kipwinger

No way can Giroux out party Patrick Kane. I mean, he gave it a valiant effort, but there are drunken douchey assholes, and then there's this guy...

Supposedly. Given how wrong each and every reporter was about each and every free agent I'm going to take reports about offers that were never made with a grain of salt. Keep in mind these are the same reporters that went on and on about the Wings being "in on" Boyle, Niskanen, Ehrhoff, etc. when not only were we not "in on" them, they were actively avoiding us. But I don't want to single you out. Lots of people who get paid to report on hockey were saying Niskanen would make over 6 million too. Granted, these are the same people who said Christian Ehrhoff wanted 5 years, Dan Boyle wanted 5.5 million, and Thomas Vanek would easily make 7 million dollars a year.

In Ken Holland speak, "last year we got the players we wanted" roughly translates to "last year we got one free agent and Daniel Alfredsson fell into our laps".

100% true.

Soooo, what you're saying is that Matt Niskanen didn't sign for 6 million dollars or more lol?

I think you're dealing with two extremes. Holland won't make a move to save his life, and Holmgren makes ill advised moves constantly. I'd imagine the middle ground between the two should be the target. Anyway, back on topic...everybody point and laugh at Claude Giroux. He's a real dummy.

Kudos to Quincey's agent by the way. Seriously. How he managed to get his client a raise is beyond me. You know who I feel bad for? Kyle Quincey. I know he's not that good, and I know that he should be playing for someone else, and I know that he's now getting drastically overpaid. But you can't blame him for signing the contract. He just wants to play hockey. But because Holland was such a massive failure yesterday, Quincey is back, and now any little mistake he makes will be magnified 2000% because people are (justifiably) pissed off. Final thought: How funny is it that the story prior to free agency was "The Wings would like to re-sign Kyle Quincey but it's believed he'll seek a raise on the open market". The irony is killing me.

To me, the funniest part is not that that he was grabbing someone's ass, or that it was a cop, or that it was a male. The funniest part is that he REPEATEDLY did it haha. Apparently once isn't enough when you're having an Ottawa good time! Aside: I wonder if he'll get taken to task for being a drunken idiot the way that Patrick Kane did?

What happened to Niskanen's going to make "Eleventy Billion dollars and get paid like a first pair defenseman"? Some predicted upward of 7 million. Anybody wanna raise their hand and call a mulligan on that one? Holy s***. I just realized I can see the future lol. Although, to be accurate it wasn't just Niskanen turning down because our GM is cheap and complacent.

Going a little far here. I'm as irritated as the next guy, and probably more than most. But rather than "tank it" how about we just give open spots to deserving kids and see what they can do? Seemed to work out well last year. I don't know about anybody else but I'd love to add a 6'4 200+ lb Mantha, and a 6'4 200+ lb Sproul to our lineup. As long as he doesn't trade anything valuable away and/or sign some washed up old guy (Alfie) we could very well see Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Mantha Franzen-Weiss-Nyquist Jurco-Sheahan-Tatar Abby-Helm-Miller Kronwall-Ericsson Smith-Dekeyser Quincey-Sproul Probably won't compete for a Cup, maybe won't make the playoffs even. But maybe, just maybe, we get a little bigger, a little faster, a little bit more hungry, and a little harder to play against.

Speaking of which, is #KenHollandisaf*ckup trending on Twitter yet?

At least Yandle is worth it. He plays close to 82 games every year and scores 50 pts like clockwork. I'm afraid we're going go lose a bunch of assets and the return will be some project defenseman like Myers. God forbid Holland ever go for a sure thing.

And this, in a nutshell, is the problem. "We made pitches to a number of defensemen," general manager Ken Holland said. "For a variety of reasons, they opted to go elsewhere. I don't know why they're not coming here." No Ken. They opted to go elsewhere for one reason. Detroit is not realistically competing for a Stanley Cup any time soon. We've barely made the playoffs lately. A variety of reasons have contributed to that fact. Largely, that you're a miserly, penny pinching, son of a ***** who is utterly befuddled by the player acquisition part of your job. He seriously makes it seem like EVERY free agent signed somewhere else entirely by chance. Pure happenstance kept everyone away Kenny, you betcha.

I don't really see it that way. He's getting over-paid, for sure. But Washington is getting a hard hitting, defense first (god knows they need defense), Stanley Cup winner, two time Olympian, and team leader, to anchor Trotz' defense first system. More importantly, mildly overpaying for Orpik may well have helped Washington win out on Niskanen, and the combination of both signings puts Washington back on the map after a couple lackluster years. One thing that nobody is talking about (and I admit this is purely speculation), is that both Niskanen and Orpik went to Washington together. They played together all season in Pittsburgh, and they both went to the same team. One which nobody had predicted prior to yesterday. I'm not saying they did the Suter-Parise buddies thing. But I'd be surprised if the two weren't influenced by each others' willingness to sign with the Caps.

We consistently become less and less competitive, and yet, pundits like Malik are blaming the state of Joe Louis Arena. Unbelievable. As I've said a thousand times. Please, Ken Holland, don't do something stupid to make this worse. You're already a huge embarrassing failure. Losing Tatar or Jurco in a lopsided panic move is only going to make it worse. Don't bring anyone else in, don't over think things, don't kick tires or pick up the phone. Just give the remaining spots to Ryan Sproul and Mantha, and in a couple years (despite your best efforts) we should be respectable again (under head coach Jeff Blashill).

Jesus what a nightmare. Prediction: It'll get worse when Holland inevitably panics and trades too many good young players for a mediocre return (Myers) instead of staying put, or trading for someone who's worth it (Yandle). Jesus what a nightmare. Does anybody know what the f*** just happened? Seriously. Is there any explanation for this that doesn't make our team look and feel like a complete and total joke?

Just got back home and what do I see? Quincey in, Niskanen out (for less than 6 million). Lol.

Naw, I wouldn't turn on Holland. He's got me as bamboozled as he's got everyone else. I'll be right here at the trade deadline, and next year's draft, and free agency next summer, waiting patiently and knowing damn well that "this year, this year, is the one when Kenny finally pulls the trigger". I've been hoodwinked. I'm a rube. Gullible. A born sucker. But nobody can ever say I don't hold out hope.

He did have to play in Cali, until his stepdaughter was 18. Which she is now, and no longer subject to custody rules.

I want to rub this guy's head. He must be one lucky S.O.B to get signed by Ken Holland as a UFA. That's twice as rare as a unicorn, at least.

Has anyone checked to make sure that Ken Holland isn't actually dead? He might very well be dead...from the shame of not making a trade before the draft...and is still lying on his bathroom floor somewhere in suburban Detroit. I say "bathroom floor" because he must surely have been looking at himself in the mirror saying "what happened to you?...You used to be so...so...so..." right before his heart exploded. This would explain why there were no moves today. The fact that everyone hates his ******* guts for destroying our team would explain why nobody has bothered to go looking for him.

Trading a young asset like Jurco or Tatar for Myers is the very definition of a panic move. I can't believe I have to explain why trading a cheap, up and coming, top six forward for a guy who's making 5.5 million on potential is a bad idea.

Which would be totally awesome if that were what was going to happen. But instead, he'll eventually get around to re-signing Quincey, Cleary, and Alfie and no kids will play...until half our old ass team is inevitably injured two weeks into the season. But hey, we're only about 9 months from the trade deadline...so that's something.

I can't wait to chase him with a pitchfork and a torch.

Are those like the notes that don't get played in Jazz?