kipwinger

Agreed, offer them one year deals and if they're not satisfied let them walk. There are worse tragedies, and guys like that aren't all that hard to replace. I can't understand Holland, he makes lowball offers for Pominville, Jagr, and Bouwmeester at the deadline and won't budge and inch. All of those guys are harder to find alternatives for than our old guys. Then when teams don't meet his price he's out the door. But then he'll turn around and give generous offers to guys who are much easier to replace without batting an eye.

I agree with what you're saying, but even if all of that is true, it's still poor management. 1) No way should Parise/Suter have been our only off season plan. You can't put all your eggs in that basket and then do nothing else when it doesn't work. 2) Holland has to come to terms with the fact that if you want to add a key piece via free agency or trade, you have to spend money. It's not an overpayment, it's the going rate for top talent. 3) The job of all the management staff is to evaluate any given situation and give the team options going forward. If they thought Semin was B rate then they need to be fired. They need to scout better or something, because I managed to figure out that Semin was the byproduct of a s***ty system in Washington. If I know it, they need to know it too. 4) A couple of cheap plugs, particularly at your depth positions (bottom six, bottom pair) isn't that big of a deal. But when you've got holes in the top six, and you lose three of four top defenders you can't replace them all with plugs or else all your key positions will be filled inadequately. For example: It's ok to plug the fourth line center with Emmerton, it's not ok to plug a top line winger with Samuelsson. 5) Finally, even if you are going to just plug holes, do it cheaply or don't do it. Holland hates to overpay for talent, but consistently overpays for plugs. It adds up. We spent roughly 12 million dollars last summer and have NOTHING to show for it. Plugging a hole with Eaves or Miller (close to league minimum when we signed them) is money well spent. Plugging holes with 2.5-3.5 million dollar contracts isn't really a good idea, especially if you've got a lot of holes. Management gets paid to scout, draft, develop, plan, acquire, trade, and sign the best team possible at any given time. It's a tough job, but they get paid the big bucks because they're supposedly up to it. They haven't been lately.

I completely agree with this. And I feel a lot of fans who are opposed to the salary cap would sing a different tune if they grew up in Calgary, Winnipeg, Nashville, etc. People make the baseball comparison all the time and I think it's a bad one. Look at teams like Kansas City or Minnesota who have good management, scout well, draft well, develop well, and then lose all their quality talent because they simply can't afford to spend like the Tigers, Red Sox, Yankees, Rangers, etc. It must suck to be a baseball fan in Minneapolis-St. Paul, and that's a real shame because they've got good fan support regardless of a systemic bias.

Based on what we have right now, I think our best case scenario looks like... Bert-Dats-Franzen Filppula-Helm-Zetterberg Brunner-Andersson-Nyquist/Tatar Tootoo-Abby-Miller Kronwall-Ericsson Kindl-Quincey Smith-Dekeyser/Lashoff

This is true, but the guys responsible for that production have moved on, retired, or are declining in production. We haven't developed a quality winger since Franzen. Haven't developed a top defenseman since Kronwall. Four of our current top sixers are centers, two of whom are playing out of position and were never scorers to begin with. We don't have the right people for the job, simple as that. Want a scoring winger? Draft and develop one, or trade for one. Don't try to make Flip or Abby something they aren't. It takes world class talent to be able to switch around like that. Hell even Ovechkin had a serious slump when he moved from left to right wing...and that's ******* Ovechkin (who scored twice more last night, officially proving everyone who said "he's been figured out", completely wrong). You can't just move these guys around willy nilly and expect a miracle. Well you can, but we've seen how that turns out.

Nobody thinks we're supposed to win it every single year. Where did you get that from? Seriously, show me anyone who thinks that we're supposed to win each year. Most of us are, however, concerned that we've trended downward for four years in a row and have done nothing substantial to stop it. We also are a little worried that in another two years our best player is likely headed to Russia and our remaining "best players" will all be in their mid thirties. Not even an acknowledgement from management that any of this is an issue. Three straight early playoff exists? No prob, we'll just keep trying with the same roster! We'll be active at the deadline if we do well over the next six games...just kidding, we'll do nothing! We're rebuilding...but only because our offer for Jagr didn't work about two hours ago. No straight answers, no accountability. Lots of b.s. from those responsible for this team, and not a lot of follow through. Just more of the same...if, if, if. All during the lockout I kept hearing about how the fans needed to hold team execs accountable. What about now? A team that's barely .500, can't score a goal to save it's life, sees it's playoff hopes dwindling with each garbage game, and doesn't do a single thing to help it...for four years! And many fans just keep giving them a pass. Rebuild, reload, whatever. Do something different. The same old thing hasn't worked in a long time now. We're not spoiled, we're frustrated. Borderline pissed off.

Yep, we're spoiled because we want our team to win and aren't pleased with subpar effort, arguable roster decisions, and management inaction. Good call. I'm a little tired of this "well you must not have been a fan during the Dead Wings era or you'd appreciate your team more" argument. Holy cow, you're an older fan and have seen worse teams? Obviously you must love the Wings more and therefore deserve to be condescending about it. We're not spoiled. We care as much as everyone else around here does. We just disagree with the current direction.

You walked in right in the middle of something you didn't see play out. I assume that's why you're acting so exasperated, or condescending, or whatever this is. The guy I was responding to took me out of context as well, I assume in an effort to be argumentative. Initially, I said that because an eighth seed won the Cup last year doesn't mean that if you "make the playoffs, anything can happen". It happened once...ever. So it really can't. Then that guy hit me with a bunch of stats about how low ranking teams make it to the Conference Finals all the time. Which is true...but in no way does that mean that "anything can happen". Those teams don't win the cup, so again, it can't. I don't know whether you agree with that or not, but I figured I'd clarify because it's obvious from you "sigh" that you're real butt hurt about something.

I didn't realize they started giving out the Stanley Cup for teams making it to the Conference Finals. Is that the goal now, Conference Finals?

Damn that Filppula. If he'd only become a scoring winger overnight, instead of playing the exact type of game that got him to the NHL, then our need for a winger would be resolved. Mike Babcock and Ken Holland are absurd. They both believe that you absolutely CAN squeeze blood from a stone, so long as the stone seizes the opportunity and competes hard enough. If they're going to keep going forward with this same garbage lineup, and not make any major changes then I'd rather they don't make the playoffs. At least that way they'd get a high draft pick and people would have to stop using that excuse.

Agreed. One time in the history of the NHL did an eighth seed win the Cup and now "anything can happen". No it can't.

I find it laughable that Holland did nothing at the deadline except say that getting Bert and Helm back is better than anything he could have done. That's something to look forward to right? Get a couple guys back so that we'll finally return to last season's form...e.g. a lineup that got SPANKED in the first round by Nashville. Awesome. Thank god we've got Smith and Nyquist. No need to do anything. They're the future.

He made some phone calls and was totally blown away when he found out that you can't get a scoring winger or top defenseman if you're completely unwilling to move a first round pick or any of your top prospects. Who knew you couldn't get Jason Pominville for Landon Ferraro and a conditional 4th rounder?

Hey on the bright side we've got San Jose and Chicago the next two games...so that's good.

I don't know what you were watching, Zetterberg was roughing Perron up way before Perron grabbed the stick. If anything they did us a favor by calling Perron as well.

They've given the Wings a penalty advantage all game.

Totally different game than the rest of our games where the Wings' juggernaut offense puts the fans in a fever pitch.

Well on the plus side, we've got about 2,000 smallish, pass first, forward prospects that were too important to consider trading. The future is assured. And I'll wager we've got a whole lot of passing and perimeter shots to look forward to.

Stop, you're making too much sense. I heard it too.

Refs miss "too many men" calls all the time. I don't hear anyone complaining when we get away with one. And this season, bad line changes has been something of an art for the Red Wings.

What do we have to do to get someone to attack the net? Skate, skate, skate...pass, pass, pass...back pass...shot from the perimeter...back the other way. DRIVE THE ******* NET!

I think you know the answer to that.

I agree, it's just typical fan over reaction. They've been penalized more than we have today and people are still bitching about the officiating. I'd say a game with three penalties, two of which put us on the PP, is a well officiated game. What does everyone want, ten or fifteen PPs?

He's a big strong guy, his hits injure. Not his fault. He doesn't go around kneeing guys, and as far as I know he's never been disciplined for head hunting. He injures guys because when he hits them, he drives through them. Exhibit A: Kent Huskins earlier this season. Perfectly clean hit, decimated the guy. As for the rest of his game, he's a little dirty, in the same way that Crosby is a little dirty with his cross checks. It's not that bad, and not that big of a deal. If Backes played for the Wings, and did the exact same stuff, we'd all be screaming "c'mon, be barely touched him". Just like how everybody came around on the Tootoo thing. He didn't change his game, we just realize it's not as bad as we though when he played against us.

For the record I love Backes. So what, he a little bit dirty. So was Pronger, Chelios, Maltby, Ciccarelli, etc. etc. etc. They were dirty and they were effective, so is Backes. I'd give anything to have a guy who plays like he does in our top six. If people aren't going to fear us because of our "powerhouse" offense, at least they'd fear us because of that big roughneck.