kipwinger

Haha, Dats, Z, Alfie, and Franzen in the top six. If it were 2008 we would be devastating! Too bad it isn't, and we aren't.

I'd gladly sacrifice Alfie's points to get bigger, younger, and faster. Give me Jurco and Mantha over the old goats. With Pav, Hank, and Weiss returning (hopefully) without injury, and the kid line exploiting matchups, we should have just as much (or more) offense as we had a year ago. But if it's the same kind of offense (e.g. perimeter offense that's easy to push outside) we're not helping ourselves. Give me bigger bodies that can crash the net, and leave the old perimeter guy at home.

I agree. I was speaking in the ideal sense. Of course Alfie will come back. Of course Andersson and/or Glendening will be in the lineup, and of course Cleary will get his bonus. I'm just trying to put a positive spin on things and get away from "Holland sucks". But then I realize that Babs will surely give roster spots to guys who "are everydayers", despite their skill level or whether they address a need and I'm forced to think "Babcock sucks". I just can't win.

If the Wings don't re-sign Alfie, and Cleary stays on the bench with Glendening and we can field this lineup I'll be happy with the offense. The defense, of course, will still blow. Z-Dats-Jurco Franzen-Weiss-Nyquist Tatar-Sheahan-Mantha Miller-Helm-Abby That's not a terrible front 12. Especially when you consider the big bodies that you've just brought into the lineup. If it were up to me I'd do the same with Sproul and Marchenko too, but I realize that's asking too much.

No thanks. I'd prefer someone who's actually coached a single hockey game at any adult level. Tired of this good ol boy s***. This organization needs to start acting professionally.

I'd take Shero (maybe not over Holland, but if Holland retired or something) but no thanks on Blysma. I'd rather give Blashill a shot. From what I see of GR Blashill teaches a very structured system but it's exciting because it seems to be defensively responsible while at the same time generates offense. Blysma is pure offense and I don't like wide open teams like that. Teams with big offense and marginal defense rarely make it in the playoffs, as Pittsburgh has shown the last four or five years.

Get this kid on the first line with D and Z, and Mantha on the third with Tatar and Sheahan and I'll call our forward corps improved over last year. Now if only we could figure out a way to improve an abysmal defense that absolutely, positively, 100% could not be any better than it currently is because fate is against Ken Holland.

Yeah, the lost Ribiero as their #2 center two years ago, and replaced him with Grabovski (who walked this year). They don't have a #2. Or at least not a legit one.

Supposedly they'd look to use the cap money to acquire a second line center, since they don't currently have one. From what I hear that's the reason behind trying to free up the money. If they were all set at forward, I think you're right, there would be no need to trade him.

Market value? How dare he!

Recently, I was planning a bachelor's party for my brother to celebrate his upcoming nuptials. As I was going down the list of people I needed to invite, I came across an interesting name. Let's call him Stan Dearly. There are no obvious advantages to inviting Stan. He's dumb, provides nothing of substance to any gathering, is not funny, interesting, or good natured. He's also cheap, and wouldn't buy a round of beers if you held his feet over a fire. In short, I hate Stan Dearly. A lot. But through some sort of cruel twist of fate, Stan Dearly is married to my sister. I cannot, for the life of me, explain why someone as seemingly clear minded as my sister would marry Stan Dearly. He is a fool. She is not. And so I chalk it up to god's will, and choose not to ask questions I can't answer, similar to when my pet turtle Bingo died when I was 7. I will have to invite Stan Dearly to that bachelor's party. Despite every single inclination to the contrary, I have to do it. If only to make my clearly misguided sister happy. I'll hate every second of it. He'll be dull, disinterested, and sleazy. He'll spend too much time on his smart phone, and complain about the cigar smoke. He'll try and test my patience in ways that should never have happened if there were any sort of fairness in this universe. And that's exactly how I feel about the Dan Cleary signing too.

We're confident we can compete with Columbus, Toronto, and Washington for that 8th seed if we can stay healthy.

I would absolutely love if I were Washington's GM and I had an injury prone, defensively irresponsible, RH puck mover and you two were the Detroit's GM. I'd GLADLY take your future 20 goal, 50+ pts, forward off your hands for a guy that really doesn't factor into my long term plans now that I need the cap space and have signed Niskanen and Orpik. And then I'd laugh and wish you good luck "locking up" this guy in FA next year after you either don't make the playoffs or bounce early. I'm sure Mike Green is dying to play for another borderline NHL team, so why wouldn't he sign?

No he hasn't. When commenting on his contract earlier this summer he said... "On Friday we'll begin negotiating a contract. It's tough to talk about it. Detroit's my priority. I'd say that it's 90% that I'll stay there, only if a fantastic offer came from another team, that Detroit didn't want to match. Everything depends on negotiations. I can't go below the price that a similar player in the league will have earned. But I like the team, and I'll settle there. It's all business, though, and the team could always replace me." Doesn't sound like a guy that's dying to bolt to another team or the KHL.

And what would you tell everybody when Green walks at the end of this season to play with a contender? "Sorry folks, now we lost a top flight young forward AND couldn't keep Green".

You're right about this, but there's a limit. An ELC (including bonuses) can only amount to 1.3 million dollars. Which is why Dekeyser's cap hit was less than a million but his total earnings were 1.3 million. If you'll remember, earlier in the summer there was some discussion about how much cap space the Wings would have to sign FAs (so funny in hindsight) as a result of bonuses to Alfie and Dekeyser that carried over. But it is the best team ever. Since July 1st (actually the last 5 July firsts), we've repeatedly been inundated with the same message. "Sometimes the best moves are those you don't make". Totally true. Gotcha Red Wings. But doesn't that also mean then that "sometimes the worst moves are the ones you DO make"? Alas, this too is a reality. f*** you Ken Holland.

Is that a direct quote or are you paraphrasing? Because if someone had the balls to write that in an email to you then they should be shot (or promoted to GM since they clearly have more balls than Holland).

Big whoop. Future hall of famers come back to the Red Wings all the time. Anybody remember a little free agent by the name of Mike Modano? Detroit signing him and the Cavs signing Lebron are the EXACT same thing. Nothing at all different about those two scenarios. Kenny gets it done baby.

I haven't heard definitively. Malik says "yes". But he's an idiot so I'm not sure.

I'll be astonished if Holland doesn't make this worse by trading either Tatar or Jurco for a defenseman that isn't worth it. That's really the only way this could get worse, and I'll bef****** amazed if he doesn't make it worse. Prepare yourselves Detroit, it's DEFINITELY going to get worse. We'll lose good talent for a defenseman on an expiring contract. The loss of that talent, paired with injury, age, and mediocrity will mean we either miss the playoffs or lose early. And then that defenseman will walk because we're not a good team. Bold prediction.

Isn't there some sort of non-verbal commitment between the GM and the fans, owners, and other players on the roster that every year an attempt will be made to improve the on-ice product? I mean, life if full of little non-verbal commitments between parties. What makes this commitment so much more important? Doesn't Ken feel honor bound to Zetterberg, Franzen, or Kronwall for taking discounts to give him all this cap space he keeps squandering? Isn't there some commitment to give Babcock some semblance of a competitive roster? Hell, I'd like to think he (as part of his contract signing process) gave his word to the Illitchs that, at the very least, he'd make a half hearted attempt to win championships.

So here's an awful thought. At the end of the regular season I was seriously hoping that ALL of Alfie, Cleary, Quincey, Bert, Sammy, Tootoo would be gone. But IF I had to have one back it would have been Alfie (I didn't want it, but if forced to pick, he'd have been the guy). But now, after clusterf*** 2014, I'm PRAYING he decides to retire so that at least one of our young, big, hard to play against forwards makes the team. If Alfie comes back I'm going to puke. It means Jurco and Mantha don't play. It means we don't acquire a defenseman. It means we're the EXACT same team as last year (except a year older). It means, in short, that we suck. So please, enjoy your retirement Alfie, you've earned it.

The same Brenden Morrow that had 19 goals and 39 pts. last year?

"There's nothing in the streets Looks any different to me And the slogans are replaced, by-the-bye And the parting on the left Are now parting on the right And the beards have all grown longer overnight I'll tip my hat to the new constitution Take a bow for the new revolution Smile and grin at the change all around Pick up my guitar and play Just like yesterday Then I'll get on my knees and pray We don't get fooled again Don't get fooled again No, no!"

I literally spent the last two days arguing with guys who think we should trade Tatar and that "Holland's done everything he can" to make this team better but "you can't make people sign here". On the one hand I'm bummed that our already bad team didn't get any better. On the other hand I'm delighted to have some evidence to point at the next time I say KH is ******* up.