Shaman

Sheahan is being converted to the wing because he's not showing any ability to be anything but a meh center. Larkin is young and they aren't trusting him to be a center (whenever he takes a draw he has either Z or Glendening out with him, usually the latter which kills any offense the line could produce). That leaves Z-Pav-Helm-Glendening down the middle.Not really a great middle of the offense, especially since Z and Dats play together half of the games (home games) by all indications. As for prospects, AA looks to be a Helm replacement. His numbers in the AHL/CHL have mirrored Helm's almost perfectly.

It's not a patch. It's the better part of decade of being irrelevant as a team.

Don't blame Blash for the fact this team is lacking center and defensive depth. Don't blame Blash for 7+ years of Holland Complacency.

Nyquist and Tatar are nice wingers, but aside from Larkin, who isn't ready to be the main driver of a first line, who will replace Datsyuk and Zetterberg? If anything has become clear, the team doesn't have any center depth and it's leading to this team being dominated night in and out. When Yzerman et al were on the verge of retirement Zetterberg and Datsyuk already had 4-5 years in the league. Larkin, if we are lucky will have 2-3, and that's just one center. Defense? This team hasn't had a #1 since Lidstrom.

First, over half of teams make the playoffs. Second, GMs on a rebuilding team may be better than a team that is limping into the playoffs year after year and getting bounced early. No one is questioning his ability to facilitate scouting of forwards, but for the last 8 years the team has been in a downward spiral with no signs of reversing. What has Holland done since 2010 to make this team take the step from bubble team/first round fodder to make them a legit contender?

First Holland is in the bottom half of GMs in the last 5 years. Too many defenders use his past to defend him, but in sports yesterday is meaningless. It's today that counts. We have to ask ourselves today is this team likely to contend for a cup? And if not are they likely to in the near future (next 5 years). The answer to both of these questions so far is a resounding NO. The team lacks a lot of pieces that are necessary to compete for a cup, and the pieces they have are either getting close to retirement age (Kronwall, Datsyuk, Zetterberg), or are too young to make an impact big enough to replace those who will retire. This is made worse by the fact that Holland has overpaid for replaceable players, which teams like Chicago have shown are exactly the type you can flip for younger cheaper players. Until Holland does anything to show he's fallen into bubble team complacency he is a mediocre GM as it stands today.

Not with the Canadian dollar so weak and continuing to weaken. It's more likely the cap will drop significantly over the next 5 years than it is that it will rise significantly.

Abdelkader has had one season of scoring, while playing with future hall of famers, of top 6 scoring. Holland is going to give him 7 years of 4+ million? This just proves the terrible complacency Holland and this organization has found itself in. This makes the team less able to make moves for the elite defender they terribly need, and with Howard and Franzen still on the books for the foreseeable future free agents won't be coming here.

Anything over 4 million makes him Clarkson level bust potential. If Holland actually cares about making this team a contender he lets Abs walk at a dime over 4 million.

Yeah, it wasn't like going into his draft year Pulks wasn't rated a top 10 skater until an injury. And it's not like most trades that Holland nixed in the last year involved pulkks.

Svechnikov's goal was pretty great. A lot of good things on that play. Him and Larkin go to the dirty areas, they don't give up on the play, and Svech doesn't over think and shoots when he has the open net.

73 points at 22-23, and he's not even in his prime.

1.37 this year a shade over 2 next year and then 4 years under 2 million.

Well, premium tickets usually are season ticket holders anyway.

Pulkks is carrying the Griffins tonight.

I would be call them competitive if they were contenders most years. The trend lately is they are first round fodder, with a chance they may eek into the 2nd round. Not really what I call competitive.

Holland is too safe. In the cap era you have to take risks, and he is risk adverse. I think this is reflective of the fact he is safe in his job, so long as he sails the ship of mediocrity he is safe. Why take risks to win a cup when he can keep his job just ekking in the playoffs and getting bounced early? This team needs new blood, young kids, bold moves and swinging for the fences!

I was talking about Games 2-4 for Datsyuk. And if you think Detroit controlled the game after the 2nd goal they scored you were watching a completely different game. I saw a Tampa team on full court press taking shots with reckless abandon on Mrazek. Detroit was on its heels for almost half the game, they went into curse control and that's why they lost. But I will agree with one thing: Mrazek has pretty much run Howard out of town so far. He has been why this series is 2-2 not 4-0. If the Wings had any chance at the cup he would be the only choice for Conn Symthe.

It's funny people actually believe this. He's only the biggest factor because the rest of the team has looked like hot garbage most of the time. Datsyuk looks lost, Z looks old, Helm has been a non-factor, Nyquist has one goal and not much else to show, Tatar has been pretty much a missing person and the defense, well lets not even get started on them. The loss was not because of Glendening getting injured. They would have lost had he not. They lost because they spent just about every moment after they scored the second goal on their heels. Tampa controlled play and they scored 3 straight goals. It's that simple.

Eva was Hudler.

Pulkk will surpass both of them in the next weeks, setting a record for most goalies killed.

Jurco is an offensive blackhole, Pulkks>Jurco

Anything within 250 miles of NYC is NYC. Look at the Giants in the NFL, they are in Jersey and that's still New York.

Lana: What's your third biggest fear? Archer: Brain aneurysm. Lana: What's a brain aneurysm have to do with walking around in a swamp? Archer: Nothing, it can happen anywhere at anytime, that's what makes it so terrifying.