Shaman

I think they are just reposting last years article with a new title and a few amendments. Seriously, they have been saying this since they lost Hossa, Homer and Rafalski...

I see a team that went from in the course of 5 years, being one of the safest bets to be a presidents cup and Stanley Cup winner to being a team that analysts can make a case for them missing the playoffs, or being first round fodder. Barely making the playoffs, then being bounced in 5 games isn't success, it's mediocrity. I am tired of it, I am tired of watching Holland every year putting together a team then blaming the fates for it failing. For the last three years it's been 'well if only X would have or wouldn't have happened...' and 'You just need to make the dance then anything can happen', it's starting to become plainly obvious the problem isn't luck, it's philosophy and it needs to change soon, or they will have multiple seasons where they don't make the dance. The Wings are not immune to the same ills that plague other teams, and I really don't want them to become like the Flames or Predators.

The problem is this literally applies to everything that is said on here. Also you remind me a lot of Helen St James. This is not a good thing.

Or I can join a forum and talk about it.

What crow? This team's core is a year older, Howard looked like s*** for most of the season, the defense was exposed as suspect. Unless there are major changes this team will continue to be a bubble team. This is doubly true when you have Holland and Babcock trying to build two different teams. Kronwall will be 34 during next season Datsyuk will be 36 Zetterberg will be 34 Franzen will be 35 Weiss will be 32 If brought back: Bertuzzi will be 40 Alfie will be 42 Aside from Bertuzzi these are the core of the team, and they are all getting older. Nyquist and Tatar realistically will slot in as the new Hudler and Filppula in terms of production. Good to have but neither are realistic replacements for Datsyuk or Zetterberg in terms of production. Jurco and Pullkinen both are wild cards, both have a lot of talent. Mantha is the only blue chip forward prospect they have and still has a couple question marks next to his name. This team is dangerously thin on center in the farm, and defense drops off quickly after Ouellet and Sproul. So unless Detroit finds at least 1 center to replace Datsyuk/Zetterberg within the next three seasons, the team is in a lot of trouble. And they still haven't replaced Lidstrom, Rafalski, or Stuart on defense yet.

And people who make mudpies thing they have value. It doesn't matter what they think, they are selling a product. I go to multiple games a year, buy their merchandise, watch their broadcasts. I am their customer and their product is fast becoming s***.

You do realize that 20 year playoff streaks have happened 7 times in NHL history, right? It's not that special. And the Illitchs seem to be more concerned with the Tigers, as for Holland, his motto lately has been 'If you can't be successful, redefine what success is'. It use to be a season was a waste if they weren't making the conference finals, then it was a waste if they weren't contenders at least, now it's a waste if they don't eek into the playoffs.

No it's not, outside of Mantha there is no player that has a good chance or replacing Datsyuk or Zetterberg's production. Detroit is thin at center, and goaltending and they are still a little thin on blue chip defense prospects, Sproul and Ouellet both project to be top 4, but neither slot in as a #1. Calgary in 2008 was stronger than Detroit is today on defense and goaltending and defense. As for their prospect pool then compared to ours, I would say ours is only slightly stronger, and if Holland pulls another Legwand it will become a wash.

Lets see when this period began around 2008, their top three forwards were younger than Datsyuk, Zetterberg and Alfie. They also had Bouwmeester, Phaneuf, Rene Bourque, etc who are all younger as as talented as analogous players on Detroit. And their prospect pool wasn't bad, it was full of the same type of players ours is currently full of: Boom/Bust prospects and few blue chip guys. The blue chip prospects they did have they would trade at the deadline for that 'one last piece' to get them into the dance. Sounds a lot like Detroit, doesn't it?

It seems you know nothing about Calgary then. Their 'core' were pretty young, their oldest core player was Kipper for a lot of years.

So tanking a season to get a player that projects to be the best player this team has had at forward since Yzerman with nearly a decade of team control is a joke? I mean I am not sure if you realize this, but this team is becoming the new Calgary Flames. perennial bubble team and that is the biggest joke of all.

The streak is a joke. Over half the teams in the NHL make the playoffs (about 54% of teams), this isn't like the Atlanta Brave's streak of 14 years where one team per division makes the playoffs plus one wild card (26% of teams). I really don't get why people are so up their own asses about it.

Plans for next season: Tank, tank hard, tank fast. Get the first overall and draft McDavid. 2015 team: Zetterberg-McDavid (ELC)-Mantha (ELC) Pulkkinen (ELC)-Datsyuk-Nyquist Tatar-Sheahan (ELC)-Jurco (ELC) Abdelkader-Helm- Callahan (ELC) Use the savings on cheap, young, extremely talented forwards on a couple defensemen. Tell me that isn't sexy as hell?

Think he'll re-sign? I think Babcock burying him on the fourth line was a huge middle finger to him.

If you mean by their game soft as marshmallows? Then yes, he plays their game.

Yeah, a guy who had a .25 ppg will be the spark plug this team needs

Call up Jarnkrok, he's been great.... Oh wait. Seriously though this team can not win with players like Helm, Abdelkader, Bertuzzi, Franzen, etc occupying top line spots. Helm and Abby are both good players, but Babcock has been trying to use them in roles they don't have the talent to fill. As for Bertuzzi and Franzen? Package them for a 7th and a bag of pucks and hope that the other GM doesn't figure out he got fleeced.

Dear Babcock: Remember those lines that you had when the Wings were pretty much unbeatable? Yeah those would be great about now. Love, Wings Nation.

The refs blow by nature though.

The problem is the actual hit was clean.

The top line is a trainwreck.

The term 'if things go well' tends to tell me that the optimistic prognosis is second round. Also that assumes this team can get to the late first round.

To directly quote Zetterberg: This seems like the optimistic view is that he will start round 2.

According to Redwings.com he's ruled out a round 1 return.

Epic bump from the past is epic.