xtrememachine1

Yeah, that's the part that sucks for me. Everytime I see the Wings, its versus the Pens. Ugh...

Meanwhile, I'll be at the game. lol Yeah, not a great lineup, but like you said, Hirose and Seider will be interesting. I checked the Pens site, Crosby, Malkin, Letang for tonight... wonderful

I'll say no to that. We do lack defense, but we also lack goal scoring. AA is a 30 goal scorer and Bouchard is an unknown at the NHL level. However, just imagine AA on McDavid's line, good Lord.

I'm hoping the Canes win, but I just can't see Boston losing 4 out of 7 times to these "jerks".

While part of me doesn't want to give up on Ras, another part of me really wanted Bouchard last year before Zadina fell to us. Its the 2nd round pick this year, that makes me a little hesitant. I hate to give up high picks when rebuilding even if it is from SJ.

Wow! Wasn't it like a month ago he was saying he loves being a Red Wing and he'll be the GM until he isn't. A lot has happened in a month eh? Good for Holland though. It should be interesting to see if he can turn Edmonton into a winner. He has a great piece in McDavid to build around, but will he be able to build around him. He could either be the guy that turns McDavid into a Stanley Cup champion or the guy that trades McDavid to a contender. I doubt the latter would happen within the time frame of this contract, but McDavid isn't going to go Cup-less for his entire career.

LOL its comforting to know I'm not the only one that remembers and is still pissed off about that.

I hope no one is expecting big moves from Stevie this offseason. He's going to make moves that benefit a rebuild. No big FA splashes, at least not until we get closer to being a Cup contender. No signing aging veterans to 3+ years deals that eat up cap space. We're right up against the cap right now and we're the 4th worst team in the league (record wise). I think Stevie's first order of business is to going to be get the salary cap situation under control. Mantha and AA are up for renewal after next year and they'll want way more than what they're getting now.

That's typically how it goes. If you finish early, you get rest. If you go 7, you get one day off and then the next round starts.

Living in Pittsburgh, I get this a lot too. There wasn't as many teams, you didn't need as many wins, etc. While that is true, its also true that with less teams, there was more talent on each team. The Habs and Leafs won so many Cups because they were loaded with future Hall of Famers. They were extremely difficult to beat period, let alone in a best of seven series. While the Wings had great players during those days as well, it doesn't take away how difficult it was to knock off a superstar loaded team back then. Meanwhile, you look at, for example, the Penguins, a team loaded with stars, winning the Cup against the Predators, the only 16th seed in NHL history to qualify for the Finals. Beating some scrub team that lucked their way into the Finals counts but beating a team of Hall of Famers doesn't?

He did fall into a good situation with Stamkos and had some pretty good vets in Vinny and St Louis. But Hedman had just been drafted the year before, so he was pretty raw and Yzerman had to make sure he got the right staff to make best use of his talents. Then he went on to draft Kucherov, Vasilevskiy, Drouin and Brayden Point. He also made a number of good trades while he was there. So its not like he walked into a situation where the team was already stacked with talent, a Cup contender and he was just there for the ride.

I was thinking the same thing. They knew Stevie was going to be the new GM, so they had to have consulted with him about keeping Blashill. No way they sign him to an extension without Yzerman's consent.

I double and triple checked to make sure this wasn't a joke this morning. I had a really strong feeling this was going to happen, but still I'm pretty excited!

Dating back to last year with Washington, Barry Trotz is on a 6 game postseason win streak against Pittsburgh. He figured out something about them.

Well it seems like Lightning fans are taking this well. Coming off a 62 win season, ripping apart the team seems a little premature. I mean, look at all the seasons the Wings were like that and then suddenly won back to back Cups. Stuff happens. They still have a lot of talent, but they might be right about the coaching. The Bolts were up 3-0 in the first period of Game 1, look to be in complete control and then ended up losing the game at home. They never recovered after that. I don't know if its lack of adjustments to the gameplan or just lack of leadership from the coach to get his team's head back in the game after a tough loss like that, but I would put this loss on Cooper. Losing in the first round after a 62 win season is one thing, getting SWEPT in the first round after a 62 win season is another. I'm sad for the Bolts, they were the only team I even remotely cared about in these playoffs because of Stevie. However, on the bright side, he can get ready for his return to the Red Wings earlier now.

Thanks! Looking back at the box score, it must have been the 2nd intermission. I remember the Wings scoring a bunch of goals and she told me later because I was "too wound up" to be told at that moment. lol

Great post! When I saw the title I was like "Jamie McLennan? Oh eff that guy!" lol I remember that game very well. My wife told me she was pregnant with our son during the first intermission. I'm glad he's a cool guy. That's great news about Yzerman though. Having him back in Hockeytown would be so great! I kind of gave up on the idea after Blashill got resigned because typically new GMs come in and pick their own coach, but maybe it was his idea to keep Blash. If he does become our new GM, I'm guessing Holland will do what Stevie did this past year and become an advisor.

The Devils just drafted first overall and got Nico Hischier a couple years ago. Taylor Hall won the Hart last year and made the playoffs. They're not exactly hurting for talent and injuries kind of derailed this season for them, not lack of talent. Neither are the Blackhawks. Yeah, sure they missed the playoffs again, but they also still have superstars from their dynasty. They were a 50 win team two years ago and they're a lot closer to being a Cup contender right now than a team in rebuilding mode. It was funny, earlier this year the Pens looked like they might not make the playoffs either and I was like "No way! They better starting winning some games and get in the playoffs. That's all we need is for them to miss the playoffs, somehow miraculously win the lottery, get Jack Hughes and be a Cup contender for another 10 years." And while this exact scenario didn't play out, we do have a team with multiple superstars and multiple Stanley Cup championships in recent years miraculously getting a top 3 pick because of a down year and the damn lottery.

Chicago moving so far up and getting 3rd is what's really getting me in all this. The Wings not winning the lottery, okay fine. But seeing NJ get another first overall, the Rangers jump ahead of us, the Blackhawks, despite much lesser odds, jumping ahead of us. Its just BS. Meanwhile, the teams that actually had bad seasons and need help move down in the draft. I understand the lottery is in place to prevent teams from tanking, but I feel like this is the other side of the coin here. This is why we should NOT have a lottery. We have these teams that have a down year and BOOM all of a sudden they're getting top 3 draft picks while teams that have been missing the playoffs for years or have very little and need something to build around, pick later. For the Wings, we'll still get a high end prospect to go with our other high end prospects we've picked the last couple years, but it'd just be nice if we ended up with the easy road for once and not the tough/lucky road.

All of this is absolutely true, especially the first point and the one about Hronek. Only 4 players are trying is what gets me. I remember seeing this last year and the year before. We get down in a game, especially on the road, and we just quit, except for a few guys. As for Hronek, I feel bad for him. He's a little a ball of chaos for our defense every time he's out there and not in a good way either. He's always making a bad pass, in the wrong place, taking a bad penalty. He reminds me of Brett Lebda and that's NOT a good thing. This is definitely Blashill. In addition to losing and getting worse each year, we've watched good young players regress, we've seen them not prepared to play, we've seen them put in situations they shouldn't be in (Glendenning as second line center, Ras in the press box). Its not even the losing that gets me down on him right now, its the no sign of progress or hope. We're giving up tons of goals while not really getting any consistent offensive pressure, which leads to very few goals. Saying an AHL roster is better than ours is nonsense. We have some high end talent mixed with NHL ready talent like Larkin and AA. I've seen coaches do a lot more with a lot less. My biggest concern is that Blashill will screw up our incoming young talent (Zadina, Cholo, Veleno, Ras) and the rebuild will take even longer.

It is the system/coaches. Blashill won't make it through the season. Its pretty much as bad as you can imagine right now. We can't keep the puck out of our net and can't generate any consistent pressure on offense. On the bright side, Jack Hughes is looking more likely. So sad we're thinking about that in October, but it is what it is.

You're underestimating what we have. Larkin is easily a #1 center. He's an all star and team leader and he's only 21. Rasmussen has been tearing up the WHL for the past two years and has looked good at pretty much every level he's played in. Not sure what would qualify as a good #1 center, but I feel like we already have two good ones. Good defensemen in general are pretty hard to find these days, which is why they're so expensive on FA. Neither LV or Washington had elite level dmen like Hedman and both made it to the Finals. An elite level dman isn't required to be successful in the league anymore. It helps, for sure, but is not required. Ottawa has one of the best, if not the best, and weren't even close to the playoffs. I realize the Hawks won 3 Cups, but it wasn't just Kane, Toews, Keith and a bunch of scrubs either. You said you'd rather have 2 superstars, which is all the Blackhawks have now and finished last, than a pool of talented prospects that we currently have. The Islanders had a superstar center for years, never panned out for them. Buffalo has had Jack Eichel for a few years and they're still in the basement. I'll take the depth over the superstar.

So you'd trade 6 talented players for 1 or 2 superstars. Ask the Islanders, Oilers, Sabres and Blackhawks how well having one or two superstars and bunch of warm bodies is working out. Its a team sport and we have a lot of good prospects waiting to create that team.

I think what is key here is that he just said he's stepping down from his post in Tampa and going home to be with his family in Detroit. He didn't say he was retiring. It sounds like he intends to continue being a GM somewhere. Seeing as how he couldn't make a long distance arrangement workout, Detroit sounds like the only place he could have his cake and eat it too. What's interesting is that this decision is so sudden. I mean, he was literally trying to trade for Karlsson a month or two ago and all of a sudden he's stepping down. Now it was mentioned in a Detroit Free Press article that Holland and Yzerman went out golfing together two weeks ago in Detroit. Could be nothing. Or it could be "Hey Steve, you want my job after your contract expires in Tampa?" Steve, wanting to do the honorable thing, steps down as GM and takes an advisory position. Makes me wonder if that's what Holland said he himself would do if Yzerman took over as GM and that's where he got the idea. All speculation on my part, of course, but it makes sense.

True. We don't have a Stamkos or a Hedman in the pipeline, but we have a Larkin, a Mantha and an Athanasiou on the roster right now. We have a Rasmussen, Zadina and Veleno ready to go in a couple years or less. In all likelihood, we'll probably also get another lottery pick next June to add to this pool of really talented prospects. I'm biased, obviously, but I feel like the Wings will be in a better situation next year than TB was when he joined them.