the cap. If pre-cap Holland overpaid a vet, it really didn't matter as he could just sign a better player later, or make a trade and increase payroll (ie. Lang). Though I do believe that Larkin making this team 2 years ago does represent a changing of the thought process here. Hopefully it continues, because relying on vets when you are a team near the bottom just doesn't make sense, its not 2002 anymore.

No, but makes sense. The two most upset fan-bases right now. I travel to Vancouver quite a bit for work, and about mid-season the narrative I got from fans was "At least we have Tryamkin". I had a hearty LOL when it was announced that he's returning to the KHL. Hopefully we don't get that bad.

Holland doesn't seem to get it. Either he really believes the BS he spews, or he thinks that it's what fans want to hear. Either way he's off his rocker. Most knowledgeable fans I've talked with understand that there's a difference between the recent Wings teams and the teams that made runs as low seeds, and that signing a player approaching 30 (or is past it) or a grinder to a long term deal is a bad move. And that's exactly how Kenny has been doing business lately.